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From: Chip.Orange@f778.n115.z1.fidonet.org (Chip Orange)
Newsgroups: misc.handicap
Subject: Re: Please Help: Equipment Advice
Message-ID: <15510@bunker.UUCP>
Date: 6 Nov 90 14:11:44 GMT
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Index Number: 11606

[This is from the Blink Talk Conference]

Hi Jim,
     Probably your best source is the IBM national support center for 
persons with disabilities.  They will send you (at no charge) a listing 
of manufactuers providing special hardware/software for the visually 
impaired.  The phone is (800) IBM-2133.
     You'll need to basic items: a screen reading program and a speech 
synthesizer.  You can spend anywhere from $200 (two hundred) to $5000 
(five thousand) for these two items alone.  Generally the more money the 
more complicated/powerful the screen reading program and the better the 
speech quality.  I myself am a blind computer systems analyst and as a 
side-line make a speech synthesizer called the SpeakEasy (for which I 
will be glad to send you a free demo cassette).
     The speech synthesizers come in two basic kinds: the internal ones 
on a card and the external ones which interface through a serial port. 
Each has its proponents (I am a proponent of the external kind myself), 
and each usually has it's own unique set of instructions or command 
sequences.  Therefore, it is important that the screen reading program 
you choose support the synthesizer you have chosen.  This is not a conern 
when buying both from the same company, but most people choose to buy 
each item separately to suit their own individual needs.
     If I can help more you can contact me here  or at work at (904) 
487-2680 or at home at (904) 877-0061.
  
     Chip Orange

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