Lower-cost and Free Screen Reading Alternatives
If you are buying a new computer and a screen reader to go along with it, be prepared for sticker shock. The industry standard screen reader products, Window-Eyes from GW Micro(gwmicro.com) and JAWS for Windows from Freedom Scientific (freedomscientific.com) will cost at least as much as the nice shiny new hardware on which they will be running. Suddenly, a low interest loan from MD TAP seems like the only way your dreams of a that new notebook will ever materialize.
However, it turns out, there are inexpensive screen reader alternatives. Particularly if your computer usage consists of web surfing, sending E-mail and a bit of word processing, these screen readers may be just what you’re looking for.
First, there is NVDA (Non-Visual Desktop Access). NVDA is developed by NV Access. It is a free and open-source screen reader. This means the source code is freely available. If you enjoy NVDA and would like to help improve it, you can become part of the community actively developing NVDA. Some users report a better experience using Internet Explorer and Firefox with NVDA than with either Window-Eyes or JAWS for Windows. NVDA can be downloaded from www.nvda-project.org.
System Access To Go is a free screen reader from SEROTEK. It requires an Internet connection to use, and is not intended to take the place of a primary screen reader. Rather, System Access To Go can be easily run on a computer for quick or temporary accessibility. Some examples of situations in which System Access To Go would work well are when checking your E-mail at an internet cafe or doing research at the library. To activate System Access To Go, simply point your Web-browser (Internet explorer seems to work best) to www.satogo.com and follow the directions.
SEROTEK also makes System Access, which is their stand-alone screen reader. It is available in several different configurations and including many different features and speech synthesizer options. Simply purchasing a license to run System Access on two computers costs $130, which is a fraction of the cost of other screen readers. There are also monthly subscription packages which give you System Access along with access to the System Access Mobile Network and remote access to your computer. To find out more about System access go to www.serotek.com.
Even if you already own a screen reader and use it every day, one of these screen readers may be handy to have around. Sometimes an application or a particular Web Site will just work better with a particular screen reader. There is never one perfect solution to accessibility, so having a few options just might save the day.
