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

Fri Jan 29 23:44:09 UTC 2016

Hi,
NVDA can in fact use Sappi5 voices. Any voice that's installed on a 
computer is fair game for use.

Depending on the OS of the computers in the testing center, you will be 
able to take advantage of using a couple of fairly understandable 
voices. Again, maybe not as clear or as familiar as Eloquence, but 
better than Espeak for sure. I can't believe I didn't think of that and 
suggest it.

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Why not check us out at:
http://www.blindaccess.org
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https://www.facebook.com/Blindaccess
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On 1/29/2016 6:32 PM, Ashley Bramlett via nabs-l wrote:
> Karl,
>
> I have the same trouble as Elizabeth with the default NVDA voice. 
> Sometimes your ears cannot understand the speech when its not clear.
> How exactly can it work with other voices? I know it does not support 
> the elloquence synthesizer jaws uses.
> I looked at NVDA because I wanted to download a portable screen reader 
> to a thumb drive. But like Elizabeth, I did not think its synthesizer 
> would be a viable option.
> The only voices I thought it used were the Real Speak  voices that you 
> have to purchase.
> Am I wrong in that thinking?
> Maybe it uses the free sappy fi voices. How do you use other voices? 
> Where can you download them and then how do you tell NVDA
> to use that voice and not its default one?
>
> Thanks.
>
> Ashley
>
> -----Original Message----- From: Karl Martin Adam via nabs-l
> Sent: Friday, January 29, 2016 6:15 PM
> To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
> Cc: Karl Martin Adam
> Subject: Re: [nabs-l] A Struggling Blind Student Looking for Some Advice
>
> Elizabeth,
>
> First of all, NVDA can work with different voices.  Second of
> all, you don't know if you can understand the default voice or
> not unless you've worked with it a while to acclimatize yourself.
> You could of course use another screen reader, but the other's
> aren't Free like NVDA.  You might even be able to put Jaws on a
> thumbdrive if you have a licence already, you'd have to check
> with the manufacturer.
>
> I'm not sure what you think you're going to do if you don't want
> to learn Braille and you don't want to use technology.  Those are
> the ways blind people have of being literate.  At some point, you
> have to use one if you're going to go to school or work.  Maybe
> there are other choices, but I don't know of them, and I assume
> you don't either or you wouldn't be asking.  I don't know why
> you're so hostile to Braille, but it's worth pointing out that
> you don't have to use Braille as efficiently as a sighted person
> uses print in order to organize your thoughts for an essay and
> then be able to read it to your scribe instead of doing it all in
> your head.  We're not talking about you reading Braille other
> people have produced hear, so you could write in uncontracted
> braille if you wanted and memorizing the contractions is part of
> your problem.
>
> 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 17:54:02 -0500
> Subject: Re: [nabs-l] A Struggling Blind Student Looking for Some
> Advice
>
> 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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