Tips and guides
Tips for Technology Needs of Academic Braille User
Tips to address the technology needs of students who are blind or visually impaired academic braille-users who are college-bound
While the needs of each student are different, here is a quick list of some of the most common technology needs of academic braille users who are college-bound.
Computer Skills:
- Keyboarding skills
- Screen reader skills (JAWS, NVDA, Voiceover, etc.)
- Microsoft Office (Word/Excel/Powerpoint), OR if using a Mac computer with Voiceover: Pages/Numbers/Keynote
Digital Media Skills:
- Individual account with Bookshare and/or Learning Ally and/or Bard (NLS) and ability to retrieve his/her own media (auditory and/or braille through device)
- Listening/Reading device: could be a braille notetaker, a laptop, a tablet/phone, or a DAISY player)
Internet Use:
Braille notetaker, refreshable braille display, and/or computer and/or tablet/phone
Email Use:
Braille notetaker, refreshable braille display and/or computer and/or tablet/phone
Mobile Phone Use:
With auditory capabilities (examples: Google Talk, Voiceover)
Use of a Scan & Read/Optical Character Recognition Option
Either a standalone device OR a combination of scanner+computer+OCR software
Use of a Graphing Calculator
Handheld Orion Talking TI-84 or Viewplus Audio Graphing Calculator software on a computer
