[nabs-l] Efficiency and Productivity

justin williams justin.williams2 at gmail.com
Sun Aug 24 23:48:27 UTC 2014 

He's right; I move internet pages so fast hat the screen turns white. I'm
going to the next page after hitting enter on a link before he first is even
fully loaded. 

-----Original Message-----
From: nabs-l [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Kirt via nabs-l
Sent: Sunday, August 24, 2014 7:45 PM
To: Ashley Bramlett; National Association of Blind Students mailing list
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Efficiency and Productivity

Ashley,
I have to disagree with you about doing research on webpages. While i'm
convinced there are certain tasks which blindness does inherently make
slower, as David said, The Internet does not have to be one of them.
Certainly the vast majority of Academic journals, informational websites and
pretty much everything else I've needed to find on the Internet I am able to
find as fast or faster than the average sighted person. I think that's
mostly because sighted people don't generally know how powerful and robust
even the built in Windows keyboard commands can be when you really know how
to use them well. I suppose blindness occasionally slows me down on the
Internet because I can't quite see where a certain link is or whatever, but
I think the ways in which jaws and windows keyboard commands speed me up
more than compensate for this.
Best,
Kirt

Sent from my iPhone

> On Aug 24, 2014, at 5:25 PM, Ashley Bramlett via nabs-l
<nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> Rahul,
> Ah, I understand now with specifics. I have issues with powerpoint.
unfortunately, there is just more steps for us in that program. use a reader
for the graphics if possible. For pdf files here are a few commands to help.
> 
> Go to page: control shiftN
> Next page: right arrow
> Prior page: left arrow.
> 
> Ashley
> 
> -----Original Message----- From: Rahul Bajaj via nabs-l
> Sent: Friday, August 22, 2014 4:55 PM
> To: Cindy Bennett ; National Association of Blind Students mailing 
> list
> Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Efficiency and Productivity
> 
> Thanks for the suggestions and the encouragement, everyone. I am sure 
> most of the suggestions that you guys have given will be immensely 
> helpful.
> I'm pasting below the text of the mail that I sent in response to 
> Arielle's query which, unfortunately, only went to her:
> Arielle, I am using JAWS 15 on a Windows 7 machine, so the technology 
> is fairly up to date. Some problems are with regard to specific 
> features such as reading comments, footnotes and using track changes 
> in Word; finding text and reading comments in PDF documents; preparing 
> long PPT presentations with graphs and charts; using the internal 
> applications designed by my firm which are almost always partly 
> inaccessible, etc.
> Even otherwise, I take a lot more time than my sighted  colleagues for 
> reading long 50-100 page documents.
> 
> Cheers,
> Rahul
> 
> 
> 
> 
>> On 23/08/2014, Cindy Bennett via nabs-l <nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>> Hi Rahul,
>> 
>> I think your list of challenges may have just gone to Arielle. Would 
>> you mind sending them to the list? I think she gave some great 
>> solutions though. As for speed of JAWS, I gradually increased mine 5 
>> points and then waited a couple of weeks and then increased it again.
>> I do slow it down 10 points when I am reading textbooks or other 
>> heavy material.
>> 
>> Cindy
>> 
>>> On 8/22/14, Arielle Silverman via nabs-l <nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>>> Also, if you use Gmail, you can send a PDF to yourself as an 
>>> attachment, then click "view attachment as HTML". You'll get an HTML 
>>> version that is very easy to navigate with JAWS.
>>> Arielle
>>> 
>>>> On 8/22/14, Arielle Silverman <arielle71 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>> Hi Rahul,
>>>> Thanks for clarifying. I have a few quick suggestions and others 
>>>> may have more.
>>>> 1. Try increasing the speech rate of JAWS by opening the JAWS 
>>>> program and pressing Alt to get into the basic menus. Increasing 
>>>> the speed should make reading line by line go faster. You don't 
>>>> want it to be so fast that you can't understand, but just try
increasing by 5 or 10%.
>>>> 2. I suggest partnering with a sighted colleague, if possible, to 
>>>> work on the PowerPoint charts and any inaccessible software. You 
>>>> can still do the majority of the thinking, but just utilize the 
>>>> sighted person's efficiency with the mouse-clicking in those 
>>>> situations. There is nothing wrong with using a reader, hired or
otherwise.
>>>> 3. To quickly read Track Changes comments, use
control-shift-apostrophe.
>>>> 4. Sometimes it's necessary to ask your employer if you can use a 
>>>> different program to do the work; for example reading a file in 
>>>> Word instead of in PDF format.
>>>> 
>>>> Good luck and congrats on the internship!
>>>> Arielle
>>>> 
>>>>> On 8/22/14, Derek Manners via nabs-l <nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>>>>> Hello, I can definitely understand how you feel. I think there are 
>>>>> three things I'd keep in mind.
>>>>> 
>>>>> 1. Any new job takes time to get in a rhythm where you are getting 
>>>>> things done quickly.
>>>>> 2. Practice makes perfect, just as any job takes time to learn, so 
>>>>> does using assistive tech.
>>>>> 3. It's perfectly fine work at your own pace. Your goal should be 
>>>>> to do the best you can under the circumstances and just look for 
>>>>> ways to do better.
>>>>> I
>>>>> work faster/hard than some of my sighted colleagues and I work 
>>>>> slower/less hard than others.  The main thing employers want to 
>>>>> see is improvement and a good attitude.
>>>>> 
>>>>> Best
>>>>> Derek
>>>>> 
>>>>> Sent from my iPhone
>>>>> 
>>>>>> On Aug 22, 2014, at 3:19 PM, Rahul Bajaj via nabs-l 
>>>>>> <nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Hi all,
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> I often find it hard to maintain the same level of productivity 
>>>>>> as my sighted colleagues. I guess this can primarily be 
>>>>>> attributed to the fact that I have so far been merely a casual 
>>>>>> user of assistive technology which is perhaps why I am not able 
>>>>>> to use it as expeditiously as I should be able to in a 
>>>>>> professional setting.
>>>>>> That being said, my uniform experience has taught me that jaws is 
>>>>>> often unresponsive and unreliable. This makes it virtually 
>>>>>> impossible to work with the same level of efficiency as a sighted 
>>>>>> person.
>>>>>> Most blind students get double the time that their sighted 
>>>>>> counterparts get for writing exams. However, this is not really a 
>>>>>> feasible option in the private sector where you are not only 
>>>>>> required to do your work well but are also expected to complete 
>>>>>> your tasks expeditiously.
>>>>>> My inability to meet the latter requirement has often been a 
>>>>>> source of frustration for me during my internships. My employers 
>>>>>> have never raised any objections about my inability to complete 
>>>>>> the same amount of work as my sighted counterparts within a given 
>>>>>> time period. I guess this is reflective of the low expectations 
>>>>>> that society has from blind people.
>>>>>> Be that as it may, this has greatly reduced my job satisfaction 
>>>>>> and has been a major cause of concern.
>>>>>> I'd like to know what you guys think about this. Has anyone here 
>>>>>> had a similar experience?
>>>>>> What strategies would you recommend for effectively grappling 
>>>>>> with this challenge?
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Best,
>>>>>> Rahul
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Sent from my iPhone
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>> 
>> 
>> --
>> Cindy Bennett
>> Treasurer of the Greater Seattle Chapter and of the National 
>> Federation of the Blind of Washington Affiliates of the National 
>> Federation of the Blind
>> 
>> clb5590 at gmail.com
>> 
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