Re: [Accessibility] Solutions

[Bryen M. Yunashko]

On Tue, 2010-07-27 at 11:27 -0600, Susan Jolly wrote:
> Richard thank you.  I'd never before appreciated the philosophy of FSF.
> Your statement, "Even if you have no hands, there are other ways to input
> besides dictation" made me think it might be helpful if you started a FAQ
> with solutions for those of us who aren't familiar with "other ways." Here
> is my question.
> 
> My father is 96 years old and lives several thousand miles from me.  His
> vision is now quite poor due to problems associated with aging so he can
> barely see enlarged text on a computer screen.  (He's also quite deaf but
> his hearing aids work reasonably well.) His poor vision coupled with some
> sort of tremor make it difficult for him to write by hand even barely
> legibly; he cannot read his own handwriting even with a magnifier.
> 
> He can use his hands with some difficulty to type very slowly but doesn't
> know how to touch type.  When he types he makes many errors which he can't
> correct since he can't figure out how to edit text due to his poor vision
> making it impossible for him to learn to use an editting tool let alone not
> being able to see his corrections if he were somehow able to use an editting
> tool.
> 
> He would like to create his memoirs as editable text.  How do you suggest
> that he do that?
> 
> Sincerely,
> SusanJ
> 


Susan,

GNOME-A11y offers a number of solutions that may fit the needs of your
father.  You can see some of the packages we offer at
http://live.gnome.org/Accessibility/GetInvolved/QuickStart  

As every individual is different, I can't come right out and say which
specific solutions work best for your father.  You will need to try out
a combination of features that work best.  Myself, I am deaf and
visually impaired, but I can tell already my needs differ from your
father.  

If you have further questions, you can always stop by our IRC channel at
#a11y on GNOME's IRC network or send an email to the gnome-accessibility
list for suggestions.  There's always someone that will help you
customize what you need for your father.

And I know that AEGIS has done some very interesting projects too that
may help with your father writing his memoirs.   I need to start pulling
all of these solutions together into a list at some point soon, but
definitely I hope someone from AEGIS can chime in here.  Peter?

Thanks,
Bryen M Yunashko
GNOME-A11y Outreach