Accessibility tools for the visually impaired

30+ Accessibility Tools, Softwares & Resources for The Visually Impaired

Free ebooks are meant to be read and enjoyed by everybody regardless of physical imperfections, hence why this post is being made, although I must admit that this should be the first post that should be posted here. Having said that, do join me in the journey to increase this list of resources to make it a comprehensive one, to provide and create the proper accessibility channels. I’m sure there are other list out there which covers some of the areas below, but I do hope this post will somehow be a part of the whole effort in making this a reality.


Audio Ebooks
Been covered here, 35 total sites found so far providing free downloadable audio ebooks.

Adobe Reader 9 Accessibility
Taking note that 99% of the ebooks on this site are in PDF format, Adobe has a site dedicated specifically in providing information in greater details on making it easier for people with disabilities to read PDF files. Since Adobe PDF Reader is free, I think it’s worth taking advantage of this built in feature. For more information, you can jump straight to Adobe’s special section or click the following link to download the manual – Accessing PDF Documents with Assistive Technology: A Screen Reader User’s Guide (PDF, 368k).

Screen Readers (Free)
One of the most obvious ones came with your copy of Windows. Just go to (WinXP) Start Menu > Accessories > Accessibility > Narrator. Or if you prefer to use a magnifier to zoom into piece of information, go to (WinXP) Start Menu > Accessories > Accessibility > Magnifier.

1.FireVox – Firefox Browsers
Fire Vox is a free and open source extension for the Mozilla Firefox web browser that transforms it into a self-voicing application. Easy to install and operate, it works on Windows, Mac, and Linux. It can work independently, or together with screen readers such as Orca.
2.Satogo – Browser IE 6.0+
Offers a web-resident version of this screen reader to users completely free of charge, making any computer with internet accessible in seconds. Simply visit www.satogo.com and create your free SA ToGo account.
3.Spoken Web – IE / Windows
Spoken is a Web portal, managing a wide range of online data-intensive content like news updates, weather, travel and business articles for computer users who are blind or visually impaired.
4.NonVisual Desktop Access (NVDA) – Windows
A free and open source screen reader for the Microsoft Windows operating system. This software can enable blind or vision impaired people to access computers running Windows for no more cost than a sighted person.
5.Thunder Screen Reader – Windows
Thunder is award-winning free screenreader talking software for people with little or no sight.
6.WebAnywhere Alpha – Browser Based
A non-visual interface to the web that requires no new software to be downloaded or installed.It works right in the browser, which means you can access it from any computer.
7.Screen Access for All (SAFA) and here – MS Word / Windows
Media Lab Asia & NAB Delhi have jointly developed the screen reading software named SAFA. This is an open source software & supports many Indian languages. It is being provided free of charge by NAB Delhi.
8.VoiceOver – Mac
VoiceOver for Mac users is an accessibility interface that offers you magnification options, keyboard control and spoken English descriptions of what’s happening on screen.
9.Orca – Open Solaris, Fedora, and Ubuntu
Orca is a free, open source scriptable screen reader. Using various combinations of speech, braille, and magnification, Orca helps provide access to applications and toolkits that support the AT-SPI (e.g., the GNOME desktop).
10.Emacspeak – Unix / Linux
A free screen reader for Emacs which is written in C and is portable to all POSIX-compatible OSs.
11.EDBrowse – Unix / Linux
Edbrowse (or edbrowse) is a command-line program for Unix-like systems that combines features of text editors, web browsers, and email clients. It was originally intended for blind users.
12.BRLTTY – Unix / Linux
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.

Screen Readers (Commercial)
1.JAWS – Windows (Demo available, Purchase $895.00 (Standard), $1,095.00 (Pro))
2.Mobile Speak – Mobile Phones / PDA (30 day Trial available, Purchase $275.00)
3.Virgo – Windows (Demo available, price unavailable)
4.Window Eyes – Windows (Demo available – expires every 30 minutes (reset upon reboot), Purchase $895.00)
5.ZoomText – Windows (Free Trial available, Purchase $595.00 CD Version. Other options available.)
6.SuperNova – Windows (Free Trial available, Purchase price unavailable)
7.Hal – Windows (Free Trial available, Purchase $795.00)
8.Simply Talker – Windows (Free 30 day Trial available, Purchase $50 – $100 (Various versions))
9.Proloquo – Mac (Demo available, Purchase $299)
10.PCVoz – Windows (No demo? Purchase $90 (5 users) & $150 (10 users))
11.Tex Edit Plus – Mac (Trial version available, Purchase $15 Single User License)
12.Lookout – Windows (Demo? Purchase £107.00)
13.HT Reader – Windows (Free trial available, Purchase EUR 300.00)
14.Issist – Windows (Free trial available, Purchase $19.95/month)

Text to Audio / Speech Applications (Online & Offline)
1.SpokenText – Online Converter (Free)
It allows you to record (English, French, Spanish or German) PDF, Word, plain text, PowerPoint files, RSS feeds, emails and web pages, and converts them to speech automatically.
2.Vozme – Online Converter (Free)
3.Odiogo – Transforms sites & blogs into audio formats (Free)
4.Talkr – Converts text-only blogs into Podcasts (Free)
5.Visual Impaired Document Creator – Free
6.TextAloud – Windows (Free Trial available, Purchase $29.95)
7.Natural Readers – Free & Commercial versions available
8.Ispeech – Commercial
9.Hearwho – Free & Commercial versions available
10.Text to Audio File 1.1 – Mac
11.CoolSpeech & TextSound – Commercial
12.Piston Text to Speech Converter – Commercial
13.SpeakText – Commercial
14.Alive Text to Speech – Commercial
15.Text2Go – commercial

Podcast Directories
An awesome list of podcast directories compiled by Podcast411.com can be found here. At the time of posting, there are 161 available sites within the list, which allows you to access to frequently updated podcasts from various sites within each directory. Click here for Podcast411′s list of podcast directories.

Flash & Accessibility
Flash is by no means a new technology as it has been part of the web for quite some time. Perhaps it’s not too far to say that Flash is one of the main contributor to our overall internet experience today. Being a robust platform, it could actually compliment or enhance the already existing text and image oriented areas of the Internet with more interactive elements such as audios and videos. For more information on this topic, here are a few sites which cover it extensively …

1.Usability.com.au
2.WebAim.org
3.Adobe.com
4.Niquimerret.com – Accessibility in Flash bug and issue list
5.Evolt.org – Stephen Hawking and Me – Flash MX Accessibility
6.NNGroup.com – Accessibility and Usability of Flash for Users with Disabilities. A PDF report is also available on this site, check it out.

Other Resources
1.Panix.com – Accessible Ebooks, Etexts and Textbooks
2.TBChad.com – Accessibility References and Resources
3.AlistAPart.com – Accessibility, Web Standards, and Authoring Tools
4.DiveIntoAccessibility.org
5.The Open & Closed Project – Uniting global knowledge of accessible media

And finally but not least, some ebooks on Accessibility
1.50 Online Accessibility and Usability Tools (Good Read & Tool)
2.Accessibility 2.0: People, Policies and Processes
3.Holistic Approaches to E-Learning Accessibility
4.Website Content Accessibility of 30,000 Cypriot Web Sites
5.Word Templates for Web Accessibility


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The Gandhi Project

The Gandhi Project
by Nashid Fareed-Ma’at

A Context for Organizing: Reflections on Gandhi’s Approach to Satyagraha (Non-violence) provides a comprehensive examination of Satyagraha as Gandhi lived it and applied it to his work in India. The book focuses on presenting Gandhi’s teachings in the way he presented them, not shaped by revisionist writing or seeking to extrapolate portions of Gandhi’s approach into another political / philosophical orientation. The book also presents Satyagraha in a manner that is accessible to all, since Gandhi strongly believed all who are willing are capable of living Satyagraha.

Click on the link below to start downloading this free ebook:-
The Gandhi Project – 316 pages, 727KB (PDF)

e-reader de Borders -- e-books gratis

Les adjunto enlace a la página Web de e-books GRATUITOS de la librería Borders y donde también pueden descargar GRATIS sus aplicaciones de e-readers para leerlos en sus PCs, iPhones, Blacberry, teléfonos Android, iPod, iPads, etc.

Tyrants of Self-Concept: ruling the rulers

Este es un libro que llama la atención pues habla de como desarrollar un concepto del yo de manera saludable sin caer en las trampas de las presiones externas, limitaciones de género o clase.

Acceso gratuito en formato PDF en
Tyrants of Self-Concept: ruling the rulers

This book’s purpose is to demonstrate that the mass of men and women do not have to spend their lives limited by the critical voices of mental spectators—those little tyrants rattling around inside their heads, telling them second by second how to fight their battles, what they can and cannot do, what they must and must not do. TYRANTS OF SELF CONCEPT: RULING THE RULERS, exposes gender-loaded beliefs and other social fallacies for what they are—truisms—and informs, then challenges readers to discover how the truisms influence their self-concepts, the totality of their thoughts and feelings about themselves. Readers learn how their mental spectators have become internalized through socialization. Importantly, readers discover the adaptive and beneficial processes of examining the formation of beliefs that lead to negative self-concepts.

Energía creada en casa

Científico ofrece nueva manera de crear electricidad en la propia casa
Pequeña caja con láminas de arena pintadas funciona con gas o biocombustible
Una sola caja que cabe en una mano genera la electricidad de toda una casa

Un connotado científico creó una nueva manera mediante la cual las personas podrían generar toda la electricidad que consumen en su propia casa, sin necesidad de estar conectados a una red eléctrica de una compañía.

KR Sridhar present[ó el miércoles 24 de febrero de 2010], de forma oficial, lo que se conoce como Bloom Box , un producto que ya es utilizado por empresas de gran importancia en Estados Unidos, como Google, Ebay y FedEx, para producir parte de la electricidad con que funcionan sus centros de datos.

Sridhar es un conocido ingeniero aeroespacial que ha asesorado a la NASA en temas como el de la nanotecnología. Además, creó un sistema con el que, según asegura, se podría producir oxígeno en la atmósfera marciana para hacerla habitable, una idea que fue calificada por la revista Fortune como una de las cinco más futuristas que marcarán nuestro tiempo.

Nueva tecnología. El proyecto de generación de oxígeno fue base para una nueva idea: la producción de energía con celdas que combinaran el oxígeno con combustible.

Aunque la presentación formal del producto será hoy, Sridhar realizó una demostración previa para el programa 60 minutes de la cadena CBS.

Sin profundizar en detalles técnicos, el científico explicó que la clave de su producto son láminas cuadradas de unos 15 centímetros de lado creadas con arena de playa y pintadas con un tinte especial.

Cuando el oxígeno por un lado y el combustible por otro se encuentran en la lámina, producen una reacción que genera electricidad.

Sin embargo, no se detalló qué sucede con el gas ni si el sistema produce algún tipo de gas de efecto invernadero u otro tipo de contaminación, como es la norma cuando se utiliza este tipo de combustible...leer más



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