[nabs-l] A Struggling Blind Student Looking for Some Advice

Fri Jan 29 23:23:17 UTC 2016

Hi,
You keep saying that you can't understand the voice that comes with 
NVDA. I agree that it's irritating, and not ideal for most folks, but 
there might be a way that you can make it more tolerable. In the 
preferences submenu, inside the NVDA menu, you'll find a choice labelled 
voice settings. Once you press enter on that, tab until you hear an 
option called variant. You can then use your up and down arrow keys to 
scroll through all the choices that are available. They're not perfect, 
but there are a few that might be a little easier for you to listen to.

I understand that it might be difficult for you to get to the menu if 
you can't understand the voice at all, so follow these directions and 
see if they work for you:

1. Once NVDA has been launched, press insert N.
2. Once the menu has opened, press the letter p for preferences.
3. The preferences submenu will open. Now press v for voice settings, 
and press enter.
4. Tab once to land inside the variant combo box, and arrow through the 
selections.
5. If there are other areas of the voice you'd like to customize, keep 
tabbing through the dialog, where you will see settings to adjust the 
rate, pitch of the voice, etc.
6. Once you've got the voice set up to your liking, tab to the OK button 
and press enter.

I hope this helps, and if you need any technical help, I would be more 
than happy to assist you off list.

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On 1/29/2016 5:54 PM, Elizabeth Mohnke via nabs-l wrote:
> Hello Karl,
>
> I am really getting frustrated by the fact that it appears as though no one
> is listening to me. I cannot understand the voice that comes with NVDA, and
> no amount of using this program is not going to change my ability to
> understand the voice that comes with NVDA.
>
> And if I really need to learn Braille to the point that I can use it in
> class or for tests, then I am royally screwed. At this point in my life I do
> not believe I could learn braille well enough to be able to read and
> understand it enough to be able to read it and understand it at the same
> rate and level as someone who reads print. This is simply not going to
> happen, so please stop shoving this down my throat as if this is the only
> answer.
>
> Elizabeth
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nabs-l [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Karl Martin
> Adam via nabs-l
> Sent: Friday, January 29, 2016 5:36 PM
> To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list <nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
> Cc: Karl Martin Adam <kmaent1 at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [nabs-l] A Struggling Blind Student Looking for Some Advice
>
> Dear Elizabeth,
>
> You're right that many of the suggestions people have given you won't help
> for your test in two weeks.  If you want to continue college though,
> learning braille whether from a training center or a Hadley course or
> whatever or learning how to use something like NVDA will be something you
> have to do.  We can't do that for you.  I wish we could, but you have to
> actually learn the skills you need to do college assignments.  One thing you
> could do is take an incomplete get the skills you need and finish the class
> in the fall.  I'm assuming that's more drastic than you want to do though.
> You could work on trying to learn something like NVDA for the next test, and
> maybe your professor would allow you to take this one later if you explained
> it to them or maybe they would let you take it orally.  I understand not
> wanting to learn new technology, I really do.  I hate it, and I've never
> been able to learn Windows and a screen reader well enough to function
> effectively, which is why I use my Braillenote for everything.  I think you
> might be surprised at how easy it is to learn how to make a smartphone work
> though.  Androids are known for taking some time to figure out, but Iphone's
> are fairly intuitive.  When I got mine I hated it for a day or two because I
> couldn't make it work, but then it clicked.  All you really need is to type
> your answers into the body of an e-mail and either send it to your professor
> or have your scribe write it out onto the test or e-mail your answers to DSS
> and have them print them.  Learning how to do that much really wouldn't be
> very difficult--even someone who has as hard a time with technology as I do
> can manage it.  I really hope you can find a way to do well on your exam!
>
> Best,
> Karl
>
>   ----- Original Message -----
> From: Elizabeth Mohnke via nabs-l <nabs-l at nfbnet.org
> To: "'National Association of Blind Students mailing list'"
> <nabs-l at nfbnet.org
> Date sent: Fri, 29 Jan 2016 17:02:48 -0500
> Subject: Re: [nabs-l] A Struggling Blind Student Looking for Some Advice
>
> Hello All,
>
> I honestly wish I had never posted my email to this email list. I really
> hate the fact that it just seems like all you are wanting to do is tell me
> that an NFB training center is somehow going to solve all the problems in my
> life. Even if I could ever go to an NFB training center, I will probably
> never gain the Braille skills necessary to be able to use them in a testing
> situation.
>
> I have never used a smart phone before, so this option would not work for
> me. There is absolutely no way I would be able to learn how to use it good
> enough to use for a test that is in two weeks.
> I am already trying to catch up in this class after being sick, so I am not
> looking to add anything more to my plate than what is already on it.
>
> Using NVDA sounds like a good option, but again, I have never used it
> before, and I cannot understand the voice that comes with it . So I am not
> quite sure how this option would work for me.
>
> I am sorry that I am not able to fight my college and the vocational
> rehabilitation all on my own. The Client Assistant Program does not do much
> of anything here. And no one in the NFB has never really been willing to
> help me either. All I wanted to do was to find a way to pass this class. But
> it looks as though I simply do not have the support, resources, and capacity
> to do the things I wanted to be able to do before my accident.
>
> I should have never signed up to take this class. I really did not have the
> money to pay for it in the first place, and right now it just feels like
> this was only a waste of my money. And I should just learn that I am never
> going to be the same person that I was before my accident.
>
> Elizabeth
>
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