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."