Resources from Adobe for accessibility and those with disabilities?

Question

I am tutoring a student with cerebral palsy which is primarily a motor control disability. He has the will and determination, but he's having trouble using the software. The tips and advice I would normally give don't normally take into account this barrier and this is the first time I've had the opportunity to tutor a differently-ablled person. He has problems with fine motor control and just all around controlling things to the point of also using keyboard shortcuts with the mouse and digitizer. He has a digitizer, but has problems controlling the pen. He also has a difficult time taking notes as he has trouble holding and controlling a pencil. He's paid his tuition and I'd hate for the program he's in to be a waste for him. There has to be some kind of resource ready that Adobe has put together that can help.
He also has possible learning disability as an indirect issue, probably caused by incomplete education when young or from frustation/lost opportunities/difficulty in traditional learning environment. Plus, he has had no graphic arts history or skill before this class. I think he was led astray by people telling him that he didn't need previous [even basic] skills in graphic arts, this is a tough program and not forgiving for those not able to keep up, for anybody that would be a tough road to travel. So, there's that. So I've had to rethink how to approach tutoring and it's become more involved than a part-time tutoring vollunteering activity will allow. I'm pretty much flying by the seat of my pants and sometimes it gets to the point of doing most of the work for him since he can't do a lot of the motions needed for such an advanced suite of software and I feel that's making him feel worse because he's not doing a lot of the work (he's learning, but it seems it's at a distance and he's not getting the experience of doing it himself and he feels that grating on himself). Cerebral Palsy has often been described as being trapped in a body that won't cooperate with you and it's very apparent here that that is the case.
I would appreciate some advice on where to go, maybe get some inspiration from those with cerebral palsy who have succeeded in the graphic arts industry. He's a good friend, but it's painful to see him struggle when in the back of my mind it seems he doesn't have to. He has the ideas, just translating them to the screen is hard to do.

Answer 1

It's a complex problem, but you might begin by looking into getting a special large sized trackball device if you haven't already. That way he can rest his hand on it. Logitech produce a large softball one with programmable extra buttons for handicapped people. On the Adobe end and specific to Photoshop you might look into Adobe Configurator to create a bunch of custom panels with buttons instead of keyboard shortcuts. Also keep in mind that PS can use iPads as inputs ever since CS6, so if you have one of those floating around, installing those touch apps as well as PS Touch might already help your student to get a bit further. Otherwise I don't think there's much you can do. Unfortunately Adobe apps aren't particulalrly "accessible". They haven't even resizable UI elements for visually impaired people.... Most web sites aare more friendly in that department...
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