Section 1.3: Assistive Technology, Part 2
Common assistive technologies for individuals with visual impairments
- Screen readers -
software applications that present computer-based information using a synthetic
voice or Braille display, and allowing users to operate programs via the keyboard.
They are often used by people with little or no functional vision.
- Screen magnifiers – software applications that will enlarge the screen or portions of a screen. They are also available in some operating systems. They are often used by users with low vision.
- Optical Character Recognition (OCR) - the process
of "converting an image of text, such as a scanned paper document or electronic
fax file, into computer-editable text." The software analyzes an image and
converts the pictures of the characters to editable text based on the patterns
of the pixels in the image. After OCR, you can export the converted text and
use it with a variety of word-processing, page layout and spreadsheet applications.
In some cases, OCR also enables screen readers to read the text contained in images. [ 2
]
- Braille displays - electronic devices that are used to read text that a computer sends to the monitor. [ 3 ]
