[blindlaw] Re JAWS scripts as a remedy for inaccessible workplace software

Mon Feb 9 19:13:53 UTC 2015

Certainly if you have the money at some point to purchase JAWS that is a viable option.  You can download a forty 
minute demo of JAWS as well.  Jaws has been tailored to work best with their own magnifier, so I don't know how 
well it would work with ZoomText.

Please note that Window-Eyes is now owned by AI Squared, the company that makes ZoomText.  This means that 
incompatibilities that may have existed will likely be corrected quickly, although I had never heard that the two 
were incompatible and thought I knew of people using that combination.  Did you try the latest version of both 
programs?  NVDA is also worth experimenting with as it is free.

In general, using a screen readers scripting language can do much to increase efficiency, and in some cases make 
software usable that otherwise would not be.  However, there is software out there that no amount of scripting will 
make accessible.

Best regards,

Steve Jacobson

On Mon, 9 Feb 2015 13:27:07 -0500, Anita Keith-Foust via blindlaw wrote:

>I love these types of discussions because there are so many great tips
>within the discussion. 

>I am a ZoomText user and in the past had problems with Blackboard due to
>images. Someone on this listserv suggested for me to get JAWS so that if I
>run into the problem JAWS can be my back up tool. I plan to get it as soon
>as I save up the money.

>I tried Windows Eyes at the suggestion of another listserv member and it
>completely locked up my computer. I found out later that it was not
>compatible with ZoomText. I have to use ZoomText to see the computer screen.
>I use the version that has the reader as well, but I am trying to encourage
>the little eyesight that I have, to grow, so I magnify and listen at the
>same time.

>I have experimented with JAWS and ZoomText in school, so I know that I can
>use both of them together successfully. The main issue that I have with JAWS
>is that I have to train my mind to hear JAWS without thinking of it making
>too much noise. Before I went blind and only needed larger font print, I
>could not wrap my eyesight and brains around ZoomText. ZoomText became my
>academic lifeline.

>I agree with you both, we need to be fluent in more than one tool to help us
>accomplish our goals.

>Please keep the tips coming!!!

>Thank you.

>Anita Keith-Foust
>919-430-1978

>-----Original Message-----
>From: blindlaw [mailto:blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Michal
>Nowicki via blindlaw
>Sent: Sunday, January 25, 2015 6:12 PM
>To: 'Blind Law Mailing List'
>Subject: Re: [blindlaw] Re JAWS scripts as a remedy for inaccessible
>workplace software

>Dear Ms.  Rene,

>Thank you for your comments.  I will address each of them in the paragraphs
>that follow:

>I agree with you 100% that blind people (not just lawyers) should use all
>available assistive technology.  In fact, I have come to believe that
>ideally, a blind person should have at least 2 screen readers:  a primary
>one for everyday use and a secondary one.  That way, when the primary
>program fails, there is always a chance that the secondary one will do the
>job.  For example, I have observed that NVDA correctly reads some image alt
>text tags that JAWS fails to recognize.  However, part of the reason why
>JAWS remains so popular in the workplace is because it offers more features
>than the competition, including, for instance, the ability to create custom
>labels for web elements and the text analyzer, a tool that makes the
>proofreading of documents much easier for blind people.

>Until a few weeks ago, I too felt reluctant about accessing most PDF
>documents using JAWS.  The exception was documents that were tagged for
>heading navigation, and those which contained in-page links to other parts
>of the document.  After doing some research, though, I discovered a couple
>of features that changed my attitude towards JAWS compatibility with Adobe
>Reader.  One of these is the ability to create multiple placemarkers in a
>PDF document, and the other is the "go to page" function, which, when
>accessed by pressing Control plus Shift plus N, causes JAWS to tell you
>which page of the document you are currently on.  Additionally, while Adobe
>find isn't very accessible, JAWS find works perfectly well for searching
>documents.  With that in mind, I am no longer concerned about navigating
>PDFs with JAWS, so long as the files aren't scanned images.  Even then,
>however, I can use OCR software to make such files accessible, provided that
>the image resolution is reasonable.

>As for WindowEyes, I must say that as a JAWS user, I hate it.  I've had the
>chance to try it out, but, unlike NVDA, with which I haven't had any
>trouble, I just can't get used to WindowEyes, no matter how hard I try.  In
>fact, sometimes I feel that GW Micro intentionally wrote the software in
>such a way that JAWS users wouldn't be able to utilize it efficiently.  I am
>not the only JAWS user that despises it, and I know that many WindowEyes
>users can't stand JAWS.

>I won't say anything about an office's duty to purchase accessible software
>because I don't really know anything about the topic.

>Best,

>Michal

>-----Original Message-----
>From: blindlaw [mailto:blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Elizabeth
>Rene via blindlaw
>Sent: Sunday, January 25, 2015 3:36 PM
>To: blindlaw at nfbnet.org
>Subject: [blindlaw] Re JAWS scripts as a remedy for inaccessible workplace
>software

>When dealing with inaccessible workplace software, I wonder whether we
>lawyers shouldn't be using more than one screen reader tool.  We're always
>talking about whether JAWS will do this or do that.  What about Apple OSX
>and iOS?

>I find, for example, that working with PDF files in JAWS is a headache,
>while opening a PDF document in iBooks lets me breeze right through it.  In
>fact, Apple reads PDFs better than it does Word documents!  But Apple does
>something else better than JAWS.  Now I have a tiny, tiny bit of eyesight.
>I can read the Apple screen with a 10X magnifying lense.  So if something
>isn't readable with VoiceOver, I can turn VO off and use the Zoom utilities
>to enlarge the print as much as I need to, and scroll through text that VO
>somehow isn't flexible enough to accommodate.  A simple click of the home
>button allows switching back and forth, or, if you want to, switch back and
>forth to reverse from white on black to black on white.  And you can flip
>between portrait and landscape orientations.  No extra software needed!  And
>you can do all of this at your desk, at a cafe or a pub with something good
>in front of you, or on your backyard deck with the kids outside.

> For that matter, maybe WindowEyes does some jobs better than JAWS or Apple.

>I think we should be skilled in every tool we can find and afford, to make
>our lives what we want them to be, and not be held hostage to office
>programs that one tool can't handle.

>And even as I say this, our offices may have a duty to vet their software
>for accessibility before they buy it.To me, that seems to be part of the
>"reasonable" in "reasonable accommodation."

>Elizabeth Rene

> 
>  

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