Assistive Technologies
By Musthaler, Linda; Technology Executive Newsletter,Publication Date: October 2003
Article discussing assistive technology used by the author’s neighbor, who had a stroke that resulted in low vision. She works as a property manager, and her boss sees that her knowledge and expertise in her field is a great asset, and he does not want her to leave work. The author has advised the company to investigate technology for people who have low vision, such as ZoomText from Ai Squared, and OpenBook from Freedom Scientific. ZoomText is a screen magnification software program designed for people with low vision. The program can complement the Windows XP operating system by increasing the magnification size, offering different viewing modes, and acting as a limited screen reader. When using ZoomText’s document reader tool, users can have e-mails and other electronic documents read aloud. OpenBook, when used in conjunction with a scanner, converts printed material and reads the document aloud to the user. The property manager could also benefit from using a large-key keyboard. Keytronics produces a keyboard with enlarged and bold-printed keys to assist people with low vision in finding the correct keys to depress.
Assistive Products Discussed: OPENBOOK
ZOOMTEXT XTRA LEVEL 1 & ZOOMTEXT XTRA LEVEL 2
ZOOMTEXT MAGNIFIER
ZOOMTEXT MAGNIFIER / SCREEN READER
Published by: Network World, Inc. (Website:http://www.networkworld.com)
Link to text: http://www.networkworld.com/newsletters/techexec/2003/1020techexec1.html
