Software for blind helps students use computers

By Brent VonCannon
The Collegian

Sheeyee Xiong can find his way around the Internet quickly and effectively. He’s computer literate and studies his textbooks like most students. But unlike most students, Xiong can’t see the computer he works on or the material he studies.

Born blind, Xiong is in his senior year at Fresno State, majoring in social work. To read text and other material, Xiong uses screen reader technology.

Screen readers, according to the Foundation for Blind Children, are comprised of two parts: screen reading software and a speech synthesizer. The software is capable of audibly reading information displayed on a computer screen and does so by sending the information to the synthesizer, which transmits through the computer’s speakers.

Xiong makes use of the screen readers installed on computers in the Services for Students with Disabilities Center, as well as at home. Having memorized certain key-coded combinations on a specialized keyboard, Xiong is able to navigate the Internet and other programs as fast as the next person.

“I can jump right into Internet Explorer,” Xiong said, punching in some keys. “If I do ‘Control-O,’ I can type in any Web site, like Google. I don’t use the mouse at all.”

Listening through headphones, Xiong’s preferred screen reader, JAWS, highlights the text on the screen and reads it aloud.

JAWS, which stands for Job Access with Speed, is tailored for navigating Windows. It is produced by the Blind and Low Vision Group of Freedom Scientific.

Xiong acknowledged some limitation with the program, however.

“The screen reader reads only text,” Xiong said. “They can’t read diagrams. If a pop-up image comes up, I don’t know about it if the text doesn’t explain the picture.”

“The most common is JAWS,” said Jennie Chavez, testing and reading coordinator at the Services for Students with Disabilities Center. “It’s used by most students with visual impairments. JAWS uses the Internet, tells you what you’re opening, and reads e-mail. If it’s created in Adobe, it will read it.”

The university employs screen readers from several different companies, each with slightly different advantages.

Another model, ZoomText, is “kind of like JAWS but larger,” Chavez said, saying it magnifies the screen to allow for easier reading.

Closed-circuit television is another option in which materials can be placed on its deck for magnification, said Carole Snee, director of the Services for Students with Disabilities Center. CCTV also has the advantage of being mobile.

“If an impaired student has an internship, we can loan the CCTV for use at the internship site,” Snee said as an example. A gift from a Parents Association fundraiser, CCTV is quite expensive, Snee said, but is useful for its ability to multi-task.

Chavez said more than 200 students use the center’s facilities and all have access to the screen readers, although not everyone uses them. She said that a handful of students with visual impairments and certain learning disabilities do use the technology regularly.

Saiz added that different computers in the lab have different screen reader software, giving users a choice. In addition, computers with screen reader software have been added to other labs on campus, including in Student Affairs, Career Services, the Learning Resource Center, and the Womens Resource Center, so that users don’t have to come to one place to use it, Saiz said.

As necessary as computers are nowadays in education, Xiong said he is grateful for the opportunities provided by screen readers. “It would be very difficult for me to use the computer without these programs,” Xiong said.

Comment on this story in the News forum >>