[blindkid] Chromebooks

Sun Mar 2 15:08:12 UTC 2014

Unless google has very recently made some very big changes, Docs, Drive &
other apps are not fully accessible with JAWS.

JAWS will be able to navigate docs/drive to some degree but not completely
and a blind user will not necessarily be able to discern what is being
missed.

Some fields will not be recognized & skipped over as if nothing was there.
 Other fields will be read as gibberish rather than the text that is there.
 If I remember correctly, another issue is notifications of new documents
and/or recently edited document are not recognizable to jaws.

I can't find much recent documentation but here's one article

https://nfb.org/images/nfb/publications/bm/bm14/bm1401/bm140112.htm

Holly

On Sun, Mar 2, 2014 at 9:35 AM, Denise Robinson <deniserob at gmail.com> wrote:

> If you use a standard laptop with jaws fortunately google drive and docs
> are accessible. Chrome books have their own voicing program that is not
> close to accessibility that is offered with a laptop with jaws...it has a
> ways to go
>
> Denise M Robinson
> Sent from my iPad
>
> > On Mar 2, 2014, at 2:34 AM, Holly Miller <hollym12 at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > We are dealing with this at Hank's school.
> >
> > The machine itself is not fully accessible.  Jaws can not be added to a
> Chrome Book.  Hank uses a PC with jaws & MS office installed.
> >
> >  The problem that can't be fixed by giving the blind student a standard
> laptop is that with widespread use of Chrome books also usually comes with
> widespread use of Google drive and google docs.
> >
> > Those apps have significant accessibility issues even when using a
> standard laptop with jaws.  There are some clunky work arounds - for
> example the teacher can convert & email all assignments via word when the
> class is given assignments via docs/drive.
> >
> > One thing that is popular & problematic is group assignments done via
> docs/drive. Docs/drive allows real time collaborative editing amongst a
> group that a blind student will not be able to access.  This either leaves
> the blind student out of group work or the group the blind student is in
> will have to use alternate methods that #1 the other students might not be
> familiar with using #2 the other students might not be able to access with
> their Chrome Books.
> >
> > The folks in the NFB technology center have been working with this issue
> closely. I'd definitely contact them for more details.
> >
> > Holly
> >
> >
> >
> >> On Mar 2, 2014, at 12:27 AM, Richard Holloway <rholloway at gopbc.org>
> wrote:
> >>
> >> Thanks Debby,
> >>
> >> I suspected there might be issues. I guess the best to hope for is we
> would be able to access the same information with something more
> conventional like a PC with JAWS.
> >>
> >> We've already had some previous bad experiences with some e-textbooks
> that were supposed to be accessible, only their idea of "accessible" was
> the pages would self-read, after getting sighted assistance to click about
> once every paragraph or so. With that situation, we never could get JAWS or
> VoiceOver to navigate their cute animation-filled web site.
> >>
> >> Visual appeal is all good and well, but it seems to me that full access
> for students to the actual text content needs to come first.
> >>
> >> Anyhow, thanks for for your response!
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>> On Mar 1, 2014, at 10:29 PM, Debby B <bwbddl at yahoo.com> wrote:
> >>>
> >>> Last year Winona won (yes, won!) a ChromeBook at school. They were
> unable to adapt it to be accessible for her, so ended up swapping it out
> for a regular laptop.
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> Debby
> >>> bwbddl at yahoo.com
> >>>
> >>> ~"Kindness is a language which the deaf can hear and the blind can
> read."~Mark Twain
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> On Saturday, March 1, 2014 9:47 PM, Richard Holloway <
> rholloway at gopbc.org> wrote:
> >>>
> >>> A middle school we have been researcing for our daughter is looking at
> outfitting all the students with Google Chromebooks. She would likely be
> the only blind student potentially using these. I'm very curious to know
> how likely we are to have problems with such a plan, though I assume we
> might be able to access the same information with a PC or Mac Laptop.
> >>>
> >>> I recall there were some NFB issues addressed relating to Chromebooks
> a while back. From what I read, they do have some accessibility features,
> but I don't have any current access to explore any of these machines
> directly.
> >>>
> >>> Has anyone explored these accessibility features, and can anyone
> compare them to JAWS on a PC, or VoiceOver on a Mac?
> >>>
> >>> Thanks!
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> >>
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