query for sight impaired

Post by **Ina** » Fri Apr 25, 2008 3:22 pm

Hi All,

I received the following query this morning from one of our members. If any of our members are familiar with this program, perhaps you could let us know how you get around reading images on SP. Personally, I never heard of the program, and I think it is a wonderful aid to the sight impaired.

Regards,
Ina
Current Chair

Hi there! My name is Terry and I am have a good old hard time on Scotlands people web site !.

I am blind and use a screen reader and jaws for windows software on my computer but I am finding it real problems with above site cannot get the computer to read the viewed images for instance and was wondering if you know of any blind users who use this site as i cannot find anyone who can get round these problems which I have spent hours pulling my hair outand would dearly love to speak to some other person who uses a screen reader like jaws for more about blind people and jaws just type in jaws for windows and download a demo from the freedom scientific web site a handy tool for anyone who has any kind of sight problems and use a computer!.

My main problem is I cannot get the images up on screen or get my reader to read viewed images and I am getting nowhere with Scotlands peopls help team they said they only know about problems which effect sighted peopleand the minute I mentioned screen reader they did want to know! but i t would great to speak to someone else who is uses a screen reader and may have had problems like this.

I have tried downloading and java and every type of veiwer i can think ofand I am not sure if it is the acrobat reader but I will keep going meantime and thank you for any help you may give.

I think nobody has dropped a hint to them that blind people can work a computer

Kind Regards,
Terry Brown and guide dog usher

C · Post by C » Fri Apr 25, 2008 4:25 pm

I'm not sure if Terry's reading this forum or if the replies will be forwarded to him but here's my reply anyway.

Hi Terry,

I notice your guide dog is called Usher, which is a funny coincidence because I'm visually impaired due to Usher Syndrome lol. I haven't used the programs you're talking about but in the past I've found Abby Finereader's OCR software to be good at transcribing printed words into text. The only problem is that the images you're downloading are full of handwriting and Abby isn't very good with deciphering that kind of thing.

To the best of my knowledge there isn't any software on the market which can accurately turn handwriting into text, the technology doesn't seem to be up to scratch yet. Handwriting and speech are so wildly different from person to person that making software that can decipher those things is extremely difficult.

My only suggestion to you would be to upload the images you have to the Talkingscot forum and hopefully I and other members will be able to transcribe them for you.

Regards,
C

Post by **SarahND** » Fri Apr 25, 2008 4:35 pm

Hi C,

C wrote:My only suggestion to you would be to upload the images you have to the Talkingscot forum and hopefully I and other members will be able to transcribe them for you.

What a good suggestion!! I'm sure there will be many TS members who would be glad to help read the certificates for Terry.

You're right about speech and handwriting... much too individual to get accurate readings. With the speech programs, you can train the software to understand a particular voice by reading a set number of phrases that it uses to interpret future audio from that same voice. But with the certificates we're talking about, thousands of different hands over the years and in different places

Doesn't sound like an easy task!

All the best,
Sarah

Post by **Ina** » Fri Apr 25, 2008 5:29 pm

What a wonderful suggestion C.

I'm not sure if Terry reads our posts or not. I will email him with your suggestion.

Kind Regards,

Ina

Post by **paddyscar** » Fri Apr 25, 2008 7:49 pm

Hi Ina:

No solution to the question for Terry.

Just as a point of interest to those who do have some/moderate difficulty with some screens; there is a feature for enlarging screens where you are having difficulty.

Hold down the CTRL key and roll the mouse wheel up or down and the print on the screen can be made much larger. It also works when viewing images on SP, but it doesn't allow for such a great enlargement.

It is a pretty standard option and there is no fear and unsettling the set features on your machine because it reverts to normal viewing on its own when you move on.

Hope this is of use to some of our members.

Frances

Post by **Ina** » Sat Apr 26, 2008 12:57 am

Hi Francis,

I believe Terry is blind. He sends his thanks to C for his reply.

Personally I was never aware of a program that would enable the blind to read on the computer. Terry said he has the Scottish 1881 census resource viewer and he is able to manage to work with the CD's. Apparently it's only script that he has a problem with. He is tracing his mother's family who hail from Lockerbie.

I've advised him that we have many members who are willing to help, and if he needs any help to let us know.

He'd like us to pass on his details if we ever come in contact with another blind user.

Regards,

Ina

Malcolm · Post by **Malcolm** » Sat Apr 26, 2008 3:08 am

There is a programme on BBC radio four that I listen to from time to time. It's dedicated to the blind and partially sighted who discuss every kind of communication issue.It's fascinating. This is just the sort of thing they discuss. An e-mail to the programmers should give you the definitive word on this subject as they always invite questions. It might even go on air!
All I need to do now is name the programme which I will strive to do. Unless that is, someone beats me to it.
M

Post by **marilyn morning** » Sat Apr 26, 2008 3:44 am

Hey Malcom,

Could you post the link please ?

Regards
Marilyn

a.k.a. M

Hugo · Post by **Hugo** » Sat Apr 26, 2008 8:24 am

Paddyscar,

Many thanks for the tip about enlarging font size. I did not know about this.

Hugo

LesleyB · Post by **LesleyB** » Sat Apr 26, 2008 9:00 am

Hi all
The Radio 4 prog Malcolm mentioned is called "In Touch"
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/factual/intouch.shtml

I can't imagine there would be an application which would be able to accurately read either original post 1855 or pre-1855 OPR entries... I think the only way to convey the info would be for someone else to either read the entry to Terry or for someone to type up the data from the documents so that Terry's software could read it to him.

Best wishes
Lesley