What accessibility options should a developer of Windows-based desktop software need to consider/use to make sure their application will be as usable as possible by those who are using assistive technology or Windows built in “ease of use”/”accessibility options” controls?
For example, to take advantage of “Visual Notifications for Sounds” (Sound Sentry) aiding deaf persons, you must supply an extra flag when you play a sound (via Winmm.dll) to let Windows know that you want the window, titlebar or screen to flash for persons who have sound sentry enabled.
Now I’m wondering what other similar sorts of considerations I should also consider implementing on this or future applications to make sure my app is usable by individuals with disabilities.
It’s great to see someone thinking about this at the software level. You might find the Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines from the W3C are relevant to you. Guideline 7 is Ensure that the authoring tool is accessible to authors with disabilities and has links to techniques you can use to make sure it is. Because software varies a lot, the guidelines are more about how you’ll know when you’ve succeeded, and not too prescriptive about how you choose to acheive success.
I hope this gives you a place to start looking for techniques – there’s not a lot of information out there, it’d be great to see a write-up of your work when you’re done so others can learn from it too.