[Trainer-Talk] Is NVDA enough for the blind?

Fri Jun 5 15:49:48 UTC 2026

Good morning,
	Everything stated here is so true. There are so many actors to consider when accommodations are requested and what may be more affordable.

--
Christopher Murphy
Email:
cjohnmurph at gmail.com

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-----Original Message-----
From: Trainer-Talk <trainer-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Brian Vogel via Trainer-Talk
Sent: Friday, June 5, 2026 10:43 AM
To: List for teachers and trainers of adaptive technology <trainer-talk at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Brian Vogel <britechguy at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Trainer-Talk] Is NVDA enough for the blind?

Leo Bado wrote:  ". . . if the goal is to secure a real-world job, users should train with the same authentic, situational tools the role actually demands. Practice should mirror the workplace—not some sanitized sandbox with training wheels."

Showe Trela wrote, in part: "For those of you actively teaching, placing consumers into employment, or working within VR systems, what do you see as the long-term implications of moving away from JAWS as the primary screen reader taught to blind individuals?"

These two things are not mutually exclusive.  That being said, most VR systems and employers (if the employers know anything at all) know about one, and only one, screen reader:  JAWS.  That's an accident of history as JAWS is the granddaddy of them all that still survives on the Windows platform.

But the reality is that money does matter, as do the attitudes of many IT departments, a number of which are only familiar with JAWS.  But none of this makes JAWS inherently superior.

I am recently retired (as of April 1st) after a decade and a half of working as a tutor for the Virginia Department for the Blind and Vision Impaired Technology Tutor Network.  We were (and are still) effectively a JAWS only shop, which I had been trying to get them away from for quite some time.  Many clients, particularly those who will be seeking remote employment, and where such employment is sometimes tenuous, at best, simply cannot afford the current JAWS subscription costs if they are not actively employed.  You can't use JAWS Personal for employment (or at least you can't legally, and no state agency would ever do so).  Keeping a professional subscription is expensive.

I have used NVDA as a functional stand-in for JAWS since almost 2010, because when I first started tutoring the only option for JAWS was a full license and the number of referrals and their irregularity made it financially unreasonable to buy a JAWS license that I used only intermittently.  JAWS and NVDA have much more in common from the perspective of "typical daily driver tasks" (regardless of setting) than they do differences.

One also cannot ignore Narrator in all of this, either, as Microsoft has been focusing more resources on Narrator in the Windows 10/11 era than it ever did before.

It's also important to remember that choice of screen reader as a reasonable accommodation by an employer does not necessarily mean you will get the screen reader you prefer.  They are not obligated to supply JAWS (though this is what most do) but to supply a screen reader that allows the work tasks to be performed.  And when it comes to money, and how business works, I can definitely see the time coming in the not wildly distant future where Narrator is going to be pushed a lot harder because it comes with Windows at no cost and is a Microsoft made and supported product.

It's all about feature matching, and that can and does mean that if most of the employers in your area of service are almost certain to be supplying JAWS, then the focus should be on JAWS.  But if they are not already set in their ways about what they supply, that gives you the latitude to teach the screen reader you choose and help them get it set up.

There is no one right answer here.  The number of variables on the end of the potential employers and on the end of the clients, and the nature of the likely employment scenario itself all can push more in the JAWS or NVDA direction.

But in the end I've yet to meet a long-term JAWS user who can't make the jump to NVDA, or vice versa, with relative ease.  These two screen readers are not "worlds apart."

Brian Vogel
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