Dean Furber asked:
Q Does anyone have any good recommendations or know of independent
assessments of current PC access software and hardware. What I'm
after is a kind of "Which?" guide.
A Several problems with this idea:
- each individual will need individual recommendations depending
on their disability and needs
- specialist stuff changes all the time - as does the
non-specialist stuff, so it would be a horrid job keeping it
up to date
Q We're currently looking at upgrading our DOS based equipment to
cope with the new Windows systems we're getting in. What we're
currently looking at is:
- DOS based screen enlarging software
- Windows based screen enlarging software
- DOS based speech synthesiser
- Windows based speech synthesiser
A Loads of options - see above comment! Most important thing I
would need to know once I had assessed the individual would be what
applications software was in use: we evaluate speech for windows
stuff all the time, for example, and you have to look at what the
individual will be producing and work backwards. For example, someone
producing tables in Word will need a different speech system from
someone programming. No one system is "best" - they all do things
differently and more [or less, sadly] efficiently.
Q Furniture, mice, trackballs as appropriate
- And anything else that I've forgotten or don't know about
A Don't know of more than one supplier of adjustable desks, sadly,
so would be pleased myself to hear [although one contact is
considered importing stuff himself coz of this problem]. Again,
mice, trackballs etc depend on the individual. VITAL to match stuff
to individual rather than the reverse!
All ACCESS Centres offer INDEPENDENT assessments for individuals,
and I'm quite happy for anyone to try out what equipment I have here.
Contact me direct if I can help.
Karen Ball
ACCESS Centre
The Royal National College for the Blind
College Road
HEREFORD
HR1 1EB
Tel: 01432 265725
Fax: 01432 353478
email: [log in to unmask]
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