Free assistive technology increases the independence of people with disabilities to participate more fully at work, school, and home.
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Free assistive technology increases the independence of people with disabilities to participate more fully at work, school, and home. |
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| Assistive technology can be very expensive, but here you will find mostly free
assistive technology, organized by category, and available free on the Web. A BIG thank you for contributions from my friend Bob! If you can't get it free, here is information on applying for funding for assistive technology. Assistive Communication Devices On this website you will find books that have been adapted using the Picture Communication Symbols (PCS) and the Mayer-Johnson program BoardMaker. http://www.baltimorecityschools.org/boardmaker/adapted_library.asp Animal boards - http://www.mcps.k12.md.us/curriculumipep/teachingideas/anim.htm |
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For pre-designed Boardinaker activities:
http://www.baltimorecityschools.org/boardmaker/Results.asp and http://www.mcps.k12.md.us/curriculum/pep/teachercreate.html#bfiles Make and Take Ideas: http://www.unsnips.org/Pages/makeandtake.html Tangible Symbol Systems were designed for people who are unable to understand the meaning of the abstract symbols used in formal language systems. http://www.designtolearn.corn/pages/ts.html AAC http://www.aacinstitute.org/Resources/ProductsandServices/AACKeys/AACKeys.html AAC Keys is a keyboard and mouse emulation program for Microsoft Windows-based and Macintosh computers. AAC Keys receives commands through your computer's serial port and translates them into keystrokes and mouse moves, giving you full control of your computer from another device. http://members.aol.com/chipspeaking/index.html CHIPSPEAKING is a desktop augmentative communication device that supports up to 99 messages. Users can record in their own voice (or care-givers can record the voice of someone else of the same gender and age) or take advantage of computerized voices. http://www.pvoice.org/showpage/en/pvoice pVoice is an application for Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC).Disabled people who cannot speak and have very little possibilities to operate a computer can use pVoice by selecting photo's or symbols to generate speech output. Braille http://dave.mielke.cc/brltty/ BRLTTY is a background process (daemon) which provides access to the Linux/Unix console (when in text mode) for a blind person using a refreshable braille display. It drives the braille display, and provides complete screen review functionality. Some speech capability has also been incorporated. Perky Duck is a computer based Perkins braifler emulator. It is designed to be used for distance education programs, particularly Internet-based situations. It allows Windows and Macintosh users to create electronic braille files on their computer through six key input. These braille files can then be printed, embossed or emailed to an instructor, proctor, etc. for examination and grading. Perky Duck has no translation capabilities and veiy little formatting - essentially space bar, back space, and return key. http://www.duxburysystems.comlfreeware.asp#dbf http://www.nfb.org/nfbtrans.htm The most recent version of Grade II Braille translation software program is NFBTRANS 7.70. It is a self-extracting executable file and should be downloaded to a directory such as TEMP or NFBTRANS in your computer. Then click on it and all the files will be there. http://www.baum.ro/eng/products/virgo/virgo.html VIRGO 4 enables the user choose the sort of information to be displayed on the Braille display and to be given via speech-output. Users with a rest of sight have the choice to work also with the integrated screen magnification "Galileo". The complete integration of Braille, speech and screen magnification brings the power of media together to the benefit of the user. Of course, VIRGO 4 can as well be used only with Braille-output or only with speech-output or just with screen magnification. You've got the choice. The vOICe Learning Edition - Synthetic vision software for Microsoft Windows is "an experimental system for auditory image representations, intended to provide synthetic vision to the totally blind." - http://www.artificialvision.com/winvoice.htm The vOICe Learning Edition translates arbitrary video images from a regular PC camera into sounds. This means that you can see with your ears, whenever you want to. Now step beyond your computer screen and screen reader and try this camera-based "scene reader". With a notebook PC you can even go mobile. How well you can learn to see with your ears is something that only you can find out, but now you can indeed find out and learn through this Learning Edition software, for free! It is hoped that seeing with sound will not only find many practical uses, but that extensive usage may also lead to visual experiences that truly have the distinctive subjective " Calculators Calculator Home Page for Windows high functioning calculator. Free download. http://www.calculator.org/ Wide assortment of all types of calculators http://www.middleschool.net/MainFeatures/calculate.htm Edmark Algebra Calculator - Download a free algebra calculator which shows its work as it solves its problem. Other on-screen calculators are available also. http://www.edmark.com/free/ Big Calculator http://www.sensorysoftware.com/software/bigcalculator/index.html A large calculator for Windows. You can either on the buttons with the mouse or use the numeric keypad to perform calculations. The size of the calculator buttons is determined by the WIDTH of the calculator window. http://www.calculator.org/download.html/ This is a set of easy to read calculators that help develop math and science skills. It can be used with windows 95/98/ME/NT/2000/XP and PDA with Windowsce. GC (graphing calculator) http://www.compilerabuse.com/projects/gc/gc_help.htm You can use this program for building two-dimensional graphs of functions. In order to draw a graph of a function, enter the function into the upper box of the window and press Apply/Draw or Enter. Use letter ‘x’ as an argument. All the functions you enter will be added to the list box that is on top of the window. You can then scroll through the list and select a function. After you select a function, press Apply/Draw or Enter. The function you have selected will become current and will be drawn in blue. All other functions in the list will be drawn in green. Also, the function that is current will be calculated at the value that is shown in the x= box. The result will be displayed in the f(…)= box. You can add the values of x into the x= list the same way you add functions to the f(x)= list. Just press Apply/Draw or Enter every time you change or add values into those boxes. Pressing the Remove button will delete the current function from the list and its graph from the display window. The last function in the list will become current. Pressing Clear Argument List will remove all the values from the x= list except for ‘0’. Clear All clears both function and argument lists, and the display window. All the buttons on the window have corresponding items in the menu. Clipboard readers There are many clipboard readers available, but they don't offer any control of the reading. The most versatile of these readers is Saypad - http://inspiredcode.net/4VisImp.htm This actually gives complete control of the curser, allowing reading by line, word, or even letter, forward and backward. The other TTS apps need sight to use them, while Saypad can be completely operated by a sightless person, speaking all the menus, a truly unique feature. Like Natural Reader, Saypad is a word processor and can create MP3 files of any text. It uses the MS Sam SAPI 5 voice or can also install MS Mike and Mary. Someone who needs a text reader really shouldn't have to experiment with dozens of different apps until he finds the right one. That could be an extremely difficult experience, even for someone who is computer literate. And highlighting text is difficult and awkward if the screen can't be seen. http://www.readplease.com/ ReadPlease 2003 (Free Edition) offers full support for all Microsoft voices, reads text via Windows clipboard from any program, Adjustable voice speed (rate) and more. Closed caption http://www.afterdawn.com/software/video_software/subtitle_tools/vobsub.cfm Freeware (Open Source). Plug-in for VirtualDub for Closed Captioning manipulation. Collaboration http://www.atutor.ca/acollab/index.php ACollab is a fully accessible, open source, multi-group, Web-based collaborative work environment. ACollab is available as a work groups addon for ATutor 1.4+ , and as a standalone collaborative work environment that will run on its own. ACollab is ideal for groups working at a distance developing documentation, collaborating on research, or writing joint papers, and ideal for online educators who wish to add group learning activities to their ATutor courses. Compendium http://www.compendiuminstitute.org/download/download.htm Compendium provides a methodological framework, plus an evolving suite of tools, for collective sense-making and group memory. Validated in both small and large scale business projects, it is the result of over a decade's research and development at the intersection of collaborative modeling, organizational memory, computer-supported argumentation and meeting facilitation. Compendium offers innovative strategies for tackling several of the key challenges in managing knowledge: 1. Improving communication between disparate communities tackling ill-structured problems; 2. real time capture and integration of hybrid material (both predictable/ formal, and 3. unexpected/informal) into a reusable group memory transforming the resulting resource into the right representational formats for different stakeholders. http://www.atutor.ca/acomm/index.php ACOMM is an accessible Java-based Instant Messaging and Whiteboard tool. It has been designed to allow assistive technology users to participate in synchronous Internet-based communication activities that have traditionally been inaccessible to them. Features that set AComm apart from other similar systems are its full keyboard functionality, allowing users to draw without using a mouse; and peer descriptions, so a sighted user can type a text description of the whiteboard content that a blind person can listen to. Coloring and drawing TuxPaint http://www.newbreedsoftware.com/ An easy to use paint program. It has auditory feedback. Uses both the keyboard and the mouse. Drawing for Children http://www.cs.uu.nl/~rnarkov/kids/draw.html Doodle http://www.addersorfreeware/doodlepadhtml A simple drawing and coloring program which includes stamps (small pre-drawn pictures to color) ofWinnie The Pooh, Piglet, Tigger, Owl, Rabbit, Gopher, Roo and Kanga to add to your pictures. http://www.cs.uu.nl/~markov/kids/draw.html This is an easy to use drawing program with many activities to explore. http://www.kidsdomain.corn/down/pc/rubadub.html Teach kids to mouse with this fun art application! Beginning mousers sometimes have trouble with the "click and drag". This tim little coloring book is designed with the tiniest tykes in mind. Kids can color pictures by dragging the mouse over them. The rubbing reveals colorfiul surprises underneath the black and white features! Communicate http://www.ablelink.org/ Ability OnLine "is a friendly and safe computer friendship network where children and youth with disabilities or chrome illnesses connect to each other as well as to their friends, family members, caregivers and supporters." http://www.google.com/talk Google Talk enables you to call or send instant messages to your friends for free-anytime, anywhere in the world. http://www.talkingmessenger.com/ Always wanted to hear your Windows Messenger™ messages out loud? Talking Messenger will do just that! It even notifies you when your friends are on- or offline. http://www.nextalk.net/ As a member of "NexTalk.net", you have many state-of-the-art text-based communication features available at your fingertips, and best of all--its FREE! http://www.yackpack.com/ Simple web-based voice messaging. All you need to do is click, talk and send. Lets you set up groups of people for quick easy email communication. Currency reader pmk@umn.edu Audibill is a simple Windows program designed to recognize the denominations of paper currency from the United States, Canada, Great Britain, and Europe. It will run under any version of Microsoft Windows, and should support any flatbed scanner that has a compliant Twain or WIA interface. Note that currencies other than that of the United States are scanned in color. As a consequence, they cannot be recognized with a scanner that supports only black and white scanning. Unlike most programs from Kurzweil Educational Systems, Audibill is not self-voicing. Cursors Cursors may need to be enlarged or animated for better visibility. There are several sites on the Internet, here are a few: Windows http://joescursors.tripod.com/HVCurPg.htm http://www.supercursers.com Super Cursors is a free utility lets you color your windows cursor. http://www.tucows.com/preview/16285 These are very large and colorful cursors. Downloads and software from Tucows the largest online software download site. Macintosh http://www.tucows.com/preview/204209 CursorAnimator lets you substitute five system cursors (arrow, watch, text, cross-hair and plus) with a static or animated cursor of your choice. If your Macintosh supports color, you can even get color cursors. http://www.tucows.com/preview/204209/ This software has animated and brightly colored cursors. It is for mac computers only. http://rbx.de/big-cursors/ This software allows you to enlarge your cursor. Each of the enlarged cursors are the maximum of 32 by 32 pixels. It is windows based software. http://joescursors.tripod.com/HVCurPg.htm Collection of large and brightly animated cursors. This software is intended for non-profit use only. It is windows based software. http://www.anicursor.com/ There are many cursors types available at this site. Some of the cursors are freeware and some are shareware. Also there are instructions on how to create your own cursors. this is windows based software. http://onlineconferencingsystems.com/large_pointers_1.htm Over 80 additional pointers and cursors for those with visual or perceptual difficulties. Icon styles include animated, colored, large, I-beams and circles. Cursar control http://www.alphaworks.ibm.com/tech/headpointer/download The Head-Tracking Pointer provides an inexpensive and easily-used mouse replacement for those unable to use traditional pointing devices. Using only software and any Web-cam, this application allows users to point and click with character-level accuracy by simply aiming their face. Unlike other head-tracking solutions, the Head-Tracking Pointer does not require special-purpose hardware, head gear, or tracking aids, such as retro-reflective dots. Users train the system by tipping their head left and right. Custom-tracking algorithms provide reliable operation in a wide range of environmental conditions. Head motion is translated into pointer motion by custom filters that provide both high speed for long movements and high accuracy for fine control, without switching modes. All clicking variations are supported, including right clicking, double clicking, and click-and-drag. http://www.u3i.info/ Whistling-driven mouse pointer. An alternative way how to control your mouse pointer. http://hcvl.hci.iastate.edu/cgi-bin/openEyes.cgi Open Eyes is an open-source open-hardware toolkit for low-cost real-time eye tracking. The purpose of openEyes is to provide a hardware design and a set of software tools useful for the analysis of eye movement data. The development of openEyes stems from the recognition in the eye tracking and human computer interaction communities that while the cost of hardware for eye tracking has precipitously dropped in the recent past that the there is lack of freely available software to implement even long-established eye-tracking methods. The tools available for this platform include algorithms to measure eye movements from digital videos, techniques to calibrate the eye tracking system, and example software to facilitate real-time eye-tracking application development. Display http://www.magnifiers.org/cgi-bin/links/jump.cgi?ID=307 Intended to ease reading on a computer monitor by displaying text in large fonts in foreground an background colors of the user's choosing. Works with Microsoft's Text-to-Speech, reads web pages from the Internet and let you browse text-only. Using e-mail is such a great way to get kids writing but you may want to explore some sites that provide just a little extra: http://www.springdoo.com. Springdoo is a free service that lets you talk your emails. Anyone can now easily send talking emails in their own voice, without typing. You can use your computer and a microphone, or any telephone. This allows users who have difficulty with writing I typing I spelling to create voice emails and email to anyone they want. http://www.yackpack.com/ YackPack is simple, web-based voice messaging for groups. For younger or cognitively challenged people this would be absolutely ideal - it's a closed and controlled system... click on the *PHOTO* of the person you want to email, click on the BIG button to record, then click on the BIG button to send. It really is an amazing system and just ideal for people who are able to talk but who have difficulty with functional typing or writing. Skype is a program for making free calls over the internet to anyone else who also has Skype: http://www.skype.com/ (Google ginail and yahoo messenger all allow for full telephone conversations over the web - a benefit for people with physically disabilities.) E-Text / e-Books (Electronic Text) free books and text online - Electronic text provides access to digital materials for students with learning, sensory and physical disabilities. The Internet provides many sites for gathering e-text. Here are some links to explore e-text further: http://www.bartleby.com/ http://www.digital.library.upenn.edu/booksfindex.html http://www.acs.ucalgary.ca/%7Edkbrown/rteacher.htrnl http://www.gigglepoetw.com/ http://www.childrenstory.com/tales/index.html http://www.accessiblebookcollection.org/ http://wowio.cornlindex.asp Google has a book search in their search engine now. Go to Google and then go to "More". Type in what you are looking for and voila! You just might find it. AMIS http://amis.sourceforge.net/ AMIS is a software program that you can use to read DAISY books. AMIS is a multilingual player for reading books complying with DAISY standards. AMIS is free of charge, open source DAISY book playback software. http://www.magickeys.com/books/ Illustrated and animated children's storybooks. Bookshare.org http://www.bookshare.org/web/Welcome.html A collection of digital books designed for use by people with disabilities. Many books can be downloaded for free and used with Kurzweil. http://www.microsoft.com/reader/default.asp Microsoft Reader is used to view certain eBooks on your computer. An additional piece of software, 'Microsoft Reader Text-to-Speech Package' can be downloaded in order to speak your eBooks to you, giving you access to all manner of novels and non-fiction eBooks without the need to read them from the screen. http://www.gameguariwn.com/niagazrnes.html has a great list of on-line magazine sites that are very motivating for kids to use with text-to-speech software. Gaming http://www.agrip.org.uk/FrontPage This site was created so that the community can learn about how to install, use and develop the software they produce. Their aim is to provide access to the mainstream gaming community not by producing specialist "accessible games" but by making mainstream games - and their associated extension and development tools - accessible. We want blind people to not only play the games that sighted people do, but to be involved in the online communities that surround them and to extend them, creating new games and applications with them; something that sighted people have enjoyed a great deal over the years. Arcess Accessibile Computer Games http://www.arcess.com/demo2.cfm These simple switch games are easy to play and are designed to be widely accessible for players who have Muscular Dystrophy, Cerebral Palsy, Spinal Injury, Head Injury or other physical disabilities. They can be played as single switch games, speech recognition games, expanded keyboard games (Intellikeys, Unicorn Keyboard, Concept Keyboard, Mini Keyboards), assistive technology researchers and vendors http://www.yourchildlearns.com/owlmouse.htm Build your own castle while learning about the history and parts of a castle. http://www.brillsoft.com/Index_files/Page552.htm You control a hot air balloon on the planet Gull. Direction is controlled by entering different ‘jetstreams.’ Jetstream trader is a very complex single switch game for people with gross motor skills only. The objective is given at the start of each level, you have to deliver cargo to earn credit. You can then use the credit for more gas. No gas, no flame, no go! CCT Solitaire http://www.afb.org/prodProfile.asp?ProdID=718&SourceID=70 A fully-accessible traditional solitaire game. Keyboard commands perform all functions. Sound effects are included. Crazy Darts http://www.afb.org/prodProfile.asp?ProdID=688&SourceID=70 This online, audio-based game allows you to throw a dart at a moving target. When the game starts, sound comes out of either the right or left speaker and moves to the opposite speaker. When you believe the sound is directly in front of you, you press the spacebar to throw the dart. A recorded voice announces the scoring region on the dartboard that the dart hit. To keep things interesting, the target moves across the speakers at a variety of different speeds. When the game is over, your total score is announced. http://www.danzgames.com/memory.htm In this game, you choose how many sounds you would like to be a part of a pattern that you will remember. Then, you listen to a single sound, and try to remember it. If you're successful, a new sound is added and you must remember both sounds. This continues, and continues, until you cannot remember anymore and make a mistake. But don't think things are easy. The game has some advanced options, such as letting you specify how many sounds to add to the sequence after you successfully remember a pattern, and even randomly adding sounds to the pattern. You can also specify how many different sounds you would like in the pattern. This game does not require directX--only a screen reader. It will work on all Windows platforms including Windows 95. It is just 1.5 MB in size, and freeware, so why not give it a go. http://www.brillsoft.com/Index_files/Page603.htm Consists of 4 single switch games for users with special needs. These are cause and effect games for users with special needs. Download it to try! After all it is completely free, however if you are able, a donation to keep the website running would be appreciated. 70+ single switch PC games available for FREE download! http://www.oneswitch.org.uk/2/switch-downloads.htm http://www.danzgames.com/maze.htm Maze Craze is a nice piece of freeware that enthusiasts of maze and puzzle games will enjoy. The game currently comes with eleven mazes for you to try to escape. Once you're finished with those, you can use the included, accessible, maze editor to create your own fully-featured mazes. Your mazes can include walls, doors, keys, and up to a 100x100 grid. I would appreciate that any mazes you create be emailed to us. My plan is to offer user-created mazes for download from this page for everyone to try to complete. Maze Craze will work on any version of Windows, starting from Windows 95. It requires at least directX version 8.0 to play. The download includes Maze Craze, eleven playable mazes, and the maze editor, and is just 3.5 mb in size. Game Accessibility SIG http://www.igda.org/accessibility/ Games play an important part in our culture and help add to our quality of life. The Game Accessibility SIG was formed to help the game community strive towards creating mainstream games that are universally accessible to all, regardless of disability. Through our work we hope to help bridge the knowledge gap about how to increase the accessibility of mainstream games that exists between disability groups and game developers and publishers. Bavisoft has changed the computer gaming industiy. In place ofgraphics, audio games are powered purely with sound imagery, opening a world ofentertainment for the blind and visually impaired. Bavisoft provides game players with music and sound quality, creating a gaming experience. http://www.bavisoft.com/index.htm This site offers free activities and several programs. Example: Funk in the Trunk is a free full-version download of a virtual car stereo, which teens will love. http://www.blindsoftware.com http://www.brillsoft.com/Index_files/Page654.htm Rockets! Is a single switch game which introduces the concept of scanning. That is you press the switch when the pointer is aligned with one of the buttons. You load rockets into a container, then press fire and watch the fireworks! Rockets is an intermediate level switch game for users with special needs. It can also be used with a mouse, this is configured on the opening screen. http://www.ics.forth.gr/uachess/index.html UA-Chess is a fully-functional chess game, developed by the Centre for Universal Access & Assistive Technologies of ICS-FORTH. UA-Chess can be played through a standard Web browser. Its distinctive characteristic is that it is designed to be Universally Accessible, i.e., it can be concurrently played by people with different abilities and preferences, including people with disabilities (e.g., low-vision, blind and hand-motor impaired). http://www.adagame.org The ADA Game simulates how advocacy can promote positive changes in communities. Join in the discussions and work together to improve compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in your community of choice in the areas of: Program Access, Public Accommodations, Transportation, Employment, and Communication. http://www.cs.unc.edu/Research/assist/Hark/index.html Hark The Sound is a really simple sound game intended for young kids who are visually impaired. It was inspired by my friend and colleague Diane Brauner and was written by Gary Bishop. It is free for educational and fun use. http://www.yourchildlearns.com/owlmouse.htm Create your own model farm with silo, barn and chicken coop. Kids will choose crops and animals and what to grow to feed themselves and their animals. Kids set up their own streets, decide where to put different buildings, parks and shopping districts. Graphics http://www.freeology.com/graphicorgs http://www.kaptech.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/PictureSlideShow.htm Picture Slide Show lets you continuously displays all the pictures in a folder. You can tell it which folder to look at and how long to display a picture for. Picture Slide Show can display ICO, BMP, EMF, GIF, JPG, PNG, and WMF files. Picture Slide Show is easy to use. Features include: Maximum time to show slide show (after which it is stopped). This allows PCs to go into standby mode. Sort pictures before displaying, including real randomness (all images are randomly displayed before they're shown again) Command line start-up: if you provide a folder when starting Picture Slide Show, the slide show begins immediately. This is useful for creating autostart CDs. Other command-line switches let you set various options. http://gliffy.com Allows you to use diagramming in your web browser without downloading additional software. You can create many types ofdiagrams such as Flowcharts, wireframes, Floor plans, Network thagrams, UML diagrams, or any other simple drawing or diagram. http://www.eduplace.com/graphicorganizer provides PDF files ofmany graphic organizers. With the hit ofa button they are available in Spanish also! http://cmap.ihmc.us/download/ Alternative to Inspiration that is totally free. Doesn't have some ofthe supportive options that Inspiration has such as text to speech and wonderful graphics but the CmapTools program empowers users to construct, navigate, share and criticize knowledge models represented as concept maps. http://www.inspiration.com has full-feature demos oftheir graphic organizer programs. Joystick http://www.freewareweb.com/cgi-bin/archive.cgi?ID=1625 Joystick 2 Mouse lets you control your mouse and keyboard using your joystick or gamepad. http://www.tucows.com/preview/292788 Turns a joystick into a mouse. It works on Windows 98/NT/2K/ME/XP. Keyboarding There is an On-Screen Keyboard bundled in with Windows XP. There are limitations however. Dasher is a text-entry interface, driven by natural continuous pointing gestures to be used when operating a computer one-handed, by joystick, touchscreen, trackball, mouse, by head-mouse or by eyetracker, or on a palmtop computer. http://www.inference.phy.cam.ac.uk/dasher/ http://kavlon.org/index.php/10key Kavlon 10-key keyboarding wordlist database is a utility to re-map a small set of keys to a larger set of keys and to use that mapping to allowing fast entry of words. Click-N-Type is an on-screen virtual keyboard designed for anyone with a disability that prevents him or her from typing on a physical computer keyboard. As long as the person can control a mouse, trackball or other pointing device, he or she can send keystrokes to virtually any Windows application or DOS application that can run within a window. Click-N-Type is a 32-bit application that requires Windows 95 or later. Freeware http://www.lakefolks.org/cnt/ KeyStrokes http://www.assistiveware.com/index.php for Mac OS 9 and Mac OS X is a filly- functional advanced virtual on-screen keyboard that allows you to type with a mouse, trackball, head pointer or other mouse emulator to type characters into any standard Macintosh application. Demo version available. AutoHotkey http://www.autohotkey.com/ AutoHotkey is a free, open-source utility for Windows. With it, you can: Automate almost anything by sending keystrokes and mouse clicks. You can write a mouse or keyboard macro by hand or use the macro recorder. Create hotkeys for keyboard, joystick, and mouse. Virtually any key, button, or combination can become a hotkey. Expand abbreviations as you type them. For example, typing "btw" can automatically produce "by the way". Create custom data entry forms, user interfaces, and menu bars. See GUI for details. Remap keys and buttons on your keyboard, joystick, and mouse. Respond to signals from hand-held remote controls via the WinLIRC client script. Run existing AutoIt v2 scripts and enhance them with new capabilities. Convert any script into an EXE file that can be run on computers that don't have AutoHotkey installed. Click-N-Type Speech Package v. 1.0 by Lake Software http://www.free2u.org/freeware/system_utilities/tools_for_disabled/click-n-type_speech_package.html More than just fun, Typing Sounds provide audible feedback, you may select one of the "Spoken Keys" options, as well as normal typewriter sounds. The feature "speaks" the keys back to you, letting you know you've hit the correct key and documentation on how to create "Spoken Keys" is included with the Click-N-Type help file, so people can create their own. Click-N-Type virtual keyboard http://www.lakefolks.org/cnt/ Click-N-Type is an on-screen virtual keyboard designed for anyone who needs help using a physical keyboard with special consideration for the severely handicapped. Full featured virtual keyboard, Word prediction and completion, Fully configurable including macros, AutoClick and Scanning Modes. Hotkeycontrol XP 5.3 http://www.inchwest.com/hkcontrol.html Hotkeycontrol is the award winning solution to create keyboard shortcuts for routine tasks. These tasks include, but are not limited to opening files, ejecting cdrom drives, restarting the computer, typing frequently used text, controlling active windows, changing volume and recording macros. The list of configured hotkeys can be shown transparently using on screen display (OSD) which eliminates the need to remember the hotkeys contrary to conventional hotkey managers. Besides that, volume status and other information can also be shown directly on screen using OSD. And, more features can be added to the program by creating plugins - which essentially makes the possibilities limitless. In addition to normal combination hotkeys, you can use single keys such as function or number pad keys. The additional keys on your Multimedia/Internet keyboard can also be used with Hotkeycontrol and all the hotkeys are functional even in games and in other full-screen DirectX applications. HotKicks http://rapidkeys.netfirms.com/en/index.htm RapidKeys intelligent virtual keyboard is an application intended to replace the keyboard by using a pointing device (mouse, trackball or similar device). Virtual keyboards are ideal for people with physical disabilities or for systems without a keyboard. RapidKeys is a virtual keyboard with some special features - it learns from what the user types and contextually suggests words that can be typed with a single click to obtain a greater speed of typing. It has user-defined autoexpandable abbreviations & a similar mechanism is used for names. An optional AutoCaps mechanism detects the end of sentences and temporarily switches for one capital letter. http://www.polital.com/cntd/ CNTDesigner is a keyboard layout designer designed to work in conjunction with Click-N-Type V3+ by Lake Software. The combination of CNTDesigner and Click-N-Type will give the user complete freedom to design their own keyboards, controlling size and placement of all keys as well as the overall size of the keyboard. If none of the standard keyboards provided by Click-N-Type suit your fancy, and the Custom Alphabet just doesn't have enough flexibility to meet your creative needs, then the keyboard designer CNTDesigner is the add-on you use to design your own keyboard layout. http://www.eventcorder.com/ec_downloads.htm Eventcorder records and plays back Windows events. With Eventcorder, a sequence of keystrokes and mouse-clicks can be implemented at the touch of a single button. http://kmag.sourceforge.net/ KMagnifier (or kmag, its unix name) is a small utility for Linux to magnify a part of the screen. It was initially written for KDE 1, before becoming dormant. The development was then picked up by me and KMagnifier got its new life. It is currently being maintained/developed actively. KMagnifier is very useful for people with visual disabilities and for those working in the fields of image analysis, web development etc. http://www.compilerabuse.com/projects/kmrw/kmrw_help.htm This program allows the user to record and later play back sequences of keyboard and mouse input. http://www.shortkeys.com/lite.htm Shortkeys Lite allows you to set up replacement text or paragraphs for any given number of user defined keystrokes. If you type a few characters, ShortKeys Lite will replace them with up to 3000 characters. If you find typing difficult then Shortkeys will make it more automatic. http://www.gok.ca/gok.shtml The gok project aims to enable users to control their computer without having to rely on a standard keyboard or mouse. Many individuals must control the computer using alternative input methods. Using innovative dynamic keyboard strategies, and leveraging gnome 2's built-in accessibility framework, the gok will make control more efficient and enable use of the gnome 2 desktop. With the right hardware support and the gok individuals will have full access to applications that support the AT SPI, and therefore, full access to the functionality these applications provide. http://www.gnu.org/software/gtkeyboard/gtkeyboard.html GTKeyboard is an application written in C with the aid of the Gimp Toolkit. It is intended to help users with physical disabilities to enter text into a simple editor, as well as to help them use other X11 applications that require keyboard input. GTKeyboard allows the user to press keys on an onscreen keyboard that will either be entered into a simple text editor that GTKeyboard provides, or into the application of choice that the user specifies by clicking on the window. It has also been used by people who have strange keyboard layouts, and by people who for one reason or another cannot use a keyboard with the machine in question. http://www.camiweb.com/zenkey/ ZenKEY is comprised of a series of menus, each containing items which perform "actions". You can "fire" these actions by clicking on the item, or pressing any key-combination you choose. Language http://wordweb.info/free/ WordWeb is a Thesaurus and dictionary for Windows which includes a comprehensive English thesaurus and dictionaiy, and can be used to look up words from within most programs. WordWeb works from a small icon in your system tray. To look up a word in almost any program just double-click on the word to select it, then click the WordWeb icon or use the keyboard shortcut. If you are editing a document you can select a synonym and replace the look-up word. http://wordweb.info/free/ http://onlineconferencingsystems.com/wordweb.htm WordWeb includes a comprehensive English thesaurus and dictionary, and can be used to look up words from within most programs. http://www.yourchildlearns.com/owlmouse.htm This software teaches children to know and make the twenty-six letters of the alphabet. Magnification Magnification for the computer, including freeware/shareware and reviews of commercial products. http://www.magnifiers.org http://camtech2000.net/Programs/mouscm10.zip Have you ever been to a web site or tried to read documents where they used a font so small you had to really strain your eyes to read it? Or have you ever wanted to get greater detail of a graphic? MouseCam is a free small utility that magnifies anything your cursor is over up to 20x normal size. Win95/98/Me/Win2K/XP EzMagnifier http://www.ancientsoft.com/ezmagnifier.htm EzMagnifier is a small utility to magnify a portion of the screen where you can choose the zooming factor and you can resize the magnified portion itself to suite your needs. You can capture the image of the magnified area and the program saves it in the same folder of the program and you can save multiple captures as the program save them sequentially. http://www.b-zone.de/software/lens.htm Another Lens displays a magnified view of the area of the mouse cursor. Quite handy, for example, for drawing software. The window contents can be locked, and saved to a file or copied to the clipboard for taking screenshots. Several additional options, like crosshairs, resizing the window and hiding the caption bar and/or main menu. Stays on top of other windows optionally. http://magnifier.sourceforge.net/ Virtual Magnifying Glass is an easy-to-use screen magnification tool for Windows. http://www.ohsht.org/izoom_index.htm Redefine your computing experience with iZoom, a Professional Grade Screen Magnifier and Reader built into a single application. Magnify your screen anywhere from 1.5 to 16 times while having it read out to you, all ready with color/cursor enhancements and image smoothing. http://www.theabsolute.net/sware/ This software allows you to magnify portions of your computer screen up to fifteen times the normal magnification. The program includes a special interpolation routine to maintain details when magnifying, as well as the ability to magnify the mouse cursor. http://www.digitalmantra.com/fatbits/ Fatbits magnifies an area of the screen and paints the giant pixels into a new window, which may be useful if you have a visual impairment. To make the screen even more accessible, you can modify the colours it displays. http://www.softlookup.com/display.asp?id=9955 Super Magnify allows you to magnify portions of your screen up to 15 times. The program includes a special interpolation routine to maintain details when magnifying, as well as the ability to magnify the mouse cursor. In addition, Super Magnify displays your (x, y) pixel coordinates on the screen, and the RGB values corresponding to the cursor's position. http://www.magnifiers.org/cgi-bin/links/jump.cgi?ID=307 Intended to ease reading on a computer monitor by displaying text in large fonts in foreground an background colors of the user's choosing. Works with Microsoft's Text-to-Speech, reads web pages from the Internet and let you browse text-only. Galileo http://www.baum.ro/eng/products/galileo/galileo.html Galileo 4 is the screen magnification software for Windows NT/2000/XP developed by BAUM. Though Galileo 4 is an independent and autonomous program that offers every comfort of a modern screen magnification software, it has especially been developed for use with the screen reader Virgo 4. By combining these two solutions all former compatibility problems between screen readers and screen magnification software now belong to the past. Maps http://www.cs.unc.edu/Research/assist/bats/index.shtml Spatial information is often presented in the form of maps that viewers actively explore to learn about an area. People who cannot see cannot share the benefits of such a visual representation, and have traditionally relied on audio descriptions, tactile maps, guidance from others, and even trial and error when learning the layout of a region. On-going assistive technology research has yielded a number of promising techniques to help people who have visual impairments plan daily walks and get directions, but little has been done to promote the same kind of spatial awareness provided by visual maps. The Blind Audio Tactile Mapping System (BATS) project focuses on the latter area of research by helping people without sight access and explore spatial information. http://www.yourchildlearns.com/owlmouse.htm Helps students learn about the United States and World geography. Following is a list of the interactive maps that teach about continents, countries, states, capitals, boarders, physical features and cultural movements. http://www.yourchildlearns.com/owlmouse.htm Walk an individual through the continents. It prints U.S. and World maps from a single page to eight pages (nearly seven feet across). Math Calculator Home Page for Windows high functioning calculator. Free download. http://www.calculator.org/ Wide assortment of all types of calculators http://www.middleschool.net/MainFeatures/calculate.htm National Library ofVirtual Manipulatives encourages active engagement in mathematical thinking and learning - helping students visualize relationships and applications. http://matti.usu.edu/nlvrn/nav/index.html http://www.vincentwortham.com/mathFlash.html and http://cybersleuthkids.comlmathflashlmathflash.html have flash card programs for drill and practice. Graph Paper- never buy it again! There are many sites that offer free graph paper or programs to develop your own. Great to use with students who straggle lining up their problems. http://www.mathematicshelpcentral.com/graphpaper.htm or varied forms of graph paper at http://www.printfreegraphpaper.com/ http://incompetech.com/beta/plainGraphPaper/ Offers on-line graph and grid paper in PDF format. There are various links from this site to support your graphing needs. MathType is an interactive tool for Windows and Macintosh that lets you create mathematical notation for word processing, web pages, desktop publishing, presentations, and for TeX, LaTeX, and MathML documents. 30-day trial provided. http://www.rnathtype.com/en/ http://fly.hiwaay.net/~palmer/mathflash.html This software teaches addition, subtraction, multiplication and division with drills and practices. It keeps score and has math skills from kindergarten to adult. It also has a digital voice feedback. http://www.dessci.com/en/products/mathplayer/ MathPlayer converts mathematical expressions embedded in web pages into speech. Text-to-speech generators (which are useful if you want to use the computer but cannot read) may not always recognise mathematical expressions, but MathPlayer will speak them in a meaningful way. Edmark Algebra Calculator - Download a free algebra calculator which shows its work as it solves its problem. Other on-screen calculators are available also. http://www.edmark.com/free/ Big Calculator http://www.sensorysoftware.com/software/bigcalculator/index.html A large calculator for Windows. You can either on the buttons with the mouse or use the numeric keypad to perform calculations. The size of the calculator buttons is determined by the WIDTH of the calculator window. http://www.calculator.org/download.html/ This is a set of easy to read calculators that help develop math and science skills. It can be used with windows 95/98/ME/NT/2000/XP and PDA with Windowsce. http://prime.jsc.nasa.gov MDE SDK is a reusable software library that generates text, sound and visual representations of graphs found in both math and science applications. Visually-impaired computer users access these alternative text and sound descriptions through the use of a screen reader and standard computer speakers. The MDE (Math Description Engine) distinguishes itself from other accessibility software by determining the key characteristics of a graph "on the fly." Using this determination, it builds natural-language text descriptions that enable visually-impaired users to view spatial relationships through sound alone. Designed with both flexibility and ease-of-use in mind, the SDK (Software Development Kit) allows web and software developers to adapt the MDE's graph descriptions to a variety of applications. GC (graphing calculator) http://www.compilerabuse.com/projects/gc/gc_help.htm You can use this program for building two-dimensional graphs of functions. In order to draw a graph of a function, enter the function into the upper box of the window and press Apply/Draw or Enter. Use letter ‘x’ as an argument. All the functions you enter will be added to the list box that is on top of the window. You can then scroll through the list and select a function. After you select a function, press Apply/Draw or Enter. The function you have selected will become current and will be drawn in blue. All other functions in the list will be drawn in green. Also, the function that is current will be calculated at the value that is shown in the x= box. The result will be displayed in the f(…)= box. You can add the values of x into the x= list the same way you add functions to the f(x)= list. Just press Apply/Draw or Enter every time you change or add values into those boxes. Pressing the Remove button will delete the current function from the list and its graph from the display window. The last function in the list will become current. Pressing Clear Argument List will remove all the values from the x= list except for ‘0’. Clear All clears both function and argument lists, and the display window. All the buttons on the window have corresponding items in the menu. Mouse http://www.beenleigss.gld.edu.au/requested_sites/mousepractice/ This site has some great interactive activities for learning to use a mouse. http://wwwcustomsolutions.us/mouse/Iternet_Resources.htm http://www.intelore.com/reflex provides a game that is available to download. http://www.burlco.lib.nj.us/Classes/Intforkids/cns1.html provides introduction to pointing and clicking. http://www.shambles.net/pages/school/mouse has various links for providing skills in using a mouse. Also links for specifically designed for left handers! http://www.polital.com/pnc/ Point-N-Click is a FREE stand-alone on-screen virtual mouse designed for anyone with a disability that makes it difficult or impossible to click a physical computer mouse. As long as they can move a mouse, trackball or other pointing device, they can send mouse clicks to virtually any Windows application or DOS application that can run within a window and even many that are full screen. This software is a virtual mouse. It has right click, left click, double left click, click and drag, scroll, double right click, alt key, shift key, ctrl key and scroll key. It is a very good virtual mouse. ToggleMouse lets you assign a keyboard action to anything the mouse does, so you can point and click with your keys. It also lets you change your pointer and it hides the mouse pointer while you type. You can record a mouse click and assign it to a keyboard stroke-- you could even surfthe Web or use Microsoft Word without ever touching your mouse. It has many, many features for controlling mouse function. Programming the "Panic Stopper" will allow you to ignore those repeated little mouse clicks some students insist on. Do a search to find this Freeware as it is available but the company has quit producing it. http://wwwsoftpile.com/Desktop/Desktop_Utilities/Review_01645_index.html AutoMouse http://www.yuasa.kuis.kyoto-u.ac.jp/ylab/yamakaku/AutoMouse/ AutoMouse is a software which controls the mouse and key-inputs in your place. You can make a program by combining Mouse-operating-commands, such as `Click this picture', `Double-click this picture', etc. When you execute the program, the mouse moves automatically. Key inputs are also available. http://lang.tivi.pl/software.htm Click-Catch(C) available options: You may choose which button to simulate between left/right/middle mouse buttons. You can also set single or double click. There are two "hot keys" available. http://www.sensorysoftware.com/software/dwellclick/index.html Dwelling is resting the mouse over one area of the screen for a specified time. The dwell click software allows you to perform left-click, right-click and double clicks, and even drag things around the screen. This is ideal for those who can operate the mouse pointer, but not the buttons. For example, users of a head mouse such as the Smart NAV can use this software to control mouse operated Windows programs. http://morseall.org/ Morseall allows people with limited mobility to use a computer. Morseall allows you to control your Linux computer by tapping morse code on the mouse buttons. The left button is for dots. Hold it longer for dashes. The right button is for dashes. It is faster than holding down the Left. The middle button is for "finishing" and repeating characters. If you can control one, two, or three switches, you can use morseall at at your own pace. Morseall can use your existing accessibility switches! Ask a rehabilitation professional to solder a jack onto a "sacrificial" three-button mouse. It should be easy to hook up your current switch set for long-term morse-code computer use. http://www.alphaworks.ibm.com/tech/mousesmoothing Mouse Smoothing Software is assistive software for people with hand tremor. It is intended primarily for individuals with Essential (non-specific) Hand Tremor who have difficulty using a computer mouse. Significant improvement has been found for people who can basically control their hand, apart from a moderate degree of tremor. http://www.ex-d.net/products/utils/mousewrap/default.asp This software makes the mouse pointer circulate around the screen instead of stopping at the edges, therefore moving the pointer requires less movement by you. 'Movement pattern recognition' also gives you access to custom actions e.g. cut and paste. http://camtech2000.net/Programs/mouscm10.zip Have you ever been to a web site or tried to read documents where they used a font so small you had to really strain your eyes to read it? Or have you ever wanted to get greater detail of a graphic? MouseCam is a free small utility that magnifies anything your cursor is over up to 20x normal size. Win95/98/Me/Win2K/XP Music http://www.inclusive.co.uk/downloads/downloads.shtml#cdplayer A free, switch accessible CD player. Features: two different graphic styles, one or two switch access, mouse and keyboard access, automatically remembers settings, suitable for controlling from an IntelliKeys or Concept Keyboard http://fullmeasure.co.uk/TouchCD/ A very simple switch controlled CD player News Accessible RSS News Feeds http://www.webbie.org.uk/accessiblerss/index.htm RSS is widely used by the weblog community to share the latest entries' headlines or their full text, and even attached multimedia files. In mid 2000, use of RSS spread to many major news organizations, including Reuters, CNN and the BBC, until under various usage agreements, providers allow other websites to incorporate their "syndicated" headline or headline-and-short-summary feeds. RSS is now used for many purposes, including marketing, bug-reports, or any other activity involving periodic updates or publications. Operating System Don't forget that each operating system comes with its own supports, "To enable people and businesses throughout the world to realize their full potential." To learn more about the built-in solutions that is available on your computer: http://www.rnicrosoft.com/enable/products/default.aspx for PC computers using Microsoft products. http://www.apple.com/disability/ for Macintosh users. MS Agent Components and Tools include: MSAgent.exe, Microsoft Agent character files, Text-to-speech engines: http://activex.microsoft.com/activex/controls/agent2/tv_enua.exe, SAPI 4.0 runtime support, Speech recognition engines, Speech control panel, all available in the Microsoft page http://www.microsoft.com/MSAGENT/downloads/user.asp Other links for free assistive technology: Macintosh - http://trace.wisc.edu/worldlcomputeraccess/mac/macshare.html Windows http://trace.wisc.edu/world/computer access/win95/win95sha.htrnl http://www.eklhad.net/linux/jupiter/ This software makes Linux accessible to the blind user. Optical character recognition http://lem.eui.upm.es/ocre.html Free Optical Character Recognition application PC Utilities http://downloads-zdnet.com.com/AutoRefresher-for-IE/3000-2366_2-10293579.html?tag=lst-0-1 Reloader lets you automatically reload predefined sets of programs. There are three main ways to use it. You can start Windows with the same programs that were running when you last shut down. You can start Windows with the same set of programs every time. Or you can load predefined sets of programs on demand rather than at startup. To the extent possible, Reloader will restore programs to their original state, positioning windows as they were when you saved the layout. This would be great for people who need to have assistive technology programs such as an on-screen keyboard or screen reader accessible as soon as the computer starts up. Google Desktop http://desktop.google.com/index.html Google Desktop gives you easy access to information on your computer and from the web. It's a desktop search application that provides full text search over your email, computer files, music, photos, chats and web pages that you've viewed. By making your computer searchable, Google Desktop puts your information easily within your reach and frees you from having to manually organize your files, emails and bookmarks. It makes searching your computer as easy as searching the web with Google. G-TalkSearch http://desktop.google.com/plugins/i/gtalksearch.html G-TalkSearch is a plug-in for Google desktop search. It is an innovative piece of binary (.Net CLR Binary) written to enable people with disabilities to use Google desktop search. Well not only people with disabilities, but a lot of ohter fun loving people who want to talk with Google desktop search can use this. Use Google desktop search with your voice. Command it and it takes you to webpages, cache files etc... To use it you MUST download all of the following, additional, files or else Program does not work. Net Framework 1.1; Speech SDK 5.1; from http://www.microsoft.com/speech/download/sdk51/ http://fullmeasure.co.uk/TouchCD/ A very simple switch controlled CD player http://web4all.atrc.utoronto.ca/html/atrc/about_e.html Web-4-All is the first technology in the world that makes it possible for users to carry with them their user interface preferences (including system preferences, browser preferences and assistive technology preferences) and quickly configure public terminals or learning management applications accordingly. The Web-4-All pilot system automatically configured public access terminals through the use smart cards. Each user's interface preferences document is saved as a compressed XML string on the card. The preferences document is created using a preference wizard program. Once saved to the card, the user can take the card to any public access terminal running Web-4-All software, insert or swipe the card, and cause the system, browser, and assistive technology to be set exactly as they have specified. The user is able to specify the assistive technology they prefer, as well as acceptable alternatives if the preferred technology is not installed on the workstation. If none of the preferred technologies are present, the system will resort to a technology in the same class. When the card is removed, the workstation reverts back to the default configuration and all assistive technologies are shut down to avoid conflict with other users. Podcatcher http://www.webbie.org.uk/accessiblepodcatcher/ Accessible Podcatcher is a simple way for blind and screen reader users to use podcasts. Podcasting is a way to distribute audio files on the web. Accessible Podcatcher lets you access these podcasts. You can save them to disk, have your MP3 player transfer them for portable listening, and export and import lists of podcasts to send to other people. Radio Accessible BBC Listen Again http://www.webbie.org.uk/accessiblebbc/index.htm The British Broadcast Company (BBC) allows people to listen to vast quantities of their radio output up to a week after it is first broadcast on one of their dozens of radio stations. This service, called Listen Again, relies on a web browser interface that might be difficult for some users, especially people with screen readers. Accessible BBC Listen Again allows you to access the BBC's Listen Again content through a truly accessible interface designed to work with any screen reader. Select programmes and stations with the cursor keys and listen to them at your leisure. You get easy and simple access to hours of programming, including the ever-popular "The Archers" and "In Touch". The new version lets you access all of the Listen Again content among many other improvements (thanks to everyone for their suggestions!) It does still require that you have already installed something that can play Real Audio, which is the format the BBC uses for their radio on the Internet. The official program you can use, RealPlayer from Real, is very difficult to use and pops up lots of confusing messages. We suggest trying out Real Alternative from Edskes: this is free and is much easier to use. Just download, install and forget about it. http://www.webbie.org.uk/accessibleradio/index.htm Accessible Radio is a way to listen to radio stations on the internet that is easy and simple to use and is designed to work with any screen reader. It lets you listen to any of the BBC Radio stations. Audio Radio http://www.audiobookradio.net/index.php Listen to spoken word Internet radio station broadcasting 24/7. We are a free radio station dedicated to broadcasting stories, drama, poetry and interviews. We broadcast popular audio books by best-selling authors, as well as promoting new and unsigned writers from around the world. Easily listen to radio online from work or home. Free non-music entertainment for the more discerning listener. Listen to popular audio books narrated by professional actors . View our week's programme schedule to see the great variety of choice on offer Readers http://www.helpread.net/ HELP Read™ is FREE software that reads along with you while you do the reading. Whether you’re younger or older, new to reading or have your own library, HELP Read™ should be able to help you read more and understand more of what you read. http://www.wordtalk.org.uk/ For people with reading and writing difficulties, having text reinforced by hearing it read aloud can be very useful. Specialised programs have existed to do this for a long time, and in many cases are extremely helpful and highly appropriate and should be seriously considered, perhaps in consultation with professional advice where necessary. WordTalk is a free plug-in developed for use with all versions of Microsoft Word (from Word 97 upwards), which can help people with reading difficulties use Microsoft Word more effectively. It will speak the text of the document and will highlight it as it goes. It contains a talking dictionary to help decide which word spelling is most appropriate. It sits neatly in your toolbar and is highly configurable, allowing you to adjust the highlight colours, the voice and the speed of the speech. Safety Child Proof is a program that protect your computer from children by accident pressing wrong buttons or key. It hides all windows, the toolbar at the bottom and the desktop and replaces it by a toolbar with programs you allow your child to execute. This avoids most problems when children use the computer (but not all). http://www.cs.uu.nl/people/markov/kids/cproof.html A big thank you to my friend Bob for the following information on screen readers: Screen readers I'm presently checking out a new complete screen reader, which is still under development, called NonVisual Desktop Access, NVDA. http://www.nvda-project.org/ This looks very promising and, even now, is a very useful program. It requires no installation, just unzipping into a folder and running it. I believe it can be loaded onto a USB thumb drive and used on any computer. Another recent free screen reader is called Thunder. http://www.screenreader.net/index.php?pageid=11§ion=Thunder I haven't tried it yet, but it has received many positive reviews. Rick Harmon demonstrates this free screen reader for Windows - http://media.libsyn.com/media/bct/bct1025Thunder.mp3 Non Visual Desktop Access - Rick Harmon describes the advantages and disadvantages of this screen reader, talks about cababilities,and demonstrates the free, open source screen reader called Non Visual Desktop Access - http://media.libsyn.com/media/bct/bct1020NonVisualDesktopAccess.mp3 Hear demonstrations of NVDA and Thunder - podcasts can be streamed or downloaded from:http://www.blindcooltech.com/http://www.dvlop.nl/exsoft/pages/tablerdr.htm eXsoft is proud to launch a program that will make life much easier for visually impaired people: Table Reader! Table Reader is a first-of-it’s-kind program that allows visually impaired people to read even the most extensive tables in Excel, without time-consuming and laborious scrolling or searching. Simply select what you need from the top row and the first column and you’ll have the corresponding value in a flash. This program is practically unlimited – as long as the basic idea of a table is being used! This will give blind or visually impaired people possibility’s never experienced before, when using the Table Reader they can participate in economy, geography, science, physics, math, and so on, for the table part – this solution takes one of the biggest obstacles away for the blind! AccessibleNews http://www.proaxsysreader.com/ A browser plug in that makes websites accessible to screen readers. It re arranges websites you visit and makes them screen reader friendly! http://yasr.sourceforge.net/ Yasr is a general-purpose console screen reader for GNU/Linux and other Unix-like operating systems. The name "yasr" is an acronym that can stand for either "Yet Another Screen Reader" or "Your All-purpose Screen Reader" (take your pick; it doesn't really matter much). It supports a number of synthesizers, although interfacing issues exist with some of them at the moment. Currently, yasr attempts to support the Speak-out, DEC-talk, BNS, Apollo, and DoubleTalk. It is also able to communicate with Emacspeak servers and can thus be used with synthesizers not directly supported, such as Festival Lite (via eflite) or FreeTTS. It is small enough to fit on a root disk if necessary (provided an Emacspeak server is not needed, of course). It is written in C and works by opening a pseudo-terminal and running a shell, intercepting all input and output. It looks at the escape sequences being sent and maintains a virtual "window" containing what it believes to be on the screen. It thus does not use any features specific to Linux and can be ported to other Unix-like operating systems without too much trouble. Fire Vox http://www.firevox.clcworld.net/about.html Fire Vox is an open source, freely available talking browser extension for the Firefox web browser. Think of it as a screen reader that is designed especially for Firefox. http://www.screenreader.net/index.php?section=Thunder ScreenReader that provides the ability to write letters and documents, hear what you have typed letter by letter or word by word, change the speed and voice, and repeat what you have just heard and more. It will speak menus and dialog boxes. You will have full speech feedback for most text-based word processing tasks including editing documents in Microsoft Word, WordPad or Notepad. You will be able to keep in touch with friends and family in complete privacy by using email with all the functions of Outlook Express. You will be able to read masses of information on the Internet on any subject from the price of first class stamps to zebras’ life expectancy. You will be able to search for information and get answers in seconds. You will be able to enjoy live and listen again radio, and fill in forms for Internet shopping, banking etc. ftp://mirror.services.wisc.edu/mirrors/linux/distributions/speakup/disks/slackware/zipspeak/index.html ZipSpeak is a mini Linux distribution designed to help blind people get started with Linux. It is based on the popular Slackware Linux distribution, and encorporates the Speakup Linux screen reader. Sign Language For $5 a month you can have access to: over 2,150 signs, Baby Sign, International Sign, Stock Trader Sign, Animal Sign sections and Sign Stories Articles at http://www.handspeak.com http://www.neweventsonline.com/ASL/fingerspell.htm for learning finger spelling. AIJS Lesson tutor: http://www.lessontutor.com/ASLgenhome.html Here are a few American Sign Language terms to help those ofyou who are trying to communicate with a person who signs. Also included is the basic alphabet mid numbers 1-10. http://www.nasterstech-home.com/ASLDict.htrnl Speech control EmacSpeak http://www.cs.cornell.edu/home/raman/emacspeak/ Emacspeak is a speech interface that allows visually impaired users to interact independently and efficiently with the computer. Audio formatting --a technique pioneered by AsTeR-- and full support for W3C's Aural CSS (ACSS) allows Emacspeak to produce rich aural presentations of electronic information. By seamlessly blending all aspects of the Internet such as Web-surfing and messaging, Emacspeak speech-enables local and remote information via a consistent and well-integrated user interface. Available free of cost on the Internet, Emacspeak has dramatically changed how the author and hundreds of blind and visually impaired users around the world interact with the personal computer and the Internet. A rich suite of task-oriented tools provides efficient speech-enabled access to the audio desktop and evolving semantic WWW. When combined with Linux running on low-cost PC hardware, Emacspeak/Linux provides a reliable, stable speech-friendly solution that opens up the Internet to visually impaired users around the world. E-Speaking e-Speaking is free for you to download and use. e-Speaking includes over 100 pre-defined commands. If you wish to add, edit, or delete commands from e-Speaking, you will need to purchase a license to activate that part of the code. http://www.e-speaking.com/download.htm http://www.a-technic.net/speakon.htm SpeakOn is a free program that runs on your PC and is a speech enabled environment containing applications for listening to various media. SpeakOn has been developed for people who are comfortable using computers. It does not require a screenreader or magnifier; it does not have a visual interface and in fact does not require a screen at all. You communicate with SpeakOn using a numerical keypad or the standard keyboard and SpeakOn responds with speech. With a low cost external USB slimline numerical keypad, you can operate SpeakOn with one hand from the comfort of your armchair. http://www.linux-speakup.org/speakup.html Speakup, written by Kirk Reiser and Andy Berdan, is a screen review package for the Linux operating system. Speakup allows you to interact with applications and the GNU/Linux operating system with audible feedback from the console using a synthetic speech device. http://www.cs.cofc.edu/~manaris/SUITEKeys/ SUITEKeys is a continuous speech understanding interface for motor-impaired PC users. In contrast to other speech recognition systems, it provides access to all available PC functionality. This is accomplished by modeling speech interaction at the linguistic level of the physical keyboard and mouse. Speech synthesis Festival Speech Synthesis System http://www.cstr.ed.ac.uk/projects/festival/ Festival offers a general framework for building speech synthesis systems as well as including examples of various modules. As a whole it offers full text to speech through a number APIs: from shell level, though a Scheme command interpreter, as a C++ library, from Java, and an Emacs interface. Festival is multi-lingual (currently English (British and American), and Spanish) though English is the most advanced. Other groups release new languages for the system. And full tools and documentation for build new voices are available through Carnegie Mellon's FestVox project (http://festvox.org) MS Agent Components and Tools including: -MSAgent.exe -Microsoft Agent character files : Genie.acs -Text-to-speech engines: http://activex.microsoft.com/activex/controls/agent2/tv_enua.exe -SAPI 4.0 runtime support: Spchapi.exe -Speech recognition engines: actcnc.exe -Speech control panel: Spchcpl.exe All of the above are available in the Microsoft page http://www.microsoft.com/MSAGENT/downloads/user.asp http://tcts.fpms.ac.be/synthesis/mbrola.html The aim of the MBROLA project, initiated by the TCTS Lab of the Faculté Polytechnique de Mons (Belgium), is to obtain a set of speech synthesizers for as many languages as possible, and provide them free for non-commercial applications. The ultimate goal is to boost academic research on speech synthesis, and particularly on prosody generation, known as one of the biggest challenges taken up by Text-To-Speech synthesizers for the years to come. Central to the MBROLA project is MBROLA, a speech synthesizer based on the concatenation of diphones. It takes a list of phonemes as input, together with prosodic information (duration of phonemes and a piecewise linear description of pitch), and produces speech samples on 16 bits (linear), at the sampling frequency of the diphone database used (it is therefore NOT a Text-To-Speech (TTS)synthesizer, since it does not accept raw text as input). This synthesizer is provided for free, for non commercial, non military applications only. Switch http://www.cliu.org/se/assistive_technology.aspx then go to "Launch Assistive Technologies Resource CD" then to PowerPoint Ideas. There are several already made PowerPoint presentations designed for switch users. http://www.deafblindonline.org.uk/software.html#sf Switch-activated software that lets you make slideshows and sequences of pictures, videos and sounds for use with one or two switches. http://www.sensorysoftware.com/software/switchdriver/index.html To ensure that your switches can be used with all applications we supply our switch software. The software is available for both USB and serial switches. http://www.northerngrid.org/sen/Menu-L.htm "SENSwitcher is a suite of programs designed to help teach early ICT skills to people with profound and multiple learning difficulties, those who need to develop skills with assistive input devices and very young children new to computers. It is, we believe the first time anyone anywhere has developed an online switch enabled application which targets ICT skills from purely experiential through cause and effect, switch building, timed activation, targeting and row scanning." http://www.inclusive.co.uk/downloads/downloads.shtml#cdplayer A free, switch accessible CD player. Features: two different graphic styles, one or two switch access, mouse and keyboard access, automatically remembers settings, suitable for controlling from an IntelliKeys or Concept Keyboard http://www.aacinstitute.org/Resources/ProductsandServices/SSPT/intro.html Single Switch Performance Test (SSPT) measures how fast a person can activate or release a single switch or activate it multiple times. SSPT monitors the mouse buttons. SSPT reports can be helpful in choosing the most effective switch, identifying the best position, and monitoring the training process. (A switch adapter or modified mouse is needed to connect a switch to the PC. Instructions for modifying a mouse are available as well. AAC Institute also sells a modified mouse.) http://www.inclusive.co.uk/downloads/downloads.shtml#serialdriver A stand-alone serial switch driver for Windows, programmed to send the standard keys of Space and Return. For single or two switch access. Option to send a continuous stream of keypresses or a single keypress. Send a selection of other commonly used keypresses such as function keys and number keys. http://ace-centre.hostinguk.com/index.cfm?pageid=83216478-D613-62F1-C85EEB3021CA6B57 Software that enables Windows to be controlled by one or two switches,a joystick, a trackerball or a headpointer. This new upgraded version of SAW has many additions and feautures to make creating interfaces easy for those who use alternative inputs. http://ace-centre.hostinguk.com/index.cfm?pageid=83216478-D613-62F1-C85EEB3021CA6B57 For the switch user, accessing the essentially mouse-driven Windows environment appears to be a formidable task. Not any more. Introducing SAW5 (Special Access to Windows) - it's software that enables Windows to be controlled by one or two switches,a joystick, a trackerball or a headpointer. SAW has many additions and features to make creating interfaces easy for those who use alternative inputs. Symbols http://www.symbolworld.org/ has many on-line stories, some recipes, poetry, news stories, etc. written and supported with picture icons. http://www.sclera.be/English/index.htm A resource of 1041 free symbols (pictograms). http://www.deafblindonline.org.uk/software.html#ssm An accessory for making symbol sets for use in EdWord and EdWeb. It will instantly convert a file full of images into the correct format to be used in EdWord and EdWeb. http://www.symbolnet.org/sv/index.html Building a Symbol and ConceptCoding Editor for CMS, based on CCF(ConceptCodingFramework). Also building tools for ConceptCoding administration (perhaps in another project). Teaching Everyday Skills http://www.oatsoft.org/Software/everyday-skills Switch-activated software that supports teachers in teaching the young people who are deafblind in learning everyday skills. http://www.yourchildlearns.com/owlmouse.htm This software teaches children to know and make the twenty-six letters of the alphabet. http://www.createdbyteachers.com/rnodchecklist.html http://www.addcentre.co.uk/modificationchecklists.htm is specific to ADFID and ADD http://www.northerngrid.org/sen/Menu-L.htm "SENSwitcher is a suite of programs designed to help teach early ICT skills to people with profound and multiple learning difficulties, those who need to develop skills with assistive input devices and very young children new to computers. It is, we believe the first time anyone anywhere has developed an online switch enabled application which targets ICT skills from purely experiential through cause and effect, switch building, timed activation, targeting and row scanning." Text to Speech Please Read 2003 English, Spanish, German, French, UK English for Windows 95/98/MEINT/2000/XP Freeware. Works in word processing programs and in e-mail. http://www.readplease.com http://www.convenienceware.com for Mac OS X. http://sourceforge.net/projects/sayzme/ Sayz Me is a text-to-speech application for Windows. Text can be typed in or read from clipboard. Words are highlighted when spoken. Select voice, adjust reading speed, voice pitch, font and color. Talk-To-Me for Windows. Will read your E-Mail, Instant Messages, web pages, letters and documents. Send Animated Messages to friends. Greet you daily with the date, time, and a personal message and set alarms to remind you ofevents. http://www.talk-to-rnenet Mac Users try Text-Edit Plus is a styled text editor that fills the gap between Apple's bare bones SimpleText and a full-featured word processor. http://www.tex-edit.com http://www.dvlop.nl/exsoft/pages/tablerdr.htm eXsoft is proud to launch a program that will make life much easier for visually impaired people: Table Reader! Table Reader is a first-of-it’s-kind program that allows visually impaired people to read even the most extensive tables in Excel, without time-consuming and laborious scrolling or searching. Simply select what you need from the top row and the first column and you’ll have the corresponding value in a flash. This program is practically unlimited – as long as the basic idea of a table is being used! This will give blind or visually impaired people possibility’s never experienced before, when using the Table Reader they can participate in economy, geography, science, physics, math, and so on, for the table part – this solution takes one of the biggest obstacles away for the blind! http://www.inclusive.co.uk/downloads/downloads.shtml#talkingfaces Another free, switch accessible program from Inclusive Technology. Record your voice and hear it played back while a face animates! http://www.zabaware.com/reader/index.html Will read your documents out loud in one of its many high quality voices. This can be a great tool for proof reading because hearing your text out loud helps you spot all mistakes. This program can also be used for reading e-books. http://www.microsoft.com/enable/training/windowsxp/narratorturnon.aspx Narrator is a text–to–speech utility for people who are blind or have low vision. Narrator reads what is displayed on the screen—the contents of the active window, menu options, or text that has been typed. This procedure tells you how to turn on and use Narrator. Note Narrator is designed to work with Notepad, WordPad, Control Panel programs, Internet Explorer, the Windows desktop, and some parts of Windows Setup. Narrator may not read words aloud correctly in other programs. Narrator has a number of options that allow you to customize the way screen elements are read. Natural Voice Reader - software that converts text into voice. Reads text directly from other applications, without copying or pasting. Can also convert text files into MP3 or WAV files for use on portable devices like iPod, CD players and PocketPCs. http://www.naturalreaders.com CyberBuddy at http://www.thecyberbuddy.com has Microsoft Agents that are animated characters that can move around the screen and talk to you. Keep reminders and get your attention when a reminder is due, Instant Message (like TCQ) with speech and animation, Send Voice Messages and more. http://www.atutor.ca/atalker/index.php ATalker is a Web-based text-to-speech utility, based on the Festival Text-to-Speech system. With synthesized speech ATalker can read text out loud over the Web. With the ATalker Theme installed, the ATutor interface and feedback messages can be read out loud. http://www.browsealoud.com/features.asp?ref:dyslexia.com Simply by scrolling your mouse over the text that you want read to you, browsealoud will read and speak what you require, helping you navigate enabled websites more easily. http://fullmeasure.co.uk/powertalk/ PowerTalk automatically speaks any presentation or slide show running in Microsoft PowerPoint for Windows. You just download and install PowerTalk and while you open and run the presentation as usual it speaks the text on your slides. The advantage over other generic 'Text To Speech' programs is that PowerTalk is able to speak text as it appears and can also speak hidden text attached to images. Speech is provided by the standard synthesised computer voices that are provided with Windows. http://www.oatsoft.org/Software/myftc My Freedom To Communicate (MyFTC) is Assistive Technology (AT) software that uses text-to-speech technology to enable nonverbal individuals to communicate easily in real life situations. http://www.naturalreaders.com/ NaturalReader is software that converts any text into incredibly clear, high-quality, natural sounding voices. Integrated with the latest One-Click technology, NaturalReader reads text directly from other applications, without copying or pasting. Unique powerful output function can easily convert very large text files into MP3 or WAV files for use on portable devices like iPod, CD players and PocketPCs. http://www.nextup.com/ TextAloud reads text from email, web pages, reports and more, aloud on your PC. TextAloud can also save your daily reading to MP3 or Windows Media files ready for playback on your iPod, PocketPC, or even on your TV with Tivo's Home Media Option. You can download a free trial version of TextAloud. It does not include the optional premium voices, but is a fully functional version of TextAloud that you can evaluate for 15 days with no obligation. Optional premium voices can be added at the time of purchase. http://www.talkingmessenger.com/ Always wanted to hear your Windows Messenger™ messages out loud? Talking Messenger will do just that! It even notifies you when your friends are on- or offline. Time management With Google Calendar, you can see your friends' and family's schedules right next to your own; quickly add events mentioned in Gmail conversations or saved in other calendar applications; and add other interesting events that you find online. Go to Google http://google.com and then to more and to Calendar. http://www.compilerabuse.com/projects/pcalarm/pcalarm_help.htm PCAlarm 3.1 is the alarm clock simulator for Windows. It displays the current (system) time and allows a user to sound an alarm at a specified time. Vision - artificial The vOICe Learning Edition - Synthetic vision software for Microsoft Windows is "an
experimental system for auditory image representations, intended to provide synthetic vision to
the totally blind." - http://www.artificialvision.com/winvoice.htm |
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