Blind or vision impaired internet users will appreciate the Thunder freeware screen reader from ScreenReader.net In a post last week I commented "Some web developers are resisting or ignoring the concept of accessibility in website design.", and the next day I decided to go further to study screen reader options available to vision impaired and blind persons.



From my research I located 19 software programs with speech synthesizers that read website content aloud, and of these all but 2 were commercial products ranging from $795 to $1500 USD, or more. The freeware from ScreenReader.net based in the UK, and an open source program NVDA created by Michael Curran, with help from James Teh and others in Australia were the only zero cost options for blind and vision impaired people that I could find.

Here is a quote by Roger and Margaret from Great Week for Thunder at The Blind Blogger

For the past twenty years and more, talking software for visually impaired users has been a commercial matter and we feel that the high prices have excluded low income users. Like many other enthusiasts, we have learned just how hard it is to introduce an innovation, however worthwhile. So it has been refreshing to receive so much encouragement at a high level. Margaret and I are very determined people and we believe that in ten years time, our customers will be looking back and saying: "Did blind people really have to pay out an extra £800 to enjoy the use of the computer like everyone else? Surely not".

Persons on fixed incomes may not know about the 2 free resources, so if a pc costs 3x for a blind person, it must be discouraging if it's not in the budget. I am not vision impaired, so I downloaded and tested the Thunder freeware screen reader to experience as closely as possible what blind or vision impaired persons face. The learning curve during my test and review, and eventual results convinced me that freeware options need more publicity.

I encourage persons with vision who know people in need of a free screen reader to download and test Thunder, and then assist that person with installation and getting started. Website design with accessibility for all deserves more publicity.



TAGS: freeware review screenreader screen reader accessibility website design

Labels: reviews, software