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From: Eric.Bohlman@p1.f778.n115.z1.fidonet.org (Eric Bohlman)
Newsgroups: misc.handicap
Subject: Software
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Date: 1 Feb 91 03:40:25 GMT
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 HS> and cost. Perhaps someone may help me locate it. He needs such that he
 HS> could speak into and the computer could translate/type it into the
 HS> screen and hence files. He has lost most his vision and this would open
 HS> doors of opportunity for him as he is a writer. Thank you, Hal

It looks like there are two issues here.  Is he physically able to use a
keyboard (for these purposes, "unable to see the keys" doesn't count)?  If so,
his main need is what's called a screen reader, which is a program that allows
the computer to work with voice OUTPUT.  Most screen readers provide the
following services:
  Speaking whatever is written to the screen
  Echoing keystrokes in speech
  Reading the appropriate area of the screen when the user moves the cursor
  Automatically reading certain parts of the screen when they change
Screen readers need to be used with a speech synthesizer.

If he is physically unable to use the keyboard, there are voice input
programs.  Probably the best one is Dragon Dictate, which is quite expensive
(around $7000).  Less expensive voice input systems exist, but they  generally
recognize a rather small vocabulary (you practically have to spell  everything
out) and each word has to be trained.

There are also programs that let the user use a mouse, joystick or trackball
to point at an on-screen array of words and letters instead of typing.  They
probably wouldn't work too well with speech output, but they might be worth a
try.

If he can use the keyboard some, but not efficiently, there are programs  like
abbreviation expanders and word predictors that can speed up the typing.

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