Accessibility Zone

Here you will find Web applications, technologies, toys, games, and gadgets for the blind and visually impaired, such as the portable Creative Zenstone mp3 player.

Use the following same page links to move directly to these topics:

Tutorials to learn popular applications with your screen reader.
Technology and gadgets.
DVS- Movies for the visually impaired.
Where to order products for the blind and visually impaired.
Hot programs for the blind.
Games .

Tutorials.

Note: These are now directly accessed by using the Tutorials link, listed in the Main Menu.

Technology.

Creative Zenstone mp3 player

Creative Zenstone mp3 player in blue.
The Creative Zenstone 2 GB mp3 player is the best portable mp3 player for the blind or visually impaired. It is an easy to use drag and drop player perfect for music and audio books. It is USB 2.0 with 2 GB of storage space. Recently Creative Labs have come out with 2 new models of mp3 players equally accessible as the original Zenstone player. These are the Zen Stoen 1 GB with speaker and the Zen Stone 2GB with speaker. The way to be sure you are getting the accessible version is by asking if these are the models with "no Screen". The little speaker on these new versions of the Creative Zen Stone are really quite good. You won't be rockin the house with the built in speaker but you can easily listen to some music or an audio book while cleaning up or just relaxing on the couch. These 2 new versions also come with a protective rubber shield that you can rol onto your player to protect it etc. Also, there is a handy little clip that easily allows you to attach the Creative ZenStone player to your shirt or your jacket or shorts.
All Zenstone mp3 players come with headphones and built in rechargeable battery which charges when you plug the player into your computer's USB slot.
Another bonus with this player is that it is only about $40 at your local box store. Note: Only the 1 GB or 2GB model with no screen is truly accessible for people who are blind or visually impaired. The Creative Zenstone models with more storage space have a screen and many menus to navigate which will only lead you back to the store for the screenless models. click here For more informaition about the Creative Zenstone.

Moshi Voice Activated Talking Alarm Clock.

Moshi alarm clock.
The Moshi (pronounced Mo she) interactive talking alarm clock is the first clock of it's kind. Ask Moshi the time, today's date, the temperature, and a clear female voice responds to your commands. You can set the current time, the alarm time and even choose from 3 alarm sounds simply by talking to the Moshi clock.

This clock offers several other features but the bottom line is that if you are blind or visually impaired, you will love this clock. It works and it works well.

You can order this clock from many online vendors including Independant Living Aids. The list price is approximatley $50. For more informaition on the Moshi interactive talking alarm clock, go to the Independant Living product page for the Moshi voice activated talking alarm clock.

Here are 3 audio clips to demonstrate what the Moshi clock sounds like and how easy it is to use.

DVS Descriptive Videos

DVS are movie videos with descriptive audio for the visually impaired. Basically the movie is described by someone so that essential visual elements of a movie can be taken in by a person who can't necessarily see them.
movies are produced with an additional audio track which simultaniously plays the descriptive audio. DVS are usually very well scripted revealing key details without interfearing with the movie.

Listen to a DVS audio sample of Quinton Terantino's Pulp Fiction.

Follow this link to a Web page where you'll find hundreds of new and old popular DVS you can download and enjoy.
Note: The DVS here contain only the movie and accompanying described audio, in mp3 format not the video.
More and more movies are being produced with described audio. Some DVD movies will allow you to watch with an included "descriptive audio" track. Some movie theatres offer headphones that play the described audio as well.

Hot Programs and Utilities.

NEW System Access To Go screen reader & magnificaition.

One of the most exciting new products to come along and virtually revolutionize computer accessibility for the blind and visually impaired is Serotek's System AccessTo Go screen reader. SA To Go has not reinvented the screen reader wheel, but rather it has made accessing a screen reader from any computer free and effortless.

All you need is an internet connection to run this powerful screen reader. Simply access the following Web site www.satogo.com

Once the SA To Go Web page opens, the screen reader will load automatically. There are a couple of easy pprompts to follow to run the program and then you will have screen reader access to the internet, email, MS Office applications such as Word, Excel and Outlook and many more.
The SA To Go Web based application even offers complete screen reader access to the MS Outlook Calendar.

Once SA To Go has loaded, you can try the following:

Many of the JAWS for Windows keystroke commands you might already be used to are mimiked by SA To Go, meaning you will not have to learn new keystroke commands.

You can register SA To Go for free which will allow you to save your preferences for the next time you use it.

What's so revolutionary about SA To Go?
You now have the ability to use a full featured screen reader from any Windows based computer with a sound card. From a friend's laptop, from a computer at the public library, etc. all you need to do is access the SA To Go Web page and you're good to go.

Here is how you can do it even if there is no screen reader installed on the computer:

  1. Press Windows key + R. This opens the RUN command.
  2. Type www.satogo.com
  3. Wait for the Web page to load and the screen reader will be fully functional.
Note: You may have to press ALT R a few times. Be patient it might take a minute to load.
Note: Press Insert + F4 to turn SA To Go off.
Note: SA To Go is not the same as the stand alone thumb drive Systam Access Mobile screen reader discussed above.


Facebook and the Blind?

Of course it's true and it's come a long way too.

In April 2009 FaceBook introduced some new accessibility features. Visit the Facebook Accessibility help page for more informaition including FAQ's and keyboard shortcut commands.

How to change your Facebook profile picture

Now that you're on Facebook, you might want others to see what you look like, or instead, show an image that represents you.
What's the point?
When others see your name in their list of friends, there is also a thumbnail view of your "profile picture".
If you haven't uploaded one, there will simply be a question mark instead of a photo.

To continue, you will need a picture of yourself stored somewhere on your computer. This file should be either a .jpg or .gif file. If you're not sure how to do this, simply have a friend or relative take a digital photo of you, and have them email it to you or give it to you on a memory stick. Make sure it is named something so that you will easily identify it, for example, my pic for facebook.jpg.

Here's how to change your Facebook profile picture:

  1. After you have logged onto your Facebook page, activate the link titled Profile.
  2. Next, activate the link titled Photos.
  3. Activate the link titled Profile pictures.
  4. Now activate the link titled Change Profile picture.
    5. Here you can either choose from existing profile pictures, if you have already uploaded some, or, move to and activate the browse button.
  5. Here you will be presented with a typical route directory of your computer. Tab to the location and file name for the picture you want to use as your Facebook profile picture.
  6. Once you choose the picture you want to use, Tab to the Open button and press ENTER.
  7. Check the bbox with your Spacebar to indicate that you have the right to use the image, and then Tab to the Upload Picture button and it's done.

Accessing the Facebook Wall

The Facebook Wall is a virtual space where Facebook friends can post messages that everyone can see.
The Wall used to be located on your Facebook home page. Now, to access it, you will first have to activate the link of your Facebook name.

A new page will appear with a link to your Facebook Wall. The link is simply titled "Wall". Activate this link and your wall posts will then be further down the page.

Open letter to Facebook

Here is a recent post I made to the American Foundation for the blind (AFB) about the topic of Facebook. (I spell checked the post, and added some pertinatnt links here.
I am blind and use FaceBook. The accessibility of the FaceBook interface has improved since I joined the Book.
For the person who wondered what the purpose of FaceBook would be for the blind and visually impaired since they "can't see pictures" etc. This is a valid question with promising answers:

Facebook is more than just sharing pictures. It is a fun way to communicate with others and keep in touch with new friends and touch base with old friends. Sure, each person on Facebook can post and share pictures but that is just a part of Facebook. You can send and receive messages like you can with email. You can also send and receive event invitations to a wide variety of events to many people at once. With Facebook you can also join several groups that might interest you some are silly and some are more serious in nature.

If you are out of town or even in the comfort of the glow of your home computer, you can keep up with how your friends are doing and read their status updates to find out how they are feeling or what they are planning etc.
It is amazing how many people you will find on Facebook and, how many people will be able to find you and say "hello old friend". The Facebook interface is not perfect for the blind user but it is navigable and with some improvements it will be more enjoyable for everyone. Facebook developers are likely aware of the Web Accessibility guidelines layed out by The World Wide Web Consortium and many other references to making the Web accessible for all.

I was pleasantly surprised to find out that it is now possible for a blind person to register with Facebook without sighted help. It was so close before, until that is, you arrived at the part in the registration where you had to input the characters hidden within a scrambled image. Since these characters were image based it was impossible for a screen reader, which relies on straight text, to identify the image.
The audio capcha alternative is definitley an improvement and will allow blind and visually impaired computer users to independantly register with the Book. The audio capcha sound, however, is crappy. I don't know why Facebook has to make the audio so garbled, and thus, difficult to hear. I don't think the audio characters need to be almost scrambled like the visual version. I mean, the point of this registration feature is so that automated Web bots can't go sign up a million accounts. In other words, a real life person has to jump through the "identify the characters in the scrambled image" hoop, or, "identify the characters being spoken in the audio captcha".

Audio Capcha.

Visit the official captcha site for more informaition about audio captcha, what it is and how it works. For a video explanation of audio capcha with a live example watch the brilliant audio capcha demo on YouTube.

Accessible FTP Client for the blind.

So you're blind, creating your own Web page, and want an accessible FTP client?
Internet Explorer is all you need.
What? That's it!? yes, forget about CuteFTP, WSFTP etc. All you need is IE.
Just open Internet Explorer and in the address bar type "ftp://" followed by your URL.
for example, "ftp://StacyBleeks.com". You will then be presented with 2 edit boxes. In the first box, simply type your server login name.
Press Tab, and in the second box type your server password.
Now you're in there like swimmwear! A list box will appear where you can paste your Web files to be uploaded for the whole world wide web to see.

Screen readers and the Informaition bar.

If you are using Windows XP with Service Pack 2, Internet Explorer may block some Web content. Most often this includes pop-up windows or active content, such as preloaded sounds or downloads. When Internet Explorer blocks content, you hear a sound and a message appears on the Information Bar. The Information Bar is located below the address bar and provides information about downloads, blocked pop-up windows, and other activities. This helps you avoid potentially harmful files that you might otherwise not want to download from the Internet.

To move to and read the Information Bar, press ALT+N.
If you trust the Web site, you will want to enable the blocked action. You can then press Enter to open the Information Bar menu so you can allow Internet Explorer to display the content.
Press Tab and enable the checkbox with the Spacebar.
To hide the Information Bar, and return to the page you were viewing, press ESC.

Autosizer is a must!

Autosizer will automatically maximize applications for you.
Screen readers, such as JAWS for Windows and WindowEyes, work best when the screen is maximized. Blind and visually impaired computer users might wonder why, although an application is open, it is not reading or behaving properly.
Often times this is due to the fact that the application screen has not been maximized.
Let the Autosizer utility, by South Bay Software, automatically maximize the screen for you so that you never have to wonder if the screen is maximized again.

Download and instal Autosizer here Install Autosizer now! A dielogue box will open where you can run the installation wizard. This small program runs in the background and will ensure that MS Word, Internet Explorer, Outlook and any other application you set will be maximized. It's a must have program for screen reader users and once it's installed you won't have to worry about it again.

Digital Multitrack recording with CakeTalking for Sonar.

If you are blind or visually impaired, and want to record digital multi-track audio,, look no further than CakeTalking for Sonar brought to you by Dancing Dots. For a sample of some music recorded using CakeTalking with Sonar, check Stacy's Audio Zone.

Ordering products for people who ar blind and visually impaired.

Future Aids (The Braille Super Store), is a good place to order talking watches and gadgets, boardd games, playing cards, and braille materials.
Future Aids Home page.

Games.

All in Play.

playing cards revealing a royal flush.
For online playing cards: All in Play is the game!
Interactive and accessible online Poker, texas Holdem, and Crazy Eights are found here AllInPlay.com
With great sound effects and easy instructions to have you up and playing in no time AllInPlay also lets you chat with other players from around the world while you play. It's so good but watch out, it's adddictive.
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