(*Sorry for the cross-postings.*)
Hello.
We at the Adaptech Research Project thought we would share our CSUN
Hand-out for those of you who either were not in L.A. with us, or who were
not able to make our presentation.
Jennison Asuncion
Adaptech Project
Mainstream And "Free" Computer, Information And Adaptive
Technologies Revisited
Catherine S. Fichten, Jason Lavers, Maria Barile, Jennison Asuncion,
Christian Genereux
Adaptech Project Dawson College, SMBD Jewish General Hospital, Concordia
University, Universite du Quebec (a Montreal)
Montreal, Quebec Canada March, 1999
We would like to tell you about some mainstream, "free," and
inexpensive computer, information and adaptive technologies that we
have come across while doing research funded by SSHRC, PAREA and OLT
on computer, information, and adaptive technologies used by students
with disabilities in postsecondary education.
To date, we have found several products which work well on Windows
computers. Our familiarity with Macs is limited, so we hope some of
you may wish to share your useful and tested Mac software finds. As
we live and work in Quebec, we are especially interested in Windows
and Mac products which work in both English and French.
These inexpensive solutions do not, of course, replace the
sophisticated, full featured adaptive products that are available.
Rather, these are "quick and dirty" solutions to everyday problems
without the long delays and considerable expense involved in
obtaining the specialized products. Among interesting things we have
found are:
SCREEN, CLIPBOARD AND DOCUMENT READERS
TextAssist - (for Windows 3.x or Windows95). This program was
included on the CD-ROM of SoundBlaster cards bought until December
1997. It was a very good and totally cost free product for computers
with SoundBlaster cards. Regrettably, SoundBlaster took it off the
CD for 1998. But... if you find anyone out there with any kind of
SoundBlaster card that is not absolutely the latest, you will have
found TextAssist. (Discovered on the CD by Jason Lavers). Also, a
new distributor was found on a posting on the EASI listserv
<[log in to unmask] > <http://www.rit.edu/~easi/index.html>.
) TextAssist is currently available for Windows 95/NT for use with
any soundcard for $39.85 US from Mindmaker Inc. at <http://www.
mindmaker.com/Products/ta.htm>.
Clip&Talk - (download from <http://www.at-center.com/>) (for Windows
3.x or Windows95 by PC WholeWare). Clip&Talk can be used in any
program which can copy text to the clipboard. The freeware version
will read up to 600 words at a time. Unusual words can be added to a
dictionary. A full version is $25 US shareware. (Found on Dr. G.
Denise Lance's excellent web page: Virtual Assistive Technology
Center <http://www.at-center.com>)
ScreenReader (successor of SuperReader) - (download from
<http://www.texthelp.com/download.asp>) This screen reader for
Windows95/98 is available from textHELP Systems). As each word is
spoken it is highlighted. Reads menus, buttons, as well as text. The
English demo (not time limited but has a reminder screen) is a free
download (approx. $35 US to purchase). It will also work with ANY
SAPI speech engine. Potential users must register their contact
details before downloading. Find at <http://www.loriens.com/>.
SuperReader also used to be available in an international version
(French, Spanish, Italian, German, etc.) for $49.US, but I do not
see this in the current product line-up. In Quebec, the French is
definitely a plus.
ProVerbe - (find at <http://www.elan.fr/speech/> - go to the DEMO
page and click the bulleted very fine print "download demo software"
or the "send for a demo CD ROM" and then fill in the form) (for
Windows 95/98/NT and probably for Windows 3.x by Elan in France).
Free! Reads content of the clipboard. Supports English, French,
German and Spanish. Can choose between a male and a female voice.
Speech volume, speed and pitch are adjustable. The quality of the
speech is good and better than most speech synthesizers. (Originally
found on Peter Verhoeven's excellent "Welcome to the Screen
Magnifiers Homepage" when you click "SPEECH" at <http://www.
magnifiers.demon.nl/> )
Read To Me - (find at <http://www.pixi.com/~reader1/>) (for Windows
3.x or Windows95 by the Hawaii Education Literacy Project). Free!
Allows you to customize the pronunciation of mispronounced words.
Reads text from the Windows Clipboard, Microsoft Word, text files,
or the Internet. (Found through resources listed by Greg Gay in his
module "Literacy Support Technology: Introduction" in the on-line
Adaptive Computer Technologies course offered by SNOW at the
University of Toronto's ATRC <http://www.utoronto.ca/atrc/>).
MAKE AUDIOTAPES WITHOUT A READER
Tape the screen reader's output. Some students have limited or no
access to a computer. An inexpensive and easy solution to the
problem of how to give a student with a visual impairment or a
learning disability an audiotape of an assignment or an article
quickly, without having to find a reader or giving the text out to a
service, is to tape the screen reader's output. The SoundBlaster
card as well as many other sound cards have several holes in the
back. On the SoundBlaster, the first is for the speakers, and the
second one is a "line out". It uses the same kind of jack as the
speakers. Connect this "line out" to a tape recorder's "line in"
(almost all but the smallest and cheapest tape recorders have this)
and start recording, The audiotape contains whatever the screen
reader reads. (Contributed by Catherine Fichten.)
MAGNIFICATION SOFTWARE
The Magnifier - (find at <http://www.imgpresents.com/mag.htm>) (for
Windows 3.x or Windows95 by Innovation Management Group). Shareware
that works in a pinch for people with low vision. Magnifies the area
around the mouse cursor from 2 to 10 times. Described on Peter
Verhoeven's excellent " Welcome to the Screen Magnifiers Homepage"
at <http://www.magnifiers.demon.nl/ >. (Contributed by Jason Lavers)
The Loupe - (available at <http://www.magnifiers.demon.nl/ > for
Windows 3.x or Windows95/98/NT - go to "download"). Magnifies the
area around the mouse cursor from 2 to 8 times. Described on Peter
Verhoeven's excellent " Welcome to the Screen Magnifiers Homepage"
at <http://www.magnifiers.demon.nl/>. (Contributed by Catherine
Fichten.)
Microsoft Magnifier. If you have Windows 98 on your computer, you
can probably use Microsoft Magnifier. This program provides a long
horizontal box which allows text to be magnified up to 9 times. It
comes on the Windows 98 CD. To get the magnifier do the following:
(1) Click on Start, (2) Programs, (3) Accessories, (4)
Accessibility, (5) Magnifier. Note that all components of Microsoft
Accessibility must be installed (also comes with Windows 98) in
order to activate Microsoft Magnifier. (Contributed by Jason Lavers.)
SMALL SIZE VOICE ATTACHMENT TO E-MAIL
PureVoice - (download from <ftp://ftp.eudora.
com/eudora/purevoice/windows/PureWin1_2_1.exe>) (for Windows95 by
Qualcomm). A free, mainstream program which allows the user to
create and send voice e-mail using the multimedia microphone on the
computer. Both sender and receiver must have PureVoice. This is
available as a free standalone product. It is also included when
downloading Eudora Lite. The sound quality is very good!
(Contributed by Deborah Kennard)
DICTATION SOFTWARE
Kurzweil VoicePad for Windows: Platinum Edition - A freebie on the
SoundBlaster16 CD (bought in November 1997). This is not a state of
the art ViaVoice or Dragon system! It uses discrete rather than
continuous speech (i.e., you... must... pause...between... words...
), and has a tendency to type 88 for a large variety of words. But
the price is right and at least one can get the "feel" for what
dictation software can be like.
Dragon Naturally Speaking - one of the two leading dictation
programs of 1999, this product can be obtained for $109 US from
Dragon Systems (<http://www.dragonsys.com/frameset/product-frame.
html>). But if you own Corel WordPerfect 8 Suite, you can purchase
an upgrade which integrates Dragon Naturally Speaking for $39.95 US
from <http://www.corel.com/products/wordperfect/wp8dragon/price.
htm> .
SPEEDING UP SLOW (AND POOR) TYPISTS AS WELL AS PEOPLE WHO TRANSCRIBE
LECTURES IN CLASS FOR STUDENTS WITH HEARING IMPAIRMENTS
AUTOTEXT in Word97 - The "AutoText" feature in Word can be used to
create shortcuts which typists who are captioning or writing
verbatim lecture notes can use to improve their speed (also good for
slow typists). The idea is that as you type the abbreviations of
such words or expressions as "you" (u), "therefore" (tf), "however"
(hv), or "as soon as" (sss), etc., these words will automatically
convert into full words on the screen without having to use the
"find and replace" function as we used to do it before. Go to
"Insert", then to "AutoText" and type your own shortcuts.
(Contributed by Maria-Teresa Zenteno.)
Hot Keyboard (download from <http://www.tblabs.com/>) - This small
and easy to use program works on Windows 95/98 and allows you to use
your keyboard to paste text and to perform macros in all of your
applications and programs (i.e., create your own "hotkeys" that work
in all applications). Works well! It is available as a free 21 day
demo. To continue using the program you need to buy it for $ 24.95
US. (Contributed by Catherine Fichten)
USE DOS TO DEAL WITH WINDOWS BASED WORD PROCESSING FILES
VIEW - This DOS based program runs in Windows 3.x and Windows 95
environments. It allows one to view, convert, print and save all
types of common word processing file formats from Windows 3.x and
Windows 95/98 - WordPerfect, Word (including Word97), Ami Pro,
Notepad/Wordpad, Windows Write, ClarisWorks, RTF, well as HTML and
ASCII/ANSI files. It is very well suited to use with speech
synthesizer software for users with visual impairments. Shareware,
this program can be downloaded from <http://mdrury.hypermart.
net/index.html>. If you wish to keep it, a donation of $30 US should
be made to the developer. (Contributed by Jason Lavers and Catherine
Fichten)
USING AN ELECTRONIC AGENDA TO COMMUNICATE - BOTH DAY AND NIGHT
Sharp Electronic Agenda Model ZQ-1300 - This tiny electronic agenda
has a large screen and a great qwerty keyboard. It displays 4 lines
of text and can easily be used to "talk" during casual situations.
And, best of all, it has Indiglo (bright blue light that is
available on many digital watches) for night illumination. Great for
dim restaurants. (Contributed by Christian Genereux.)
WEB BROWSING WITHOUT A MOUSE
Opera - (find at <http://opera.nta.no>) (for Windows 3.x or
Windows95/98/NT by Opera Software in Norway) This is a small (the
zip file fits on a single floppy), full-featured general use web
browser which supports screen magnification and is screen reader
friendly. It also supports not only the mouse but also an extensive
list of keystrokes. Best of all, it exists in both English and
French (also many other languages such as Spanish and Italian. It is
shareware and can be evaluated free for 30 days. It costs $35 US.
There is a 50% educational discount. (Contributed by Jennison
Asuncion.)
CAPTIONING OF VIDEO AND AUDIO CLIPS ON AN ENCYCLOPEDIA
Encarta98 (both regular and deluxe) - This mainstream encyclopedia
has closed captioning for both audio and video clips. (Contributed
by Maria Barile.)
RealPlayerG2 - (download from: <http://www.real.
com/products/player/index.html?src=404>). A free audio and video
player that has the option of displaying closed captions that some
programs may provide for people with hearing impairments (go to
Options, Preferences, Content and click the Enable optional captions
box). (Contributed by Catherine Fichten.)
PORTABLE COMPUTING UNDER $400
Alphasmart - This is a lightweight (2 pounds), low-cost ($229.00
US), portable word processor with spell check, built-in LCD screen
and full-size keyboard. It enables you to enter and edit text then
easily transfer it to a PC or Mac for formatting and printing. It
also prints directly for draft printouts. It has 8 files (64 pages
of text/128 kbytes), functions on 3 AA batteries for 120 - 300 hours
and has foreign language support. There is no software to install.
Accessibility features are: sticky keys, key repeat control and four
keyboard layouts. Canadian distributor available. A 2 week free
loaner can be obtained by calling 1-888-274-2720 or e-mailing
[log in to unmask] There may be specials on refurbished older
models for $69 to $99 US. For more info: <http://www.alphasmart.
com/>. (Contributed by Caitlin Keelan.)
INFO SHARING
Aspects of our team's research are online and interactive.
Adaptech Web Site - We maintain a web site which we invite you to
check out at: <http://omega.dawsoncollege.qc.ca/cfichten/adaptech.
htm>.
Adaptech Discussion Forum - We also have a moderated e-mail
discussion forum which we use for two purposes. It keeps our project
members across Canada and other interested individuals informed and
involved with our research. Second, it facilitates useful dialogue
on issues and themes as they relate to our interest areas. For more
information or to subscribe, send an e-mail message to our
Moderator, Jennison Asuncion, at <[log in to unmask]>.
Adaptech Research Project - The research that has been the stimulus
for all these activities is directed by Dr. Catherine Fichten and
Ms. Maria Barile. You can contact us by sending e-mail to Catherine
at <[log in to unmask]> or to Maria at <[log in to unmask]>.
Alternately, you can phone (514-931-8731) or write us at Dawson
College, 3040 Sherbrooke St. West, Montreal, Quebec, Canada H3Z 1A4.
IN CONCLUSION
We hope you find the products listed here helpful. We would also
like to hear about any useful products that you have found. If you
have any feedback for us or if you have an interesting application
or software to share, please communicate with one of us.
CITATION: Handout at the presentation by Fichten, C.S., Barile, M.,
Asuncion, J., Judd, D., Alapin, I., Reid, E., Lavers, J., Genereux,
C., Guimont, J.P., & Schipper, F. (1999, March). A comparison of
postsecondary students with disabilities and service providers:
Views about computer and information technologies. Presentation at
the annual conference of CSUN (California State University,
Northridge): Technology and persons with disabilities - Where
assistive technology meets the information age. Los Angeles.
Available at <http://www.dinf.org/csun_99/session0254.html#top>.
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