Navigating the Web Without Sight

I have two very good friends who are blind, either mostly or totally. I got to know them both through a variety of Yahoo! groups. Because of my friendship with them I've become increasingly interested in "adaptive software." This is a buzz word for software designed for people with specific disabilities. Since my friends are blind, I'm mostly familiar with software designed for people with this disability.

I've had a look and listen to two software readers: JAWS (an industry standard and do-all) and Zoom Text, which combines a screen reader and magnifier for low-vision users.

I was completely befuddled by JAWS, which requires some training to use properly. I'm sure I could learn it if I put my mind to it. At this point, however, I no longer have the demo version to play around with. Assuming I load it again, I'll give you an update.

I've had more success as a "duh" user with Zoom Text and find it quite easy to use. Of course, my vision is normal so I couldn't honestly say I'm coming into this as a typical user. However, one of my two blind friends uses this program and loves it.

I especially like the voice synthesizers, which had me rolling on the floor when I first heard them. They try to be life-like and, to a certain extent, they are. But, only to a certain extent. Still, it's a very sophisticated and well designed program and I like it. I'm very glad these tools exist. A disability can be very isolating. The web has provided a lot of people with access to the outside world and people with visual disabilities should not be excluded from this means of connecting.