kestrell | What apps and technologies are readers with disabilities using?

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This is from the Bookshare Blog, so it reflects a specific subsection of readers with visual and print disabilities, but my advice is to support that the trend toward using mainstream tech and avoiding assistive tech as much as possible.
http://bookshareblog.wpengine.com/2019/03/apps-bookshare-members-use/

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From:

duskpeterson

Yeah, I chose not to jump through the hoops that the State of Maryland placed in front of blind folks who wanted to get a grant to buy assistive technology. They wanted me to get a blindness expert to assess which technology I needed. I was like, "What the heck? I'm a professional writer; I know exactly which equipment I need. Why should I get some so-called expert to say that I need a braille monitor in order to keep editing my writings?" And they wouldn't help me obtain assistive technology for my daily life, only assistive tech that would help me earn money. So I took myself out of the state-assistance system.

As it turned out, the doctors were able to improve my eyesight to the point where I didn't need expensive assistive tech in order to do my work. Well, except for a scanner and OCR program, but friends and family stepped in to supply me with that. At any rate, the state's paternalism left a bad taste in my mouth.

Your case sounds absolutely dreadful! I'm in awe of you for your courage in making it through all of that. I would have gone off and curled up in a corner to whimper for several years in the face of all that.

My situation was sort of the opposite of yours, because my vision loss occurred to me when I was well into adulthood. I always expected that the authorities would automatically step in and help me if I became blind; that's the way it always happened in the books I read as a kid about blind people. But nobody showed up at my doorway or gave me any assistance in navigating the system except my blind friend, bless her. Without her, I don't know what I would have done, because when the vision loss started, I couldn't read even large fonts with my eyes, and I had no assistive technology, so I had no access to the Internet or to any other information on what to do.

From:

kestrell

The "no one stepped in" thing happens often but, by law, ophthamologists who have a patient who is legally blind *are* supposed to step in and at least tell them they qualify for services and, if the person wishes it, the ophthamologist is then required to contact that state's Commission for the Blind and start the paperwork so the oph. can do the appropriate verification.

Re my medical and personal history: when I say "Books saved my life," I'm not speaking metaphorically. They're my therapy and my anti-depressant, so you can see why this issue of visually impaired people having access to the tech they need to read is something I feel very passionate about.

From:

duskpeterson

Ah, so I just wasn't blind enough to make the assistance alarm bells go off. To his credit, though, my ophthalmologist did certify me as visually impaired when I requested him to, so I was able to sign up for libraries for the blind.

I'm absolutely with you concerning books. I was a writer and insatiable reader, and suddenly I couldn't read books, except audio books, which I didn't much care for. I kept having dreams of going to bookstores or libraries and taking home books, and then I'd wake up and know that I couldn't read any of my thousands of books. I couldn't even read my own stories.

Braille and accessible tech made things so much better, but the first year was tough, because NLS didn't own most of my favorite books; apparently, fat fantasy novels weren't popular items for transcribing into braille or taping as talking books. Bookshare hadn't yet opened, and though my father passed on to me his scanner and OCR program, the scanner was slow and the OCR primitive. And of course there were very few e-books out there.

What saved me was finding fanfic and originalfic at the beginning of 2002. Suddenly I had a large body of fiction to read once more.

From:

kestrell

I just read this on Cool Blind Tech: are you already aware of the new Voice Dream scanner?

https://coolblindtech.com/voice-dream-scanner-now-available-for-ios/

From:

duskpeterson

Yes, I got an email from Voice Dream itself about their new scanner. It's very exciting news; I use Voice Dream's other apps daily.

From:

kestrell

Does this software only work with iOS? I've tried ABBY Fine scanner software and it's really complicated--I would love a simple, inexpensive scanner program.

From:

duskpeterson

Voice Dream Scanner is only available in iOS, I'm afraid. There are various free scanning and OCR programs for Windows; Microsoft has some built in. One website I found mentions a Microsoft program called Office Lens. It says, "Office Lens (Windows 10 and Office 365): Use document camera to capture image of printed page directly into Microsoft Word, OneNote, or OneDrive; then use Immersive Reader (part of Learning Tools) to read aloud."

End quote. However, if you find as you're developing your plans that you're drawn to iOS programs, you might consider getting an iPod Touch to supplement your new laptop. Like all Apple computers, the iPod Touch has a built-in screen reader. The iPod Touch doesn't last forever, because its battery can't be replaced, but the 32 gigabyte version only costs $200, which is cheap by Apple standards.

I would never give up my laptop; it's so useful for writing. But I find that mobile devices are a lot handier for e-reading, because one can carry mobile devices around the house and even outside the house. I do a lot of e-reading while I'm doing housework, or when I'm curled up in a papasan, or when I'm in bed while I'm sick. I couldn't easily do any of that if I only owned a laptop.

From:

kestrell

Thank you for the info! My new Del Windows laptop arrived yesterday, and Alexx installed the programs I use on it, so now it's sitting here in front of me, ready to go. It looks almost identical to a Mac Air in size, shape, and surface texture (matte metal). I also decided to replace my Android phone, which hasn't let me access my received text messages for over a month, with an iPhone, hopefully the basic SE model. The Hadley School has an extensive series of highly detailed instructional videos to familiarize oneself with the iPhone and it's features, so that looks doable. And there seems to be every kind of accessible reading app for the iPhone, unlike Android. Hopefully, all of this will give me more options for reading and accessing books.