AT for LD

[Christian Hofstader <cdh gnu org>]

I would love to work on a system wide "screen reader" for people with learning disabilities. Something like K3000 (KESI) or WYNN from FS. Using the Gnome accessibility features along with visual effects should be able to do something really innovative.



On Jan 7, 2012, at 9:42 PM, Bill Cox wrote:

> On 1/7/12, Mats Lundälv <mats lundalv vgregion se> wrote:
>> The main show-stopper for suggesting free systems
>> in general, including Gnome based systems, is the lack of easily available
>> and well functioning TTS reading support for seing users with a reading
>> imparment - the by far largest area of a11y needs.
> 
> I happen to be such a user, suffering from late onset Stargardt's
> Disease.  What I wonder most days is why am I the guy who has to write
> so much of the software I need?  I was born with non-functioning red
> cones, which is probably why the Stargardt's disease has taken so long
> to damage my central vision.  In addition, I am highly dyslexic, and
> ADHD.  In my case, there is mud in the tracks between seeing lines on
> paper and hearing the words they represent.  Having TTS software to
> speak the words for me is just heavenly.  Even without Stargardt's, I
> probably qualify for a major reading impairment.  I used to create
> audio books with the voxin voice using a simple program I had to
> write, but now I do it with the Open Mary free voices, using one I
> created, called cmu-rms-hsmm, which I listen to at 4X speed up, using
> the sonic algorithm I created for this purpose.
> 
> So, if people like me are the largest group, where the heck are they?
> I just want to use software to make my life easier, and I find that
> much of it does not exist.
> 
> Thanks,
> Bill
>