Dear AccessWorld Editor,
I was reading this older thread on Applevis about LaTeX and Math ML and realized that I had a lot of questions; see my post at the end of the thread comments.
I think AccessWorld needs an overview article that explains in non-technical language the different approaches to math accessibility. Other questions I'd like answered include:
- How do I verify that a site has support for accessible math?
- How can sighted tutors best assist a blind student struggling with math (at any level)?
- What about the diabetics and newly blind who don't know or cannot learn braille; how can they solve math problems and show their work?
- What are some good STEM accessibility resources for teachers and parents?
- Is there a course one can take to brush up on math skills that's fully accessible?
- Have any high schools or colleges received awards for outstanding access to math?
- Do teachers still use tools like the cube board, abacus, or even Excel to assist with math learning?
The best way to do this article would be to interview both blind math teachers and sighted people who have developed successful methods. Ideally, I'd love an up-to-date article that I could refer our sighted tutors and struggling blind math students to.
Thanks,
Deborah Armstrong
Dear AccessWorld Editor,
Those of us who use braille displays with a screen reader need a braille file reader. Currently, using a braille display is like looking at the screen through a soda straw.
When one reads embossed braille one can skim along with fingers, flip backwards and forwards, grab another volume to page through it, quickly locate a particular page in the table of contents and rapidly skim through headings in the book. It's hard to do this efficiently with a braille display.
Such a reader would be screen independent as far as the user was concerned. The user would never have the problem they now experience in word processors, where the screen must be scrolled and the user must find their place again each time one moves forward several lines in a file.
The software could read both already translated BRF files as well as TXT, RTF, or DOC files, similar to Wordpad. Most screen readers have the ability to change translation modes on the fly. There would be less need for embossed braille if the fluid use of embossed braille could be more easily emulated in software.
What would make this program special beyond simply using Wordpad would be these features:
- Page Down and Page Up actually move by form-feeds or braille pages in a translated file.
- Files could automatically wrap to accommodate 14,- 20-, 32- and 40-cell displays so one would not need to fumble for tiny panning buttons which slows down reading.
- Users could work with a book's table of contents and jump to particular headings, even if the file is an embosser-ready BRF.
- Users can bookmark their place and return to it easily without needing to remember a myriad of keystrokes and names
- Multiple volumes could be loaded and the program could allow users to search across volumes of an already translated book.
- The users could "flip pages" in a way that mimic scanning through an embossed volume, for example to locate an interesting recipe or poem.
- Reading braille would be as easy as reading a PDF or reading on a Kindle is for the sighted.
If some screen reader or braille display manufacturers think this is already possible, I sure wish they'd write an article or produce a webinar on how it's accomplished.
Sincerely,
Deborah Armstrong
Dear AccessWorld Editor,
This message is in regards to Jamie Pauls' September 2017 article, Audio Description Comes to Amazon Prime.
Though I agree with Jamie Pauls that it's difficult to enable audio description for Amazon Prime or Netflix when streaming using a PC or Mac, it's not impossible. I had better results with the Chrome browser when locating the appropriate setting. I think this is because Chrome does a better job of exposing clickable elements to screen readers. With other browsers you cannot get to clickable elements using the keyboard even if you are sighted; Chrome treats clickable elements the same way it treats links.
I also had excellent luck enabling audio description using an Amazon Fire tablet running Voiceview. In fact, the Fire tablet is my main streaming movie machine, because for both Amazon Video and Netflix, enabling audio description in their corresponding apps is very simple and fully accessible. At $49, the Amazon Fire will not replace my iPhone for productivity work, but for entertainment it is awesome!
I also want to suggest the article implies one must have Amazon Prime to watch videos, but any video can be purchased or rented from Amazon and a Prime subscription simply makes it cheaper. If the video has audio description, it can be enabled regardless of whether the user is subscribed to Prime. For watching videos once a year, Prime is not a bargain. But because prime also enables free shipments along with other discounts on Amazon features, it is a good deal for most Amazon customers irrespective of whether they wish to watch videos offered by Amazon.
Sincerely,
Deborah Armstrong
Dear AccessWorld Editor,
This message is in reference to Jamie Pauls' October 2017 article, The Current State of Windows Narrator: One User's Perspective.
Narrator works especially well with Microsoft's Mail app, and I find reading mail this way much faster than using any of the other three screen readers installed on my Windows 10 laptop. Though I do agree it has shortcomings with other software, especially applications like Office that are more complex. Narrator is also a good choice for someone who still uses vision to access Windows but needs the voice for getting through longer documents or text-heavy screens. Because Narrator is easier to learn than a more feature-rich screen reader, I would recommend it to anyone who still uses their vision or primarily depends on magnification.
Lastly, Narrator has a feature completely unique in the screen reader arena. Its developer mode, enabled with Shift Caps Lock F12, masks out everything onscreen that Narrator cannot see. This means that anyone developing a Windows 10 app can quickly discover whether it is accessible. More information about developer mode can be had in this blog post.
Now I have a way to show developers what is and is not working in their apps.
Sincerely,
Deborah Armstrong
