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Ask HN: How do I put together a computer for my blind mom?

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Re: Ask HN: How do I put together a computer for my blind mom?

#21

Post by silencio »

cmaury wrote: post #8

Unfortunately there isn't a good solution for this, especially on the desktop. You may have a much better time with an iphone/ipad/ipod touch. The interface is much simpler than a desktop, and VoiceOver is much easier to use than JAWS. Apps that can help (there isn't one catch all) Apple mail is pretty simple, and fully VO compatible Voice Dream Reader simple text to speech app that syncs with pocket, evernote, dropb…

To this I would add if a computer is preferred for whatever reason, sticking with VO on OS X is still nice and the whole Apple ecosystem thing actually works beautifully in this case. Far easier to use than JAWS etc. and much cheaper in the long run. My father is low vision and prefers the all Apple setup by a long shot.

Re: Ask HN: How do I put together a computer for my blind mom?

#22

Post by cmaury »

silencio wrote: post #21
cmaury wrote: post #8

Unfortunately there isn't a good solution for this, especially on the desktop. You may have a much better time with an iphone/ipad/ipod touch. The interface is much simpler than a desktop, and VoiceOver is much easier to use than JAWS. Apps that can help (there isn't one catch all) Apple mail is pretty simple, and fully VO compatible Voice Dream Reader simple text to speech app that syncs with pocket, evernote, dropb…

To this I would add if a computer is preferred for whatever reason, sticking with VO on OS X is still nice and the whole Apple ecosystem thing actually works beautifully in this case. Far easier to use than JAWS etc. and much cheaper in the long run. My father is low vision and prefers the all Apple setup by a long shot.

Another cost effective option is NVDA on PC. It's free and open source.

Re: Ask HN: How do I put together a computer for my blind mom?

#23

Post by silencio »

lawn wrote: post #18
ArcticCelt wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>You may have a much better time with an iphone/ipad/ipod touch The biggest problem with modern intelligent phones, specially apple ones, is that there is zero tactile feedback on the screen vs good old buttons or keyboard.

I'm not sure why you're being down voted. I find the lack of tactile feedback annoying and I can only imagine how it must be for someone blind.

This is just not as big of a problem as you think it is. Most blind folks I know rave about their iPhones and generally don't feel limited by it like they might have with their BrailleNotes or mediocre screenreaders/a11y tools on android. Many iOS apps also have a fairly accessible default state, assuming devs didn't go overboard with custom everything up the wazoo with no care for accessibility.

Re: Ask HN: How do I put together a computer for my blind mom?

#25

Post by khitchdee »

javert wrote: post #14

Perhaps create an app or website that reads text. You paste in the text you want it to read to her---web pages, books, e-mail, whatever. Each item you "push" to her gets queued up so she can listen when it's convenient. The controls she would need would be very simple. At a minimum, start reading and stop reading. Maybe something to skip to the next item if she gets bored with whatever she's on. My mother is disabled…

I would start with Nuance. They're into speech.

Re: Ask HN: How do I put together a computer for my blind mom?

#26

Post by rlpb »

"Vinux is a Ubuntu derived distribution optimised for the needs of blind and partially sighted users."

http://vinuxproject.org/

I used to know someone who used an Ubuntu-derived distribution and seemed to get on fine with a screen reader and a set of headphones on his laptop. I think it was Vinux, but I'm not sure.

Re: Ask HN: How do I put together a computer for my blind mom?

#27

Post by qq66 »

lawn wrote: post #18
ArcticCelt wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>You may have a much better time with an iphone/ipad/ipod touch The biggest problem with modern intelligent phones, specially apple ones, is that there is zero tactile feedback on the screen vs good old buttons or keyboard.

I'm not sure why you're being down voted. I find the lack of tactile feedback annoying and I can only imagine how it must be for someone blind.

I used to work with some blind individuals, and one thing that's hard to relate to is how much more attention they give to things that sighted individuals do not, such as sounds, spatial relationships, etc. I wouldn't think they'd have any problem, for example, opening a specific app on their iPhone solely by its position on the home screen.

Re: Ask HN: How do I put together a computer for my blind mom?

#28

Post by cbhl »

Here are some options you might want to consider:

- Windows 8.1 with Internet Explorer 10 with built-in "use the computer without a display" options turned on

- A Chromebook with Chromevox (you can go through the Chromevox tutorial on any computer with Chrome, but the keybindings are slightly different for each OS)

- An iPad with VoiceOver

Re: Ask HN: How do I put together a computer for my blind mom?

#29

Post by dogecoinbase »

lawn wrote: post #18
ArcticCelt wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>You may have a much better time with an iphone/ipad/ipod touch The biggest problem with modern intelligent phones, specially apple ones, is that there is zero tactile feedback on the screen vs good old buttons or keyboard.

I'm not sure why you're being down voted. I find the lack of tactile feedback annoying and I can only imagine how it must be for someone blind.

Don't take this the wrong way, but it's obvious from this comment that you've never spent any time working with a blind person on an interface. This idea that a blind person would need tactile feedback comes from a sighted person imagining what it would like to be blind, not the experience of actual blind people with buttons vs touchscreens.

Re: Ask HN: How do I put together a computer for my blind mom?

#30

Post by Raphmedia »

Hoff wrote: post #3
Raphmedia wrote: post #2

I know that OS X comes with a lot of features out of the box.

OS X and iOS both: https://www.apple.com/accessibility/

Yes! It is surprising the amount of accessibility features in apple's products. The platforms are usually very simple to use and work very well when voice controlled.
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