From: mthompso@nmsu.edu (Mike Thompson)
Newsgroups: misc.handicap
Subject: Questionaire - Computer Access for Blind Users
Date: 9 Nov 92 18:59:41 GMT
Reply-To: mthompso@nmsu.edu (Mike Thompson)
Organization: New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM
X-Fidonet: Blink Talk Conference
Originator: wtm@sheldev.shel.isc-br.com

Index Number: 25505

The New Mexico State University Computer Center is working to
make our Computing Devices and software available to blind
students, faculty, and staff. Your opinions and advice on adaptive
computer technology will be extremely valuable to us as we try to
create and provide a quality service in this area.

Our goal is to insure that our devices and services are in
compliance with the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) as well
as to stay in line with industry standards.  We would like to
provide the same type of software and hardware that our students
are most likely to encounter in industry after they complete
their education at NMSU.

The approach we would like to take is to place speech and
screen-enlarging software on our servers rather than on
individual systems.  We would then make external speech
synthesizers available to our users who need them.  The result
would be that all of our devices and services which are available
to sighted users would also be available to our blind users.  We
feel that this approach promotes integration rather than
segregation by providing our blind users access to the same
services as everyone else.

Given this model, blind users could participate in hands-on
training sessions wherever they are taught, without having to do
their work in a special place at a later time.  It would also
make it possible for our blind students to participate in group
assignments wherever the group chooses to meet.

We have a wide variety of the devices and equipment we currently need
to adapt. Basically we have a mix of PC's, Macs, NeXT Workstations,
UNIX Systems, VAX 8530, IBM ES 9000 9121 440.  We have a fairly
complicated network which integrates all of these devices.  In
addition we have a number of terminals, most of which have serial
interface capability.

It is my understanding that most adaptive computer software and
hardware has been developed for PCs (Macs, and other Desktop
Systems), however, we are extremely interested in adapting our
large systems, workstations, and network terminals as well.
Besides adapting these systems for speech and screen-enlargement,
we would also like to provide a braille/large-print service via
the network.

We are hoping you can help provide suggestions on:

Speech Software
Speech Synthesizers
Screen Enlargement Software/Hardware
Braille Printers
Braille Translation Software
Large Print Formatting Software

we are specifically interested in your opinion of the top 3
speech software packages, and why you rank them above any others.
We are interested in cost, licensing agreements, performance,
features, maintenance/upgrades, technical support from vendors,
training issues and industry standards.

Finally, since we have only had experience with TSI products, we
would appreciate your opinion on OSCAR, VertPlus, and VISTA.  How
do these products rank as far as industry standards, cost,
features, ability to work effectively with standard software such
as Lotus, DBASE, pull-down menus, colors, etc.  Would you
recommend any or all of these TSI products as a solution to the
computer accessibility problem?  Since we have already made an
investment with TSI, would we be more effective in expanding
these services or pursuing a different direction?

Thank you for your time and assistance on this project.  If you
have any questions or would be interested in discussing details,
please feel free to contact:

Mike Thompson (505) 646-4183  email - mthompso@nmsu.edu
or
Dwight King (505) 646-1810    email - ddking@nmsu.edu