Eye Tests + Computer Software for Sight Impaired Individuals

[Lorenzo]

I was recently reading a news article that some states now offer online
eye tests for their Drivers Licence. Plus, I'm curious, do internet junkies
develop bad eyesight from viewing the computer screen too much?

I have a friend who can't see, who is fascinated with the internet. His wife
helps him navigate around and reads to him quite a bit. I'm wondering
what technical computer aids are available for Sight Impaired individuals
to be more independent. Anyone familiar with this technology?

I understand there may be someone on this forum who is Sight Impaired.

Here is an interesting Macular Degeneration eye test:

1.Wear the glasses you normally wear when reading.
2.View the chart at arms distance and cover one eye. With the uncovered
eye, stare at the white dot in the center of the grid.
3.To view the chart at the proper distance, slowly move in toward your
monitor until one of the two red ovals FIRST disappears.
4.During the entire test, you should have one eye covered, stare at the
center of the grid and only see one red oval.
5.If your eye is functoning properly , you should be able to see the
center white dot and the four corners and sides of the grid. The lines
should appear to be straight and continuous from top to bottom and side
to side.

Note: if there are any holes or blurry spots, or if the lines appear to be
wavy, fuzzy, crooked, distorted or broken, these are indications of
macular degeneration.

This one came into focus at about 7' for me.


Extra: did you know ¼ of all men are color blind?
ONLINE COLOR PERCEPTION TEST.

[Montana]

The eye examination chart is pretty interesting.
I wonder why you have to be at a certain distance before you can see it...
I have noticed that when I've done a lot of computer work for a number of weeks, my near vision starts to get worse. I think because I'm always focused at a particular distance so the eye muscles that move the focus in and out get weak. But once I start doing different work without computers, the near vision improves somewhat.

[IDAwHOa]

There ARE tools within windows for enlarging fonts and the like. You can also reduce the resolution on the computer screen for larger viewing of items.

I know on macs there are tools out there for those that are sight impared.

[sandpiper]

Here is a link to an accessibility site, you have to scroll down a bit to get to the web reader stuff.

http://www.stcsig.org/sn/visual.shtml

This site has adaptive technology

http://blindreaders.info/adapcomp.html

There are many other great sites for the visually impaired... National Federation for the Blind, etc. some states have special libraries for the blind and physically handicapped that have the technology for use in the library, it can be very expensive to optain for personal use depending on the technology. Check with your state library to see if they have one in your state.

[BillChin]

One of my local libraries bought stuff from:

http://www.infogrip.com/

Items include software to magnify areas of the screen, computer reading of online content, and trackballs and mice for those that have a hard time with standard issue mice.
+ Bill

[OutOfBreath]

Lorenzo - I'm surprised your friend doesn't have JAWS or it's only serious competitor (that I can't recall the name of). It's screen reading software that is extraordinarily effective. It's also very expensive but there are various agencies that assist the blind in obtaining such aids.

I have a very good friend who is blind and uses JAWS - he practically lives on the internet and almost never needs assistance from a sighted person. In fact, he often builds/rebuilds/fixes computers for his friends and family because JAWS loads even before windows, so configuration tasks can be done.

All government and non-profit websites in the US are required by law to be navigable by the blind using screen readers. Many, many, e-commerce sites are also navigable by those using screen reader software.

[Lorenzo]

Thanks for your replies, everyone.

I haven't actually seen his computer yet, and know he's new to the
internet. He may well have a system that reads to him over the
speakers, by placing the cursor on a line or page. There's a function on
most computers that will do this if it is enabled. I was trying to imagine
how it works - navigating the cursor to the right spot on any given page,
or how it would work on a message board like this.

I'll make sure he knows about JAWS, John.

[OutOfBreath]

JAWS (and the other commercial product I can't recall the name of) are orders of magnitude better than the built in screen readers, though every version of Windows gets better and better.

For example, JAWS will work with a browser to "describe" what is on the screen as well as the text that actually appears. I.e. it will describe table structures and so on so a blind person can know, for example, that the header of a column is "Price" and the header of a row is "fremis lever" and that the table cell at that row and column is $2.95.

As you tab through the links JAWS will tell you all about the link, whether it is an image and what the alt text for the image is, and so on.

Computers have been more of a boon for the blind than for any other single group of people, probably. There are hardware attachments that will count currency, auto feed scanners that can read contracts or other documents and convert them to text, and so on.

It's kind of funny - the blind guy on "Becker" does an excellent job of typifying the positive attitude of most blind folks I've met but at the same time they have him in a very stereotypical role of running a newstand "on the honor system" while these days employers are finding that almost any office and many "real" retail jobs can be handled quite readily by a blind person with a computer and a currency counter. My friend and his wife used to manage apartment complexes and he was usually in the office alone at least half the time while she was out posting notices and showing apartments and what have you.

He also used to drive the neighbors nuts by walking all over the complexes without his cane because he knew how many steps it was from the office door to the pool and so on. Oh, and changing the oil in his wife's car at 2AM 'cause it was cooler and "it's not like I need the light..."

[fancypiper]

You didn't mention the operating system, so I presume Microsoft something. There is some kind of accessibility stuff that can be turned on, such as a magnifying glass for where the cursor (I think the magnification may be adjustable as well.

He may be interested in ViaVoice for vocal control of mouse/keyboard. It's available for all OSs I am aware of. I think that came with the Soundblaster Live card I bought.

There are many good text readers a google search will find for any OS. I have Crohn's disease, so I have to teach each one of them how to pronounce diarrhea and it's combinations if I use it.

English is such an oddly spelled and pronounced language.