5kk.netlify.app

1. Jaws Screen Reader For Mac
2. Electronic Readers For Visually Impaired
3. Audio Readers For Visually Impaired

Page Content

After returning from vacation, I am finally catching up. Thus, within the last week, Apple has released the latest update to the iDevices, iOS 12, and the newest version of the Mac operating system, 10.14 Mojave. As many as three percent of ecommerce consumers are visually impaired, or otherwise require the use of a screen reader to read text on a screen. For an ecommerce site with 10,000 visitors per month, then, at least 300 of them are likely using some form of a screen reader. Screen readers are a form of assistive technology (AT) software application potentially useful to people who are blind, visually impaired, or learning disabled, often in combination with other AT such as screen magnifiers. The World's Most Popular Windows Screen Reader. JAWS, Job Access With Speech, is the world's most popular screen reader, developed for computer users whose vision loss prevents them from seeing screen content or navigating with a mouse.JAWS provides speech and Braille output for the most popular computer applications on your PC.

• Download free Reader for Windows 10. Blind and visually impaired people with some tools simply use the computer. For example, there are special screen-reader software that the text in computer programs or websites to read.
• Greetings all, my clinic has recently hired a visually-impaired user. Is anyone familiar with any screen reader software. Right now we are trialing JAWS.
• The New Mexico Commission for the Blind has developed a free program, Keystroke, to teach touch-typing to blind and visually-impaired students using their preferred screen reader.The program is available for Windows and Mac OS X, and works with the most popular text-to-speech solutions (JAWS, Windows Eyes, NVDA and VoiceOver).

Individuals with severe visual impairment may rely on a screen reader (software that reads content aloud) to access Web sites. Visual cues, such as images, section divisions or table headers, may be imperceivable to this audience unless additional information is added. Often required are text alternatives for images and other visual content, and the specification of key landmarks (e.g. headers, lists) within a document. Excel reader for mac 2016.

Tools Needed by Users

Screen Readers

Screen readers are pieces of software that read all the text within a digital document aloud. Most screen readers also allow users to move from landmark to landmark within a page. Landmarks can include section headers, links, table headers and other items indicating important divisions of information.

The most commonly used screen reader is JAWS (Windows only), but other screen readers include NVDA (Windows), VoiceOver (Mac/iPhone), and Emacspeak (Linux). Screenreaders are often used by and associated with visually impaired users, but some, particularly Kurzweil (Win/Mac) are also used by individuals with certain reading disabilities.

Jaws Screen Reader For Mac

Other Tools

Other tools used by the visually impaired community include:

• Braille Printers—Printers that print embossed (raised) Braille on a page.
• Refreshable Braille Displays—tool that raise pins to form Braille characters. Users place their fingers on the device to detect changes in characters. See a Braille display demo (with a smart phone).
• Embossed Printers—Printers that print embossed images and graphs with the edges raised.
• 3D Printers—Devices that convert images into three-dimensional objects.
• OCR (Optical Character Recognition) Software—Software that recognizes text embedded in an image and converts it to a text file. This is particularly useful for PDF documents in which each page is actually an image.

Demos of Screen Readers

Screen Reader Video Demos (JAWS)

Screen Reader Simulation Plugins

• Fangs Screen Reader Emulator for Firefox—Does not speak aloud, but can display any Web page in screen reader format (no text breaks, headers/tables announced).

Visualization of Screen Reader

The following two images show a screen capture of the header at http://tlt.its.psu.edu in both Firefox and in Lynx.

TLT Header in Firefox

TLT Header Viewed in Lynx

Accommodations Needed

The main accommodations needed by users with severe visual impairment are:

• Alt text to describe images or animations on the Web, in Microsoft Word and PowerPoint, Canvas, Flash, PDF files, and any other online document.
• Form Labels for Web forms and Flash forms that identify the functions of their fields.
• Semantic section headings indicated by something other than a format change. In Microsoft Word, authors should use the Heading styles. In HTML, headers should be indicated with H1, H2, H3, etc. tags.
• Complete keyboard functionality. Anything that can be done on a mouse should be doable on a keyboard.
• Properly labeled Table headers.
• Frames labeled with meaningful titles.
• Language 'tagging' to allow proper control of synthesized speech pronunciation.
• Software and online tools designed to read out menus and functions to screen reader user.

Hidden Audiences for Text-Based Browsers

Visually impaired users are not the only ones who use text-only browsers. Other segments of users, such as those on older PDAs or cell phones, or who have disabled image downloading because of a slow connection, may also benefit from the simpler interface. Text-only browsers are especially useful to users outside the United States, who may only have access to the Internet via a text-only browser or cell phone.

Etiquette for interacting with the Blind or Visually Impaired

Note: Many of these accommodations also apply to low vision users
who retain limited visual acuity.

1. Identify yourself when speaking to a person who is blind and alert them when you leave.
2. Feel free to warn individuals with visual disabilities of dangerous situations. If there is a person with a walking cane navigating around a car in the street or headed for a column, feel free to speak up and say, “Hold on you’re in the street,” or “Stop… there is a column there!” Construction areas are a particular area of concern.
3. Strategies for asking if a person who is blind or vision impaired needs help:
• Do not grab arm or touch someone, this may startle him or her.
• Offer detailed instructions before touching someone. Offering an arm or providing detailed instructions is commonplace for those who are blind or have vision impairment. Detailed instructions could be a description of how to get to an open door, such as, “ two small steps to your right and just about 10 steps ahead of you is the doorway or would you like my arm?”
• Offer an arm or shoulder, when guiding someone. Never leave him or her in a free or open space. Leave them in contact with a wall or arm rail if you need to leave them for a moment. When offering a seat you may offer to guide their hand to the seat.
4. Do not make assumptions of capability. Respect any persons’ ability to do things. People find ways and use tools to achieve their goals. Esref Armagn is a Turkish painter who just happened to be blind. He taught himself to write and oil paint with full visual perspectives in the paintings.
5. Guide Dogs: Do NOT approach, try to pet, try to feed, or try to gain the attention of a guide dog. The dog is there to do a job and specially trained for that job. The casual attention offered to this dog may disturb the training and cause problems for the owner. A good rule of thumb to remember is if the dog is wearing his uniform or harness, then he is on duty.
   Note: If the dog is doing something inappropriate, inform the owner and allow the owner to correct the behavior of his or her guide dog.

Language

Remember, “person-first language

1. It is fine to refer to vision and metaphors concerning vision in a conversation, such as, “Do you see what I mean?” or, “Look at this!”
2. Speaking and giving directions; refer to directions by giving an approximate distance or number of streets and or give landmarks (They may recognize sounds of an escalator). Just remember to clarify the details of the direction, just like you would with anyone.
3. Maintaining a conversation and using descriptive language with some who is blind seems like an odd tip. In a discussion between people there are visual cues many of us do not think about when starting and stopping a conversation. Imagine your cell phone going off and you answer the phone, while offering an apologetic look at a friend and mouthing silently sorry. This is NOT achievable with a person who is blind. Also, in conversation the reference to colors, patterns, design and shapes should not be avoided. Each person has various experiences and all forms of description are valuable. A person, who is blind, could be told the wall is a bright yellow and associate the color with the feeling of a warm summer day because the sun has been described as yellow. Just because the person may have never seen the bright color of the sun, doesn’t mean there is no association to the sun.

In the Classroom

1. With furniture placement, remember people who are blind or vision impaired memorize the layout of a room, especially if the room is frequently visited. Try to avoid situations in which the room layout changes. If you or someone else changes the room layout, you should warn those who are Blind/Visually impaired when he or she enters the room. Desks in a circle, or media carts brought in for presentations are just some examples that alter the space temporarily.
2. Engaging in class activities should, also, be considered with a student who is blind. Moving desks for group activities, hands-on activities, or watching a skit or other students’ performances or presentations should be addressed and accommodated to allow a student who is blind to participate.
3. Also, be aware, vision impairment may be degenerative in nature. This means the needs may change over time. As a teacher or employer, remember to clarify the needs with those who have vision impairments. And as a person with a visual impairment you should always maintain an “open dialogue” with your teachers or employers about changes in concessions.

Every Mac is built with assistive technologies to support people who are blind or have low vision. The VoiceOver screen reader describes exactly what’s happening on your screen. Zoom gives you a powerful built-in magnifier. And display adjustments help to meet your specific vision needs.

VoiceOverHear what’s happening on your screen.

VoiceOver does more than tell you what’s happening on your Mac. It helps you make things happen. It gives you auditory descriptions of each onscreen element and provides helpful hints along the way — whether you prefer using gestures, a keyboard, or a braille display. And it supports more than 35 languages, including multiple voice options.

Electronic Readers For Visually Impaired

VoiceOverIntegrated throughout macOS and every built-in app.

VoiceOver is unique because it’s not a standalone screen reader. It’s deeply integrated in macOS and all the built-in apps on Mac. And as developers update their apps to take advantage of the accessibility interfaces provided by Apple, their apps can start working with VoiceOver right away.

VoiceOverImproved PDF, web, and messages navigation.

We’ve refined VoiceOver to make it easier to navigate PDFs, websites, and messages. In Safari, improved conformance with HTML5 accessibility standards allows for more consistent navigation of websites. VoiceOver is now better at reading aloud tagged PDFs and email messages. If you start reading a website in a different language, VoiceOver can switch to the voice for that language automatically.¹ And you can add custom commands and workflows to your MacBook Pro with Touch Bar.

Audio DescriptionsHear the details in every scene.

Watch movies with detailed audio descriptions of every scene on your Mac. Movies with audio descriptions are displayed with the AD icon in the iTunes Store.

VoiceOverNavigate VoiceOver with simple gestures.

You can control VoiceOver using many of the same gestures you use with iOS. Touch the trackpad to hear a description of the item under your finger, drag to hear items continuously, and flick to move to the next item. Enable the VoiceOver Trackpad Commander, and the trackpad surface will represent the current window or document, so you can navigate quickly to any corner or edge with a tap.

VoiceOverA virtual controller with customizable commands.

VoiceOver features a virtual control called the rotor. Turning the rotor — by rotating two fingers on the trackpad as if you were turning an actual dial — lets you access an array of fully customizable commands. Use it to browse web pages more efficiently and intuitively. The rotor lists common elements like “headings,” “links,” and “images,” and lets you navigate directly to the element of your choosing.

VoiceOverPlug-and-play support for braille displays.

VoiceOver is the first screen reader to provide plug-and-play support for refreshable braille displays. Plug in or sync one of over 100 compatible displays, and the VoiceOver description is presented to you in braille. In macOS High Sierra, you can edit seamlessly in Grade 2 Braille, viewing your edits in the context of the actual line of text. Converting between braille and text happens automatically so you see only Grade 2 Braille. VoiceOver is also the only screen reader that supports more than one braille display at a time. So in a meeting or class, you can present what’s on your screen to multiple braille users simultaneously. And for sighted users who sit alongside you, there’s an onscreen braille panel that displays both braille and plain-text versions of the descriptions spoken by VoiceOver.

Dark ModeWorking hard gets easier on the eyes.

Dark Mode transforms the desktop and built-in apps with a new dark color scheme that helps you focus on your work.² The fine points of your content take center screen as toolbars and menus recede into the background. Light text against darker backdrops in Mail, Safari Reader, Calendar, and more makes everything easier to read in low lighting conditions. And the Accessibility preferences for increased contrast and reduced transparency work with Dark Mode enabled.

DictationYou say it. Mac types it.

Dictation lets you talk where you would type — and it works in over 40 languages. So you can reply to an email, search the web, or write a report using just your voice. Navigate to any text field, activate Dictation, then say what you want to write. macOS also comes with more than 50 editing and formatting commands. So you can turn on Dictation and tell your Mac to bold a paragraph, delete a sentence, or replace a word. You can also use Automator workflows to create your own Dictation commands.

SiriStreamline the things you do every day.

Siri helps you do more with your desktop.³ Ask Siri to send messages, track down files, create reminders, search the web, and even turn on and off VoiceOver and Invert Colors, without interrupting what you’re doing on the keyboard. And because Siri is integrated with VoiceOver, you can ask it to find a file and hear the answer read out loud. If you prefer to communicate by typing, you can easily set Siri to “Type to Siri” mode.

ZoomMake your screen up to 20 times bigger.

Zoom is a powerful built-in magnifier that lets you enlarge your screen up to 20 times, so you can better see what’s on the display. Set up a shortcut for quickly zooming in and out by selecting “Use scroll gesture with modifier keys to zoom” in the Zoom pane of Accessibility in System Preferences. You can zoom using full screen or picture-in-picture, allowing you to see the zoomed area in a separate window while keeping the rest of the screen at its native size. A shortcut key lets you pan the screen without moving the pointer while zoomed in. macOS can also flash the screen for notifications offscreen or speak text under your pointer. The hardware acceleration engine lets you boost the size of everything on your screen — text on a web page, family photos, a place on a map.

Cursor SizeMagnify your cursor so it’s easier to use.

macOS lets you magnify your cursor so it’s easier to see where you are and follow along as you move around your Mac. Set the cursor size once and it stays magnified even when its shape changes. And when you swipe back and forth on your trackpad or quickly shake your mouse, the pointer grows so it’s easier to locate.

Contrast OptionsInvert colors or enable grayscale.

If a higher contrast or a lack of color helps you better see what’s on your display, macOS lets you invert colors or enable grayscale onscreen. Once you set your preferences, they apply systemwide, so you get the same view in every app. You can also turn on Increase Contrast to enhance definition and reduce transparency in some apps.

Reduce MotionDecrease the movement of onscreen elements.

If you’re affected by the motion of screen elements, you can turn on Reduce Motion to decrease movement in areas like Spaces, Notification Center, and the Dock.

iTunesNavigate and play content with VoiceOver.

iTunes is compatible with VoiceOver, so you can navigate and play all the content in your iTunes library even if you can’t see the screen. Browse the iTunes Store as VoiceOver reads out headers, links, and other elements on the page.

Resources

User Guides

External Resources

Explore instructional videos with tips on using vision accessibility features in macOS.

Join a community of blind and low-vision users of Apple products.

Get information on the use of Apple products by those who are blind or low vision.

Audio Readers For Visually Impaired