Jump to content

Blind person working with Accordance?


mgvh

Recommended Posts

I'm teaching an online Greek course using Accordance. It's more about learning how Greek grammar works (especially in comparison to English), and I'm letting Accordance do all the manual work of providing meanings and parsings. (I only ask my students to memorize the 100 most used words/forms in the NT. Pretty easy compared to back in the day...)

In any case, I just learned that one of my students is blind. I'm pretty sure he will be dropping the course, however.

 

For future reference: Does anyone have any knowledge or experience of someone who is blind using Accordance? Is it usable at all? Even if someone has the text-to-voice thing going, I'm not sure what could be done.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We are finally close to providing full voice-over support for Accordance on Mac. I think it may already be implemented on the iOS Mobile version. So if the student does stay in the class, encourage him not to give up.

  • Like 6
Link to comment
Share on other sites

We are finally close to providing full voice-over support for Accordance on Mac. I think it may already be implemented on the iOS Mobile version. So if the student does stay in the class, encourage him not to give up.

That is good to know! Thanks, Helen!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 5 years later...

I am reviving this old thread, because we have another student with visual impairment who is regarded as legally blind. How usable is Accordance for someone with this disability? Does platform make a difference? Anyone who is visually impaired who has used Accordance and can share experience? Thanks!

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Do you know if this person uses a particular assistive technology, like a brailler or similar? If so, can you supply the make/model and OS version it is used on.

 

If they do not use a particular piece of tech, then you can enable some of the software only features, e.g. narrator, and see if those are acceptable?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi @mgvh,

I had a similar question. "Legally blind" is a wide range. Do you know more details? I think fundamentally whether they can use Accordance or not depends on what type of blindness they have.

If, for example, they are legally blind as in only seeing shadows but cannot read, I do not personally think Accordance is practical as some vision is required.

On the other hand, if they are legally blind because of extreme nearsightedness, Accordance would be very much possible, as there is a lot which can be done for that.

So I have a few ideas for the second option, but I will wait to hear if you know anything about their impairment.

Kristin

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks, @Kristin. I do not know the extent of their vision. I'll check.

I do know that their apparently is a planned "Speech" function for reading a text, that is planned for Windows. (Amplify > Language > Speech). Is it already available on Mac?

I also know that Accordance has audio files for Greek NT and Hebrew OT, but I think you would have to be somewhat sighted even to access those.

 

image.png.547bfe440117a06c30efe5112374471c.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi @mgvh,

Yes, the Speech function works fine on Mac. It does on Accordance itself, and it also does if you just use the speech function controls on the computer. (I know that Accordance's speech function is coming from the Mac anyway).

Kristin

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I’ve added the Speech function for Windows to my list of feature requests and linked it to this forum thread, just to remind our teams about adding it.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

There are Accessibility APIs that interface with screen readers, which present the UI elements in Braille. If the student has a computer equipped with such things, Accordance will talk to them.

 

To see this on macOS, enable VoiceOver. Inside the VoiceOver utility, they can add a brailler to type things out instead of or in addition to speaking to them. I was successfully able to get the macOS VoiceOver to read the Biblical text and that of a commentary, as well as announce which window I was in.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I just tested the Accordance application using the Windows 11 Accessibility technology and this is a no go on Windows even for text to speech. The Apple Mac version uses the Mac operating system and was supposed to be able to read the text according to an old Light the Lamp video but I don't know that it could ever navigate menus. I have not fired up the Mac to test what level of functionality it has for full integration with the application. The issue is that the software platform that Accordance uses to build the application interfaces must have the Accessibly aware technology features built in.


Full text to speech and menu navigation does work for these Accordance forums using Google Chrome in Windows 11. This forum is built on the Wordpress platform which like Joomla and Drupal are fully W3C Accessibility compliant. This means that any assistive technology including that built in to Windows and Mac can directly link to the software and provide full functionality to the impaired person. The Google Youtube and Vimeo sites are certainly fully Accessible. This means than some parts of the Accordance community should be accessible to those with impairments.

 

The only way to assess what level of benefit a specific person can get is to download the free trial version and try using the software with whatever assistive technology and other resources the individual has to overcome the impairment. Only the individual with the impairment can make that judgment call. There are also many different means to accomplish the goal of learning Greek even if Accordance is not the best path. And down the road, post bug killing, Accordance should choose a software development path that incorporates Accessibility as a design requirement.

 

As a general comment for anyone leading any group for any learning activity be actively aware of any impairments that inhibit learning and be prepared to take proactive steps to help overcome any limitations to bring every person up to a level playing field so that everyone has a fair chance to succeed. We used to call this Affirmative Action before the anarchists turned this into abandon the standard for results. In my fifty years of business experience I have helped many people in many situations overcome serious issues to become fully successful but it can take a lot of hard work and perseverance. The easiest part was usually the technology. 

 

 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 hours ago, kcmizzou said:

The only way to assess what level of benefit a specific person can get is to download the free trial version and try using the software with whatever assistive technology and other resources the individual has to overcome the impairment. Only the individual with the impairment can make that judgment call.

 

A proper assessment using the tools available to the affected individual is always the best way forward, rather than making assumptions.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...