[BlindMath] SPSS for low vision

[Jonathan Godfrey]

Hello,

All of my statistical software reviews are done for the benefit of screen reader users, whether blind or low-vision, because I am a screen reader user. I cannot offer any advice about screen enlargement options for SPSS, but I can tell you that the SPSS experience for a screen reader user is sub-par. 

As far as the decision for a low-vision person over using their vision or not, I would reflect that in my opinion far too many low-vision people persist with screen enlargement options and the mouse when they'd be better off throwing the mouse in the trash and  saving their useful vision for the things that vision is truly needed for. 
It is quite disheartening to watch someone run out of gas because they have fatigued their eyes on things that aren't so important. Back when the price of screen readers was massive compared to the enlargement software, I was already noticing my reading speed decrease. I am so pleased that I fought with the (supposed) experts to have audio as my primary way of driving my computers and saving my residual vision for reading mathematical formulae. When I eventually had to admit that my residual vision was only good for being able to turn off the household lights at night, I did not have to learn how to drive a computer at the same time I was having to learn so many other things. This is of course a non-trivial decision to make. I appreciate that to some, my words might seem a little blasé, but behind some simple words is a good dose of experience, few of which involve smiles and laughter.

In the case of statistical analyses, I suggest a low vision person use their residual vision to inspect graphical objects and audio to process text. 
I suspect that moving the balance towards more audio might alleviate some of the access concerns. In the case of SPSS, this must still be a balancing act though as audio alone is not truly sufficient. The text to speech features of enlargement software might be sufficient to manage, and I'd love to hear how this turns out.

All the best,
Jonathan

-----Original Message-----
From: BlindMath <blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Eveline DEBRUIN via BlindMath
Sent: Friday, 21 January 2022 10:21 AM
To: blindmath at nfbnet.org
Cc: Eveline DEBRUIN <debruinfam3 at outlook.com>
Subject: [BlindMath] SPSS for low vision

Hello everyone,
My name is Eveline and I am looking for advice for my daughter with low vision.
She has started SPSS. SPSS has a student version and it runs on her lap top (PC system).

The question is: how do you enlarge the SPSS display?
A large monitor improves the display but she cannot read the variable names.

The bigger question is: When do you decide to work without a mouse and only a keyboard and JAWS.

Thank you for any advice,
Eveline
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