[BlindMath] FW: [NFB-Science] Matlab workarounds for blind users

[Rasmussen, Lloyd]

The following note, which was sent to the NFB Science and Engineering listserv, may be useful to some of you. 

Lloyd Rasmussen, Senior Staff Engineer
National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped
Library of Congress, Washington, DC 20542  202-707-0535
Nls.loc.gov
The Preceding opinions are my own and not necessarily those of the Library of Congress, NLS.

-----Original Message-----
From: John Miller via NFB-Science
Sent: Thursday, June 20, 2019 5:48 PM
To: nfb-science at nfbnet.org
Cc: John Miller
Subject: [NFB-Science] Matlab workarounds for blind users

Hello,


I have found a good blindness accessibility environment by calling Matlab from the Windows command prompt with:

matlab -nodesktop.

I have been working with sighted peers who use the standard visual interface for working with Matlab.

Matlab can find a function and execute it successfully if the function is in a folder that is part of the Matlab path.

In the visual interface there is a choice for adding recursively to the Matlab path a specified folder and all of its subfolders.

The equivalent startup option is

matlab -nodesktop -r "addpath(genpath(pwd))"

A slightly improved command experience suppresses some information at Matlab startup such as Matlab version with the command:

matlab -nosplash -nodesktop -r "addpath(genpath(pwd))"

I execute this command within the top folder of interest.

My sighted peers select the top folder itself to configure this choice.



I have installed Matlab 2018a on my Windows 10 pc.

When opening Matlab with the usual visual GUI, there is a way to add subfolders to the path recursively.

To do so, at the file explorer on the left, get to your target folder, right-click the add to path option.

There are suboptions "selected folders" and "selected folders and subfolders."

Be sure to select the suboption

"selected folders and subfolders."

This is a toggle option that will allow you also to remove all files and subfolders from path.

After adding all folders and subfolders, the toggle option will display



remove from path.

It again has the suboptions "selected folders" and "selected folders and subfolders."



Very Best,

John