[Blindmath] A query about accessibility through a screen reader of mathematical content

Tue Apr 12 15:23:51 UTC 2016

They have that in America to, but for some reason, I can't read them unless the pictures were very simple like a very simple graph. For complicated images, I can only understand three-dimensional things. For example, if you gave me a tactile picture of a dog, I would have no idea what it was, but if you gave me a plastic model of a dog, I would know what it was. Other blind people seem to be fine with the tactile pictures though, but I don't know why.

Sabra Ewing

> On Apr 12, 2016, at 1:21 AM, Niels Luithardt via Blindmath <blindmath at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> Hi Sabra,
> 
> i have a question:
> 
> what about Fuser .  tactile Modells with special paper. In Germany we
> often use it.
> 
> Niels
> 
> 2016-04-12 5:10 GMT+02:00, Sabra Ewing via Blindmath <blindmath at nfbnet.org>:
>> I think most blind people just read it before they compiled. After they
>> compiled, it is for a sighted person so they don't care if they can read it.
>> As for a screen reader that would read math the best, I would suggest NVDA.
>> It is free. Also, there is the Pearson equation editor, which is designed
>> for braille users. It is much more natural to use and you don't have to deal
>> with constant errors from trying to compile, but fullscreen reduce port
>> isn't here for that yet. I believe that braille support is the most
>> important, especially for higher-level math, so I am glad they started with
>> that. If you are fine with reading in braille and using a screen reader
>> doesn't matter as much, you could try that. Sighted people like their math
>> so different then the way we like ours that it is really hard to have
>> something where you can read and write in the same format. To get in the way
>> sighted people like it, the program has to convert it to a different format
>> or you have to do that by compiling something. If you just want to read
>> equations for your own use, you can just write them The normal way that they
>> always are. Well, I suppose for us it is the normal way and for sighted
>> people is the abnormal way. Computers like our way better anyways, so it
>> really makes more sense just to leave them if you are writing them for
>> yourself. Maybe there is a way for a program to convert what you wrote into
>> an object and then put alternative text in the object so that you can read
>> what you have written and sighted people think it is the way they like it,
>> But now, we have just reached the stage where you no longer have to write in
>> computer braille. You can do your math in the way that you learned to read
>> it, andyou can make it look good for sighted colleagues and professors, but
>> yet at the stage where it translates back and forth so seamlessly that you
>> feel like you can read it all the time and sighted people feel like it looks
>> good all the time. Now you can at least produce correctly formatted
>> equations without having to know a programming language though. I don't know
>> what has happened because we haven't had any math or science technology
>> apart from a tactile drawing board for blind people for like 50 years and
>> now all the sudden, things are taking off, so what you want will probably
>> exist in the near future. So you can wait for that while I wait for more
>> seamless 3-D printing technology. I had to specifically avoid a biology
>> class that involved identifying plant cells and other things with a
>> microscope. I had thought we could simply order some three dimensional
>> models and I can just use those, but they don't exist and they have so many
>> details that they are too hard to make by hand. What you want is probably
>> coming before my pocket sized, Affordable 3-D printer with accessible image
>> capturing technology though. Then, I could just bring it to class, take a
>> picture of the plant cell, and a little drawer with the three-dimensional
>> image inside would pop up in a few seconds later. Sorry, I'm getting way off
>> topic. That is all I have though. There could be something else I don't know
>> about.
>> 
>> Sabra Ewing
>> 
>>> On Apr 11, 2016, at 9:35 AM, Saaqib Mahmuud via Blindmath
>>> <blindmath at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>>> 
>>> Hello to everyone at the BlindMath mailing list.
>>> 
>>> I have the following query.
>>> 
>>> These days, I'm using WinEdit 9.1 and MikeTex 2.9.5845 for typesetting
>>> mathematical documents.
>>> 
>>> After typing in my content, I press Alt + A to go to the Accessories menu,
>>> followed by ENTER to activate the Compile menu item. I've just learnt that
>>> the desired keystroke is F9.
>>> 
>>> The above procedure produces a PDF file with the mathematical content with
>>> the formatting I'd done using the LATEX commands.
>>> 
>>> Now my question is, is the mathematical content of this PDF file going to
>>> be accessible (and, if so, to what extent?) to a blind user through a
>>> screen reading program such as JAWS, NVDA, or WinEyes?
>>> 
>>> Would this PDF file emboss correctly into braille if I emboss it directly
>>> using a braille embosser such as the Index Braille's Everest-D V4 braille
>>> embosser?
>>> 
>>> Which screen reader does the best job of making the mathematical content
>>> thus created accessible to a blind person?
>>> Please be sure to reply to the above questions in a thorough enough manner
>>> as your input will help make maths accessible for the blind of an
>>> under-developed region!
>>> 
>>> Regards.
>>> 
>>> Sincerely,
>>> Saaqib Mahmood,
>>> Lecturer in Mathematics,
>>> Govt. Postgrad. College (GPGC) No. 1,
>>> Abbottabad, PAKISTAN
>>> Kund Malyaar, Muhallah Musa Zai, Nawan Shehr,
>>> Abbottabad, PAKISTAN
>>> Phone: +92-346-952-7638 (mobile), +92-334-541-7958 (mobile + WhatsApp +
>>> Viber)
>>> Skype: saaqib.mahmood
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
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>> 
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> 
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