Slashdot Mirror
Developing PC's for the Legally Blind?
Jon asks: "My father is legally blind, to the point of not being able to see more then just a vague
shadow, if even that. His one hope has always been to use a computer. I've decided to
build him a PC that would allow him to send and receive email as well as read the weather
to him, yet not require any voice recognition. Input would be done by showing him where
certain function keys are and possible putting special marks he can learn on the rest of
the keys. Has any of the slashdot readers tackeled a project like this before? I've seen several projects, yet none that seem like a good solution, or are not complete. Any insight you have would be greatly appreciated."
My client is literally blind in that all he can see are vague shapes. He is also a hard-core smoker and his voice is fairly inconsistant.
He uses JAWS which is a program that reads information on the screen. I find it terribly annoying but he likes it's functionality.
He wanted voice input... and I called a number of vendors including IBM's voice project etc... but all of them said NO GOOD for nearly blind users as the training sessions are very long and involved and the user has to READ the screen (impossible).
He received a few weeks ago a flyer about the QPOINTER software product. This product is fairly new and not much is out there. I contacted the company and they said training was fairly short (15 minutes or so). I inquired if I could print out the training sessions and they (very nicely I might add) had their programmers send me the training sessions as text files. I printed them out in 2-inch high Arial Black letters on paper (29 pages worth) and brought them over and said "can you read these" and he said "nope". Great... but we installed the software anyway. The training system allowed me to pause so I would pause it, read a couple words to him and then un-pause and he would repeat them. We trained for about 3 hours and indeed it would open up the browser for him, etc. One problem was that he couln't read the visual cues that QPOINTER pops up - but by placing things in a KNOWN order I was able to get him around that.
However, when it came time to entering URL's etc... we were only able to get about 10% accuracy from the program - mainly due to the fact that his voice, after years of smoking, is terribly inconsistant. We retrained for a couple of hours on another day but to no improvement. Thus - we scrapped the voice input idea since he would have no idea if it recognized words and letters correctly or not.
At this point, frustrated, I realized that since I can type totally with MY eyes closed, he should be able to as well. Unfortunatly, he doesn't know how to type - but his wife used to be a typing instructor so... I went out and purchased him the ergonomic MS keyboard (the one with the huge split down the middle). I did this because that keyboard makes finding the proper keys easier due to the split (you don't need to hunt for the raised bump). His wife is currently going to try to teach him to type, and once he gets that down I'm going to go over the special key functions and try to make it work for him.
This is an area ripe for development. As us geeks get older we will encounter the same problems and we WILL demand a solution. Voice recognition is great, but it doesn't work except as a productivity enhancement (e.g., you still need to be able to read). A bigger screen would not help because no matter how big the letters are, he can't read them. Same for a head-up display. And voice input on a system that is ALSO doing voice output provides it's own set of problems (solved currently by using a headset mic).
Good luck - and let us know if you will, how this went for you!!
Aloha
Lets Start from the top. I really enjoy helping my visually impared friend use his computer (he doesn't NEED my help to use it regularly, but to install things he is unfamiliar with, or set up things which involve heavy Direct X it helps to have someone who can see the screen.)
Now, I haven't set him up with an audio linux box yet, mostly because I can't get parts together. But I have heard that someone has made a mod for quake (or was it doom) that let you use it in an audio only mode.
Braille "displays" exist today, but are expensive.
As to keyboard markings and such almost every keyboard I have today has raised bars or dots on F and J, sombody thought it was funny to put them on D and K on my first keyboard so in the dark at times I forget where the keys are.
When I watch a blind person use a keyboard, (ITS BETTER TO USE A NORMAL ONE) they start by centering themselves on the keys, and if they have to find an uncommon key the gaps between the different types of keys help in sightless recognition.
ALSO almost any screen reader can be set up to say EVERY letter you type (T Y P E, TYPE.) So if you misplace your hand for a second you can move it back to where it needs to be.
If he is visually impared and physically handicapped in some way the issue may be more difficult, in that case a speech recognition system would probably pay off. But from the sounds of it a regular keyboard (possibly with bars on F and J instead of dots) works well.
Horribly so, I would reccomend a MS/Internet Pro keyboard as you can program things like mail etc and that's not to difficult to use while sightless. (count the buttons from the left etc.)
Whatever you do, for his personal computer get several copies of the same keyboard in case one breaks (2-3.)
University Libraries have computers that are accessible by the visually impared AND in some cases even some of the labs as well.
Jaws/Window Eyes are 2 of the *only* programs available for windows users, the brlspk linux distro I have never tried, and would like to test the usability of. I regularly use festival for personal uses (and for making book.txts into mp3s) and from my experience with Festival/Viavoice I would say it's indeed possible to have an easy to use linux distro... so I should probably buckle down and try out brlspk
If you really want to get a Braille display then you should really shell out the cash (they have already been tested thoroughly and are in most cases warranteed for many years.)
I hope that a few items that have made things work for me will help-I've got one foot in each camp, so to speak, as a result of a detached retina in my right[dominant] eye which was notable to be surgically repaired well enough to give me any better than [corrected] about 20/85 in that eye, which is just shy of the 'legaly-blind' mark. My other eye has full function, with fully correctable presbyopia [that's the $2 word for post 30 far-sighted] Money has been in very short supply for the three years I've been dealing with this situation, so these are all either free or damn cheap. 1} Just 'good' lighting ain't enough. My desk lights are a Luxo ring-light/magnifier [go for quality here-it matters] witha cool-white tube; and an overhead halogen about 2 feet above the keyboard controled by a variac. A dimmer would do, but being able to kick the voltage to the little spot [one of the 2-pin bulbs about 1 inch long-100 W] UP to140 volts is the edge I sometimes need! 2] Ive got two monitors going-both CRT. A Princeton Graphics 17 inch and a Sony 19 inch 500PS Trinotron which I use for text. Good contrast is the critical factor here-not excessive. If it's not right here, exhausting on top of useless is a really lousy combination! I'm still experimenting with fonts: right now I'm using Andale Mono and News Gothic Condensed, both of which I think came with Windows 98SE. [$$] 3] The best keyboard I've found in the cheap/free catagory is the KeyTronics 101/301. Good feel, positive both in feel and sound and with keyws that seem 'better spaced' than most. I haven't had the chance to try any of the big-key types and [Dei Gra] get by without. 4] The Kensington Expert Mouse Pro trackball is the thing that makes it all come together and work for me--4 BIG buttons and a big comfortable ball and the MouseWorks [a little frustrating at first, but NOT buggy] beats all hell out of that Microsoft abortion that I've mercifly forgotten the name of. The magnifier that comes with the ATI HYDRAVISION is MUCH better than the windows Accessability [HA!] version, but I have no idea if it will work with any other video cards. I hope my half[not assed] experiances are of help to you and your father and to...?
Thelma, I'm not making ANY deals.