[Athen] Help re Mac Accessibility

[Stacy L. Smith]

Norm -

I use a Mac at home, and have played with the accessibility options a
bit.  I do know that the next release of the operating system is
supposed to include more accessibility options and looks good, but you
never know until it's out.

On the magnification:  the user can turn on screen magnification and
then zoom in and out using the keyboard. I can't remember the
keystrokes but it was fairly easy to use.  It wasn't as slick as Zoom
Text, but it did work.

I have turned on the text-to-speech recognition a few times but have not
invested much time on it.  I do know that Mac offers some very silly
voices; for example, along with the English and British voices, you can
have bells or a whisper or other strange things.  Some of them sound
downright creepy, and if my computer talked to me like that on a
regular basis, I don't think I'd sleep at night.  However, it does
voice dialog boxes and so on.  According to Mac:

"Speakable items lets you command and control the computer using your
voice, without requiring you to train the computer. You can use
commands to open and close programs, navigate the menu bar, switch
between programs, control application-specific items, to enter keyboard
shortcuts and speak front window controls such as check box names,
radio button names, list items and buttons.

The talking alerts feature gives voice to alert and dialog windows by
verbally identifying the application and reciting the contents of its
dialog box."

More information, from Apple, regarding accessibility can be found at: 
http://www.apple.com/accessibility/

They also have information on third-party vendors.  I'd be really
interested to know if major software suppliers (such as Freedom
Scientific) provide any Mac support.  They are getting much more
common.

I'd love to hear more on this topic.  Hopefully someone else has some
information...

Stacy




Quoting Prof Norm Coombs <nrcgsh at rit.edu>:


>

> I have been trying to get some clear report on how useful the new mac

> accessibility tools really are.  I don't get anything very definitive

> either for or against.  EASI got Apple to be part of our CSUN track

> either

> a year or 2 years ago, but they were really weird.  They were scared

> to

> death about saying anything and made us turn off tape recorders and

> stop

> broadcasting and said their lawyers wouldn't let them even talk to

> the

> press!!  It was really strange.  So I no longer look to them to help

> me

> understand how good its access is.

>

> I have the impression that its magnification and onscreen keyboard

> stuff is

> good, but I get the impression that its screen reader stuff is

> problematic.

>

> The real reason is a friend in Maine wants me to tell them how good

> its

> tools for the blind is because Maine has bought tons of Macs for

> grade

> school students.  U. S. Maine wants to put on a presentation for the

> school

> teachers to help them understand how to use the macs with students

> and are

> asking me how good or poor it is.

>

> Can anyone here pass along any first-hand experience????

>

> Norm

>

>

>

> ------------------------------------------

> EASI Courses on Accessible Information Technology for November:

> Barrier-free E-learning (expanded and enriched with more multimedia)

> http://easi.cc/workshops/bfel.htm

> EASI has 3 Podcast series: http://easi.cc/podcasts/

> EASI Home http://easi.cc

>

> Norman Coombs, Ph.D.

> www.rit.edu/~nrcgsh

> (949) 855-4852  ** Pacific time zone!

>



Stacy Smith
Adaptive Technology Specialist, Disability Support Services
532-6441
stacylee at ksu.edu

~~~~~~~~~~~~

One does not need buildings, money, power, or status to practice the
Art of
Peace. Heaven is right where you are standing, and that is the place
to
train.

--Morehei Ueshiba