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Computing for Near-Blind Children?
mjpaci asks: "One of my co-workers has a son, age 12, who is visually impaired among other problems. He is smart, charismatic, and funny--an all around good kid. Due to complications during his mother's pregnancy, he is near-blind. His father is a saint and spends many hours each night helping his child with homework. The problem is that the child is now taking Social Studies in junior high and has great trouble with geography as he cannot read the maps in the book even with his 'overhead visualizer.' Can Slashdot help me help this child?"
"One of my clients has donated 21" monitors to him in the past and they have helped. The real rub is, even with the large monitors, the child cannot read maps when zoomed-in on. The father has looked to the end of the earth for good, hi-res maps that can be magnified without great pixelization. Are there any good sources out there for hi-res maps for educational purposes or a software package that could help? Questions like: Find the largest city on the Mississippi River and what is the Capitol of the South American country to the west of Surinam are hard for the child as his view of the map is very constrained."
I use Garmin's Mapsource quite a bit which, whilst not being the prettiest, turns detail off as you zoom out and adds it as you zoom in, which sounds like it could be helpful.
It isn't cheap, but, I am sure if you contacted their PR department and explained what you wanted to do with it, they would have a hard time coming off as anything other than heartless and moneygrabbing should you they refuse to give you a gratis/cheap copy.
The North American web demo of their maps (link near the top right) does similar and may even do the trick, and, is free to use.
As for large screen helping, a cheap projector and a dark room would be a better logical alternative than a big screen it would seem to me, but then again, I hardly know whereof I speak.
I feel for your coworker's predicament. My mother and brother have had a total of about fifteen surgeries between them to correct vision problems mostly stemming from retinas that have a tendency to detach, and complicatons thereof. The condition has many of the symptoms of a connective tissue disorder called Stichler-Sachs, but not all. In many cases, it boils down to a combination of the aforementioned, and a nearsightedness that puts a strain on the eye from its length. I got away with one surgery twenty years ago, while my mom and brother have basic vision of shapes and/or colors (with no semblance of stability in sight).
Regardless, I've been through much of this before. First off, make sure his school is accomodating with a IEP (individualized education program)/504 setup. There are many things you can do, but without help from the school, it's won't help. Many accomodations can be made "behind the scenes" and without making the child self-conscious. There are some things that the child can't totally hide, and in this case a sense of humor is particularly helpful.
Many times, the school can obtain (at the school's expense) extra-large versions of books, graphics, diagrams and the like. I know when I was a kid, we had a few raised (molded) topographical maps (? somebody help me out, I can't think of what the right description is) sitting around. I know they also have globes, but they may not be as "high-resolution" if he's studying, say, state geography. They're also not that difficult to make, which can be a family project. The point is to cover all the bases by connecting knowledge with touch and what little sight he may have: think teaching art via texture and collage and sculpture as opposed to traditional "visibles".
In this case, geography may require a rewritten or oral test for the child. Since he had to learn it differently, it may have to be tested differently. YMMV based on what the parents and educator think is best.
Many different ideas can fun or degrading, depending on how severe the disability is; that's true of many accomodations, so it's important to be sensitive to the child's attitude, especially at this age, and moreso in a few years.
Whatever your suggestion and the parents' decision, it won't be a quick fix; this is a long road. I know from experience, however, that with a lot of support, it's definitely doable. I wish you the best of luck. (I will gladly answer questions if you e-mail or reply to this post.)
Emacspeak is a speech interface that allows blind and visually impaired users to interact independently and efficiently with the computer. Available free of cost on the Internet, Emacspeak has dramatically changed how the author and hundreds of blind and visually impaired users around the world interact with the personal computer and the Internet.
In my humble opinion Emacspeak is the most advanced voice enabled user interface currently available. If I wouldn't have seen a trained Emacspeak user reading his email faster that I ever could I never would have believed it. Did you ever see a person which is blind playing Tetris amazingly fast? It sounds incredible. Emacspeak makes it possible.
I won't tell you that you don't need some training until you are at home with Emacspeak. But if you are willing to invest some efforst, chances are good that you will be able to handle your computer faster than many sighted users.
When reading, writing, designing, or programming, the totally blind individual is inevitably restricted to a one dimensional world, be it speech or braille. This linear stream may take the form of a single-line display on a braille output device, or the words spoken by a speech synthesizer. There are brief moments when the blind user can enjoy the benefits of a 2-dimensional presentation. If he has a braille printer he might print out a chart or spread sheet and explore it with both hands. Indeed, when I studied mathematics at U.C. Berkeley I often had to write the equation, or set of related equations down in braille, and review it as a whole, before I understood it. However, one rarely has the time to construct such a two-dimensional tactile representation, similar to the screen or the printed page. As a general rule we must admit that the blind user is stuck in one dimension.
Unfortunately, almost all modern applications present information in a two-dimensional format, and most employ graphical icons that have no meaning for the blind. Since it is impractical to rewrite all these applications, the blind community has been forced to perform a rather awkward retrofit, using various adapters. We should recognize that this is not the ideal solution. Pasting a screen reader on top of Netscape makes it accessible, but the result is hardly efficient.
Over the past decade a small minority of blind users have discovered Linux, a free, text-based operating system for the home computer. Linux applications rarely employ graphics, and most of them are already linear, just like the mode (speech or braille) that is our Karma. All other things being equal, Linux is the best operating system for a blind user.
Of course things aren't always equal. If your job requires the use of a proprietary order entry system that only runs on Windows, then you'll be using Windows, with an adapter that tries to make the application somewhat accessible. But this scenario is actually quite rare. An employer may insist on a Microsoft Word document, but that doesn't force you to use Windows. You can write html code on Linux and mail it to your boss, who can then import it into Word. Conversely, your co-workers can easily export their Word documents into html for your benefit. There are very few reasons why you must use Windows. Let's assume you are considering Linux, where the applications are less graphical. That's a fair assumption, since you're already visiting this web site.
If you watch a sighted Linux user for an hour, you will notice that he spends most of his time in screen applications. He doesn't need the labyrinth of "helpful" menus and drop down boxes that Windows is famous for, and he has no patience for the "are you sure you want to do that" and "click ok if you really want to quit" dialog boxes, and he
Along those lines, I think it would be a good idea to check out Apple's Accessibility Page. It does a fairly good job with the technologies that are currently in OS X and gives information on OS X's compliance with Section 508 of the Workforce Investment Act Of 1998 or Rehabilitation Act. (IIRC)
Apple also does a good job linking to third party software from that page. I think it would be definitely worth a look, good luck and let us know how it turns out!
Argh. The laws of science be a harsh mistress.
The CIA World Factbook has some EXCELLENT reference maps, available in 100% vector PDF (meaning they can be infinitely scaled without any pixellation).
I am a technology coordinator for a special education service agency and so have some experience with assistive technology. Step one is find a local assistive technology (AT) library in your region so you can borrow and try different devices and/or software mentioned here. Most states have these libraries located in various regions. Next, I suggest trying some free software. If you search, I am sure you can find a freeware screen magnifier (I know I have used one with students before). Another suggestion is to modify the normal.dot template in Word or create a Word Template as a shortcut on the desktop (with large icons of course) to a special use template. Use contrasting background/text colors and a large size font. The best color combination depends on the user, but a classic is blue/black background and yellow text. If you are looking at screen readers or other text to speech, I suggest first downloading ReadPlease. This is a freeware reader with a pay version and a pay IE addin available. The website is http://www.readplease.com For the free version, you can copy and paste in text and have it read aloud. Not great, but a good place to start. For a much more expensive investment, though probably worth it if reading is a probblem, is Kurzweil 3000. This program is simply amazing. You use it with a scanner: it can scan in any printed text and then parse out the text to read it aloud. You can zoom in to increase size of images and text. A trial is available on the website at http://www.kurzweil.com Again, your best bet is to work within your school system to access an AT library or find other solutions. If the child is receiving services as an exceptional child (special needs) then Medicare may cover expense of some devices.
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