Quote:
Originally Posted by e-enker
Hi rachaelandrews, I think the screen reader software is the first thing I will try, because the most annoying thing about my computer problem is that I always have to beg another person to print stuff out and prepare the reply form for me to write on the forum.. I cannot even do internet researches about useful devices so even my possibilities to gain info are most severely limited.
I suppose you can also do general searches on the net with the screen reader or copy and paste things to print them?
If I can do that all by myself with a screen reader program then that would be quite a substantial progress for me if I dont need another person anymore to help me with it.
Im happy you mentioned it to me because although I had already wondered how blind people use the computer, I would have never asked about it here.
Is this screen reader software only available through special suppliers or do normal computer stores have it?
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You can do everything with a screen reader that you can do without one - with some possible exceptions like, image editing I'd say. Of course that replies on visual perception.
I don't know if the usual computer stores have screen readers - I suspect not. It's a kind of specialist thing really.
There is a free one if you run Windows - called Thunder.
http://www.screenreader.net/ is the website for it. I've used it and it is ok, not very advanced but the bonus is it's free !
On the other end of the scale we have JAWS, which is what nearly all of the visually impaired windows users I know use.
http://www.freedomscientific.com/pro...oduct-page.asp
It is horribly expensive though - $895 at the last count for the standard version. It is very good though in my experience. It's what my fiance has been using since it came out several years ago and he swears by it, although he does use a mac too now.
If you're on a mac you're in luck - there's one built in to the OS if you have Tiger or Leopard. It's called VoiceOver.
In theory once you get these babies installed and have a tutorial to refer to (you can print one out for Thunder as I recall and JAWS has large print, audio, and braille tutorials included with it if you buy the physical discs - but in any case there's bound to a manual you can print out on the website) you'd be good to go. You basically learn keyboard combinations to navigate everything - system, programs, web browser - and away you go. The only issue you may have is that some websites are not compatible with screen readers as they either rely on mouse gestures (which can be hard to use with a screen reader if you're not sure where the mouse pointer actually is on the screen) or have links that are image based and have no underlying text definition. If I recall correctly, there's a lawsuit going on with Target in the US about their website not being accessible via screenreaders. Accessibility is very rightly becoming an important issue these days. A screen reader can only interpret text, not a picture.
But if you sites you need for your studies are text only as you said earlier in the thread you should be all set, hopefully. And if those sites didn't work, well - you could do what my fiance did and take the college / school / whatever it is to task and make them change it so it is. In the UK we have the Disability Discrimination Act, which although technically may or may not apply to websites (it's one of those things people like to calla "grey area") often invoking it can get good results.
Maybe Thunder would be a good place to start to see how it worked for you - because if it didn't you wouldn't have lost money.
Anyway, I hope some of this might help. Good luck !
Rachael