Vision-impaired user typing mode for computing systems

A computer program product comprising a non-transitory processor-readable storage medium having stored therein program code of one or more software programs, wherein the program code when executed by at least one processing device causes the at least one processing device to perform steps of:

• activating a vision-impaired user typing mode responsive to detecting a designated combination of key presses of one or more of a plurality of keys of a keyboard;
• obtaining, responsive to activating the vision-impaired user typing mode, a mapping of a subset of the plurality of keys of the keyboard to respective positions of a matrix cell used in a tactile writing system;
• and
• decoding, in response to detecting a combination of key presses and releases of one or more of the subset of the plurality of keys of the keyboard which are mapped to the respective positions of the matrix cell used in the tactile writing system, input of one or more characters;
• wherein decoding the input of one or more characters is based at least in part on detecting start and stop of a key lock of a given non-alphanumeric one of the plurality of keys of the keyboard, the key lock enabling entry of the given non-alphanumeric key in combination with one or more of the subset of the plurality of keys which are mapped to the matrix cell used in the tactile writing system, the start and stop of the key lock being detected based at least in part on one or more designated sequences of key presses of the given non-alphanumeric key.

A method comprising steps of:

• activating a vision-impaired user typing mode responsive to detecting a designated combination of key presses of one or more of a plurality of keys of a keyboard;
• obtaining, responsive to activating the vision-impaired user typing mode, a mapping of a subset of the plurality of keys of the keyboard to respective positions of a matrix cell used in a tactile writing system;
• and
• decoding, in response to detecting a combination of key presses and releases of one or more of the subset of the plurality of keys of the keyboard which are mapped to the respective positions of the matrix cell used in the tactile writing system, input of one or more characters;
• wherein decoding the input of one or more characters is based at least in part on detecting start and stop of a key lock of a given non-alphanumeric one of the plurality of keys of the keyboard, the key lock enabling entry of the given non-alphanumeric key in combination with one or more of the subset of the plurality of keys which are mapped to the matrix cell used in the tactile writing system, the start and stop of the key lock being detected based at least in part on one or more designated sequences of key presses of the given non-alphanumeric key;
• and
• wherein the method is performed by at least one processing device comprising a processor coupled to a memory.