[stylist] Excited to have my first novella published! BridgitPollpeter

Mon May 12 23:01:17 UTC 2014

April,

Nothing wrong learning a screenreader with a sighted person; some of the
best screenreaders I've known have been sighted, though they learned
with sleep-shades and relied solely on the hot key and screenreader key
commands, understanding the slightly different language between using a
computer with eyes and using it with ears, smile.

One problem I have when working with a sighted person, is they tend to
call certain things by a different name. For example, if they are
looking for a drop-down menu, and I'm calling it a combo box, they often
have no idea what I'm referring too. Also, the way a screenreader reads
a page, particularlly a website, is not necessarily how the page is
layed out visually. I've also heard of blind people having sighted
people manipulating things visually, so it doesn't help the screenreader
user, especially when still learning.

Nonetheless, you need to learn in whatever manner is currently available
to you.

Is there a local NFB chapter or affiliate you can contact and see if
anyone is willing to voluteer to help teach you? In Omaha, we use to
have a group of us who could provide certain types of training to people
who wanted it.

Bridgit

-----Original Message-----
From: stylist [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of April
Brown via stylist
Sent: Monday, May 12, 2014 6:04 AM
To: stylist at nfbnet.org
Subject: Re: [stylist] Excited to have my first novella published!
BridgitPollpeter

Hello Bridgit Pollpeter,

      I have not had access to email easily the last several days.  Been
at the inaws a bit.  Thanks so much for your response.

     I've always been one who had to have written instructions.  Always
kept them handy to refer to, whether I needed them or not at a later
date.  My memory is so poor, I'd find myself verifying a step, even
after using a program for years.

    Keyboard shortcuts.  So often, I think I've hit a certain
combination.  However, my fingers actually hit something else, and I
have no idea what.  I never learned them for that reason.  I'd use one,
and it would delete a document, or send me somewhere in the computer, or
even shut it down, and it would take me an hour to figure out how to get
back to where I was, and hope nothing was deleted.  After a few of those
times, I decided it was safer to not take the long way around.  Now I
have to take the long way around, and hope it doesn't break anything.

     I'm supposed to be getting training through the state.  We will
see.  Back in December, she was all set to set the date.  then realized,
I needed the hearing evaluation first to make sure I get the correct set
of equipment and training since my hearing is poor as well.  That
evaluation will be soon.  And then, I was told a minimum of two months
to get the hearing evaluation and make a determination.  So maybe by
September I can get training, if they have an opening then.  Until then,
I'm floundering on my own.

      I am sure there are people who can use screen readers in the city.
They just say wait for training, or maybe do a phone call to learn it.
I tried a phone call with Apple Accessibility.  Could not duplicate even
opening the Internet the next day.  My hearing is too poor to hear,
write it down, comprehend it, and be able to use it.  By the time I
comprehend the first four or five spoken words, the speaker has probably
been talking for ten minutes.  I don't get much out of spoken words
anymore.

     My husband tried to learn VoiceOver with me.  Someone said that was
a poor choice because he is sighted.  And yet, how is it any different
than me, who has dramatically lost vision learning it?  We come from
similar visual experiences.  Just, mine has worsened.

Have a great day,

April Brown

Writing dramatic adventure novels uncovering the myths we hide behind.

aprilbrownwrite at gmail.com

Website: https://sites.google.com/site/uncoveredmyths/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/UncoveredMyths
Google Plus:  https://plus.google.com/116003267969710767555/posts

Newsletter Signups: http://t.co/Q5kSUlKV2a

On May 9, 2014, at 8:00 AM, stylist-request at nfbnet.org wrote:

Wed May 7 19:18:20 UTC 2014
	. Previous message: [stylist] Excited to have my first novella
published!
	. Next message: [stylist] Excited to have my first novella
published!
	. Messages sorted by: [ date ] [ thread ] [ subject ] [ author ]

April,

Don't feel bad about not automatically getting a screenreader. I would
hazard a guess that most people can't just sit down and pick it up
without any help. Yes, you can play with it without running into too
many problems, but not everyone has the ability to just pick up new
things without some help.

And screenreaders have their own, built-in keystrokes to accomplish
functions that are different than general computer keystrokes used in
place of the MOUS. I actually learned as a sighted person to rely on
keystrokes to operate a computer, but picking up JAWS keystrokes didn't
come naturally to me.

I did okay with JAWS, but it was my husband, one of the rare, lucky ones
who can just sit down and pick it up, who really helped me feel
confident and competeant with it. I did not frequently use a computer
before I lost my sight, so perhaps this helped, not allowing my visual
knowledge to get in the way of learning audio knowledge, who knows. And
it really wasn't until I went back to university and had to use a
computer for pretty much everything that I grew truly comfortable with
JAWS and computers in general.

I don't struggle using the voice-over with my I Phone, but I do with our
I Pad and MACS. Plus, having used JAWS for almost ten years, I'm use to
it as well as a PC.

I encourage you to keep trying. Have you had any official training with
a rehab voc specialist? Is there anyone competant with a screenreader in
your area who could help you? I think it will ultimately be worth your
time and effort.

Bridgit

Good luck and congrats with the novella though, smile.

Bridgit

_______________________________________________
Writers Division web site
http://writers.nfb.org/
stylist mailing list
stylist at nfbnet.org http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/stylist_nfbnet.org
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
stylist:
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/stylist_nfbnet.org/bpollpeter%40hotmai
l.com