Brief overview of GMU Assistive Technology Initiative

Free & low cost AT tools for students with low vision and blindness

AT solutions for the classroom that go beyond individual needs

Question & Answer

Our mission is to help provide individuals with disabilities an accessible university environment by supporting access to all technological, architectural, and educational resources available at George Mason University through the incorporation of assistive technologies, the provision of technical support, and the development of university-wide strategies for universal access.

1.Informal Assistive Technology Assessments

2.Provision of Accessible Text Services

3.Assistive Technology Labs

4.Technical Assistance for ITU and Library personnel on AT-related issues

5.Section 508/Web Accessibility Training and Support

ATI Partnerships - Office of Disability Services Equity Office Information Technology Unit University Libraries Kellar Institute Environmental Health & Safety Learning Services OLLI

Screen Enlarging Software ZoomText Xtra

Screen Reading Software JAWS for Windows

Closed Circuit Television (CCTV)

Optical Character Recognition Scan & Read Pro WYNN

Photos taken from http://www.wisconsinlowvision.com/Topazpage.html.

Dry Erase Board/Writing pad

TTY/TDD – Text Telephone Device for the Deaf NexTalk Workplace

http://www.nextalk.com/products/workplace A

ssistive Listening Devices ComTek Wireless (FM)

Area-wide/Personal http://www.comtek.com/assistive.html

SoundChoice (IR)D

ocSoft (captioning)i

Communicator – Voice recognition software with signing capabilities http://www.myicommunicator.com/ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmDVEvJYQV4

Document Reading/Writing/Scanning WYNN Wizard/Reader Premier Accessibility Suite

Voice Recognition Dragon Naturally Speaking Professional

Adapted/Alternative Keyboards & Mice Microsoft Natural Keyboard Type Matrix keyboard Trackball Mice Large Print keyboards

Voice Recognition Dragon Naturally Speaking Professional

Photos taken from http://www.infogrip.com/product_view.asp?RecordNumber=12. .

Libraries (JC, Arlington (O/L), Mercer) WYNN Wizard JAWS for Windows ZoomText Xtra (http://www.aisquared.com/index.cfm) Premier Accessibility Suite (http://www.readingmadeez.com

) Dragon Naturally Speaking CCTV

Helen Kellar Institute AT Lab Training & Demonstration

EdWord

Free talking word processor Allows for multiple users and

different levels of learning http://www.deafblindonline.org.uk

Pros Free Manual, Email support Speech follows keyboard and Mouse cursor Basic word-processing Multiple users, Different levels

Cons No voicing through start-up menu (use Narrator)

Photo taken from http://www.deafblindonline.org.uk.

WordTalk

Free text-to-speech plug-in for MS Word Talking Spell Check with Synonym list/replace function Hotkeys support (must be enabled from configuration menu) Word tracking /highlighting http://www.wordtalk.co.uk/Home/

Pros Free A lot of support (email, FAQ, documentation) Works within MS Word 2000, XP, 2003, 2007

Cons Designed more for individuals with LD as opposed to vision loss

Photo taken from http://www.wordtalk.co.uk/Home/.

Desktop Zoom v3.4

Free screen magnification tool Includes speech access (mouseover) http://users.telenet.be/littlegems/My

Soft/DesktopZoom/Index.html

Pros Free Speech support Full access to computer system Smoothing, some mouse cursor

manipulation

Cons Vista support with Aero turned off

Photo taken from http://users.telenet.be/littlegems/MySoft/DesktopZoom/Index.html .

Virtual Magnifying Glass

Free screen magnification tool Works with both Mac OS and Windows Can run off of a thumb drive, provides

access at any workstation http://magnifier.sourceforge.net/

Pros Free Full access to computer system No mouse in magnifier view

Cons No speech No mouse in magnifier view

Photo taken from http://magnifier.sourceforge.net/. .

Magnification within Mac OS X

Included in every version of Mac OS X Compatibility with over 100 different applications Screen magnification, high-contrast settings Smoothing settings Focus feature Features for users with low vision

& blindness (captioning, Braille support, etc)

Pros Free, comes with Mac OS X Combine with VoiceOver for Reader/Magnifier solution Only pay for computer system Very few keystrokes to learn

Cons No phone-based technical support/user’s forums/email

Photo taken from http://atmac.org/voiceover-for-sighted-users/.

VoiceOver in Mac OS X 10.5

Free screen reading application included in every version of Mac OS X

Compatibility with over 100 different applications Clear responsive speech, lots

of customization Features for users with low vision

& blindness (focus tool, captioning, Braille support)

Pros Free, comes with Mac OS X Great deal of customization Mac Editor fully supported, spell checking/advanced formatting

Cons Learning curve for Windows screen-reader users No phone-based technical support

Photo taken from http://atmac.org/voiceover-for-sighted-users/.

Thunder Screen Reader

Free screen-reading application Developed by Sensory Software Ltd. http://www.screenreader.net http://www.screenreader4free.eu/download.html#thunder

(available in other languages…German, French, Italian, etc.)

Pros Free Help manuals, Email support Basic word-processing, email, and Internet access Can run from USB

Cons Free intermittent crashes/freezes

Photo taken from http://www.screenreader.net.

System Access To Go

Free web-resident version of System Access screen reader http://www.satogo.com Also visit, http://www.serotek.com for standalone and mobile

versions of System Access. Standalone and Mobile versions inexpensive compared to Jaws/WindowEyes (~$1200). $399 and $449, respectively.

Offers full access to computer system after installation of plug-in.

Pros Free Very responsive Works on virtually any machine connected to Internet No longer required to purchase SMAs for paid versions;

upgrades and updates are free

Cons Must be connected to Internet

Non Visual Desktop Access (NVDA)

Open source screen reading application Developed by two blind developers http://www.nvda-project.org Offers full access to computer system – word processing, email, Internet

access

Pros Free Has been around for 3-4 years and it continues to gain support Online documentation, email support Keyboard help feature Supports Refreshable Braille displays Partnership with Mozilla Foundation (Firefox, Thunderbird, etc.) Can run from USB

Cons Open-source, which means that it may not always work as intended Weak support for IE at this time Slow growth

WebAnywhere

Non-visual interface to web that requires no software or downloads. Enables individuals with blindness and low vision to access the web

with speech from any workstation with access to Internet. http://wa.cs.washington.edu YouTube video demonstration:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfjD06aOxts

Pros Free Easy to use Works on virtually any machine (PC or Mac) connected to Internet

Cons Slow Still an alpha release Digitized voice synthesizer cannot be changed

WebbIE Web Browser

Web browser for individuals with blindness and low vision

Comes with the accessible programs, letting you access news and audio on the Internet in a simple and accessible way, allowing you to use podcasts, listen to the radio (all over world) and read RSS and news with your screen reader or other access solution.

http://www.webbie.org.uk

Pros Free Phone, Email support Some low vision support as well Other apps (accessible radio player, PDF

reader, podcast app, etc.) Cons

Must switch to IE for images

Photos taken from http://www.webbie.org.uk.

Firefox Browser – N-Abled Web Accessibility Toolbar Add-on

Mozilla browser toolbar extension Allows for background color and font size changes Mouseover text-to-speech can be activated by clicking

speaker button http://www.nabled.co.uk/

Pros Free Designed for individuals with low vision

Cons Speech announces everything under cursor

Photo taken from http://www.nabled.co.uk/ .

IE/Firefox/Opera/Google Chrome Web Browsers – Zoom feature

Resizes entire web page including images and layout, not just text

Pros Built into most web browsers Designed for individuals with low vision Access at virtually any computer (PC or Mac)

Cons Some browsers do not have word wrap feature No speech

Photo taken from http://mozillalinks.org/wp/2008/06/tweak-firefox-3-full-page-zoom/.

Firefox Browser – GlaZoom Add-on

Accessibility tool allowing the user to right-click on a block of text or image and adapt the full-zoom factor so the whole block/image fits into the browser's viewport

Works by right-clicking on element and selecting “Zoom on Element”

Pros Free, Add-on to Firefox browser Designed for individuals with low vision Depending on set up, access at virtually any Windows computer

Cons Mozilla Firefox needs to be installed

and updated on system

Firefox Browser v3.0 – MozBraille

It is an extension to transform Mozilla or Firefox to a stand alone accessible Internet browser designed for blind or partially sighted users .

Don’t need a screenreader, offers three displays of output: A Braille output on a Braille terminal A text to speech output A big characters view

MozBraille is a part of the VICKIE project. The main goal of this project is to create an electronic school bag for visually impaired children. So the main output is the Braille and the less important is the text to speech because students have to listen their teacher.

Photo taken from http://mozbraille.mozdev.org/.

Firefox Browser v3.0 – MozBraille

Pros Free Supports SAPI 5 speech and over 30

Braille displays “Fake “ Terminal for

developers/teachers Manages caret movements and

selection on the Braille view

Cons Beta version – software cannot be

used alone at this time Promising start, but a long way to go

Photo taken from http://mozbraille.mozdev.org/.

Text Cloner Pro

Scanning package designed to work with user’s existing screen reader (i.e. Jaws, WindowEyes, ZT)

Less than $100 http://www.readingmadeez.com/pr

oducts/TextClonerPro.html

Pros Low cost Student can use their own screen

reader to access scanned documents Supports multiple languages Recognizes columns Works with ADFs Basic word processing Output in MS Word or RTF formats

Scan & Read Pro

Less than $150 http://www.readingmadeez.c

om/products/ScanReadPro.html

Pros Low cost Low vision features (Zoom,

word tracking) Supports multiple languages Can create audio files (*.mp3)

Louis – Mac Braille Translator

Full-featured Braille translator for Apple Macintosh Full Mac GUI with VoiceOver. Full online and local documentation. Translation of MS Word, text, XML, HTML DocBook, DAISY/NIMAS,

NewsML, rtf. Ability to learn new XML based formats. Support for a wide range of languages. Support for MathML to nemeth translation. http://w3.wmcnet.org/braille/louis/

Pros Free Online support Compatible with VoiceOver

HTML2Braille Online

Converts English web pages to English Grade 2 Braille

User inserts URL, name of file, 2 checkboxes (show links as footnotes, no output for images without alt tags)

File is saved as .brl

Pros Free service Also a html2Braille Mac OSX version,

http://w3.wmcnet.org/braille/html2braille/html2braille.php

Photo taken from http://w3.wmcnet.org/braille/html2braille/html2braille.php.

Perky Duck

Simple Braille Editor Free http://www.duxburysystems.c

om/products.asp#freeware

Pros Free Easy to use. Good building

block application for Duxbury.

QuickTac

Simple Braille Graphics software

http://www.duxburysystems.com/products.asp#freeware

Pros Free Can create simple shapes and

designs Images can be imported into

Dux 10.7 and MegaDots

WinBraille

WinBraille translates, formats and automatically adjusts your text for your braille embosser. Supports contracted and uncontracted braille in more than 40 languages.

Free to use with Index Braille Embosser Handles many file types - MS Office, PDF, email Also supports structured documents in WinBraille Pro; tables, adjustable line

spacing, hyphenation, Braille Mathematics using MS Equation Editor, Header/Footer, Bullet lists, Tactile graphics 0.5 mm resolution (coming in May 2009)

Pros Free User-friendly iBraille, Mac version

Cons Costly, if you do not have an Index Embosser Structured document support (Pro version)

Photo taken from http://w3.wmcnet.org/braille/html2braille/html2braille.php.

MS “Save as DAISY” Plug-In (Authoring Tool)

Plug-in allows the user to create DAISY DTBooks from MS Word documents. You can select to generate the DAISY XML for further processing, or you can generate a fully conforming DAISY file set with full navigation and full text synchronized with audio.

The audio is generated by the default text-to-speech (TTS) engine on your Windows computer.

Pros Free Allows the user to create their own DAISY DTBook out of one document or

several documents Very easy to use Can manage abbreviations/acronyms

Cons Confusing, creates DAISY v2.02 file and a v3.0 file Not much information on which players to use

Photo taken from http://www.daisy.org/projects/save-as-daisy-microsoft/.

“AMIS” DAISY Player

‘AMIS’ stands for Adaptive Multimedia Information System AMIS is a software program that you can use to read DAISY books. It is self-

voicing, meaning that no specialized screen-reading software is needed in order for it to be used by visually impaired people.

AMIS is open source software and is provided free of charge. http://www.daisy.org/projects/amis/

Pros Works with Jaws, WindowEyes, Hal and Supernova screen readers Supports several formats: DAISY 2.02, DAISY/NISO 2005, Full text + full

audio, Audio + NCX, Text-only Several languages (Chinese, French, Norwegian, etc.) Actively supported (latest update is May 2009) Easy to use Bookmarking capability High Contrast settings

Premier Accessibility Suite

Offer free education grants. Free for first year, maintenance costs each additional year.

Collection of reading and writing tools E-text reader (low vision) Talking Calculator Talking Dictionary Talking Word Processor Scan & Read Pro Etc….

http://www.readingmadeez.com Premier AT Home

Student has access to same tools at home as at school Cost: $399.95 for entire suite if purchased individually

Photo taken from http://www.readingmadeez.com.

Zoom-Twix (low vision)

Portable CCTV/Scanning solution Software has its own speech synthesizer Scans multiple languages Purchase one or two units for a school

system and several software licenses (5-10). Use the device to quickly scan textbooks, testing materials, etc to provide to students in text, LP, electronic formats

Distance camera allows students to follow along on whiteboard, take snapshots of whiteboard and save them to computer for review later

http://www.abisee.com

Pros Weighs 1 lb, easy to transport Base is 8.5” x 11”

Cons Cost: $2500-$2800 per unit + software

licenses

Photo taken from http://www.abisee.com.

LiveScribe Pulse Pen

Smartpen records and links audio to what you write, so you never miss a word during lectures or meetings.

Pen can be docked to computer and notes downloaded to computer (“LiveScribe Desktop”)

http://www.livescribe.com MyScript software converts handwritten notes into

digital text Possible solution for note-takers…audio and digital

notes could be made available to students with low vision and blindness

Pros 1GB and 2 GB models Paper can now be printed on LaserJet printers Cost: $150 (1GB), $200 (2GB)

Cons Not for everyone, will only benefit certain students Using note-takers still only solution for blind

students with this solution

Photo taken from http://www.livescribe.com.

http://www.abisee.com, Zoom-Twix CCTV http://www.readingmadeez.com, Premier Accessibility Suite & http://www.readingmadeez.com/education/grant.html, Premier free education grant http://www.livescribe.com, Livescribe Pulse Pen http://www.duxburysystems.com/products.asp#freeware, Duxbury Systems freeware http://w3.wmcnet.org/braille/html2braille/html2braille.php, html2Braille online http://w3.wmcnet.org/braille/louis/, Louis Mac Braille Translator http://www.readingmadeez.com/products/TextClonerPro.html, Text Cloner Pro http://www.readingmadeez.com/products/ScanandReadPro.html, Scan & Read Pro http://mozillalinks.org/wp/2008/06/tweak-firefox-3-full-page-zoom, Firefox Browser

Full Page Zoom http://www.nabled.co.uk/, Firefox Browser – N-Abled Web Accessibility Toolbar http://www.webbie.org.uk, WebbIE browser http://wa.cs.washington.edu, WebAnywhere http://www.nvda-project.org, Non Visual Desktop Access http://atmac.org/voiceover-for-sighted-users/, VoiceOver for Mac OSX http://www.satogo.com, System Access To Go http://www.screenreader.net, Thunder Screenreader http://users.telenet.be/littlegems/MySoft/DesktopZoom/Index.html, Desktop Zoom http://www.issist.ca, iZoom screen magnification http://www.deafblindonline.org.uk, EdWord software http://mozillalinks.org/wp/2008/06/tweak-firefox-3-full-page-zoom/, Glazoom http://www.daisy.org/projects/amis/ , AMIS DAISY Player http://www.daisy.org/projects/save-as-daisy-microsoft/, Microsoft

“Save As DAISY” plug-in.

Korey Singleton

Assistive Technology Initiative (ATI) Manager

George Mason University

Office Phone: 703-993-2143

E-mail: ksinglet@gmu.edu

Web: http://ati.gmu.edu