G'day all,
Recently I witnessed a couple of blind students attempting to use Word 97
with the help of the Jaws for Win 95 speech utility. Although Jaws was
reading out the menu commands, icons, text, etc the sheer frustration and
difficulty experienced by these users was obvious.
As they were part of a large class their lecturer was unable to devote
much time to their needs; and consequently they were well behind the
other students. I eventually sat with them and tutored them for a
couple of hours - which enabled them to memorize the "positions" of the
commonly-used Word 97 commands and finally make some progress with their
class work.
They told me that this scenario had occurred many times throughout their
computer learning at school and college. Their two biggest needs had
been suitable user manuals (Braille or audio tape), and to have someone
who could see the screen to sit alongside them for one-on-one tutoring.
This kind of help had rarely been available to them during the last 15
years of their schooling.
As I am now running a computer business which includes tutoring, it occurs
to me that blind users might be a neglected and potential market. I
have been asking a number of my business contacts about tutoring and assistive
technologies for blind computer users. Most of them have no idea of what
may be available, and think it is too much bother anyway for such a
small fraction of their total market.
I reckon that if this attitude is commonplace among my business rivals,
then I could earn a few pennies (and some good karma) by offering
computer services for the blind and visually impaired. Of course I
would need to know more about the special needs of this market niche.
So I'm asking for comments and suggestions from the blind or visually
impaired on this list about:
1 - Your experiences when using computers, especially in the workplace or
at school.
2 - What assistive hardware / software you have used to aid in your use of
a computer. And who makes it (if you know).
3 - What resources - books, websites, whatever - you have found to be
most useful for visually impaired computing.
4 - What computer products or services you need and/or wish you could
have to aid in your visually impaired computing.
Of course if I've missed anything obvious then let me know. And if
you're not visually impaired but have some comments or suggestions on
this issue then feel free to respond. I do know already about the Large
Fonts and alternative colour schemes in Windows 95/98.
Off-list replies can be sent to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
cheers,
Fraser Farrell
http://www.dove.net.au/~fraserf/
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