[blindlaw] using an iPad as primary electronic device for work

[Susan Kelly]

After 6+ years of fighting (unsuccessfully) to get the Windows network to which my government agency is connected to operate properly with JAWS and MAGic (and a host of other screen narrators / magnification programs), the office administration is finally agreeing that allowing me to utilize an iPad for my work is the better way to go.  I have already been using my personal iPad to accomplish my duties during the frequent times that I cannot access our e-mail, Word, and the internet.  The only potential glitches in this plan (aside from continuing to use my aging personal iPad 2 until the iPad Pro is available for delivery and set up) are the fact that the county IT hierarchy is unlikely to allow the iPad to be directly connected to the network, and that our particular location (juvenile) does not have the Wi-Fi, unlike the main office of our agency - again, something that is controlled by IT, not our office.

Our IT liaison is postulating setting up a folder for me on a SharePoint, likely OneDrive, where my secretary/reader could drop files from the secure network for me to use on my iPad.  (To this point, I have simply been e-mailing them to myself, and opening the attachment on my Word app - not as secure as they would like, but a necessary evil.)  Has anyone out there used a similar system for work or school?  Do you have any additional suggestions for making this as independent and complete of a work solution as possible?  I know that some things will always require sighted assistance, but I truly hate feeling tethered to my secretary and having to explain what I want / need, when I should be able to get it and do it for myself.