Virtual Reality Glasses

[LazyK]

Are there products available to enable a user, who is virtually unable to read a pc monitor due to
major myopia, to bring the normal field of focus to clarity via hardware for such compensation??

Has anyone had experience with Sony's Glasstron
av/pc headset?

I have a woman who is unable to expand her considerable mind-of-power to the internet realm
due to serious visual handicaps. She is, however,
capable of watching a tv very close-up.

Her keyboard and general dexterity skills are phenomenal. She just needs to bring a vdu image closer, in reality or virtual reality, to her eyes. Any experience out there??

Lazy K - Chip

 

[rekees]

Chip

I don't know about hardware but here's a software program that may help?

http://www.wmich.edu/metl/software/zoomtext.html

Chuck in IN

 

[LazyK]

Chuck...many thanks for info on Zoomtext. The lady I'm trying to help has complete access to several foundations for the visually impaired here in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. She has been a serious fund raiser and researcher in the past but is now very limited in her activities due to apparent inability to eyeball a pc monitor without mega-buck gadgets. I'm gathering data on the cutting edge developments in Virtual Reality hoping to focus on a practical device for her use.

I am passing on your information re: display enlargement along with Video Synthesis addresses:
http://www.vidsyn.com/glasses.htm

Maybe there's a way to give this lady and others a new opportunity to access the internet. I still can't beleive there are not inexpensive LCD or small CRT devices which create a large screen effect. I'm just starting my inquiry, so perhaps the gizmo is out there. Thanks again.

Lazy K - Chip

 

[dmccarty]

LazyK,

I can't answer your specific question about the Sony product but try this URL....

http://www-3.ibm.com/able/overview.html

You should be able to access this outside of IBM. I don't know if IBM has the type of hardware your are looking for but there is some information on the site about accessibility. There is also a screen reader program that is downloadable for free. I have used it for test purposes and it works. Its reads EVERYTHING on the screen which is a pain since a sighted person can ignore stuff such as banners, ads, titles, etc. If one has a visual disablity you have to listen to the screen reader read things that you might not be interested in hearing. There may be a way to skip portions of a page but I have not used it that much to know. Its not perfect but it sure is better than the alternative.

Hopefully the site has an answer or at least a link to an answer.

Good Luck,
Dan McCarty

 

[rekees]

Chip

Here's another good site for your inquiry.
http://www.microsoft.com/enable/

You may also want to search through federal government sites since they are on the forefront of disabled access. This URL is a good place to start since there are thousands of .gov sites. Good luck.
http://firstgov.gov/

Chuck in IN

 

[RobertN]

Chip,
I have a cousin who is blind. He is very active on the computer and the internet. It is interesting the first time you see him using a computer, because the first thing you notice is the lack of a monitor.

His system is all audio based. He wears a headset. The data displayed is "shown" to him verbally.

He has been successfully using this system for a few years.

I could find out more if you would like.

RobertN in Shingle Springs Calif

 

[LazyK]

Bob...Thank you for the comeback. I would be most interested to find out more about how your cousin "hear-sees" the internet/computer output. Righteous accomplishment! I'm in West Los Angeles
for the next 3-4 weeks...1-310-472-3647...i-chip@webtv.net...have a fax @ same tel# above. Let me know best way to contact you if possible so it's on my nickel.

Thank you very much and THANKS to all TBN's for your helpful response. Mrs. Lillian Hiecke thanks you-all...along with me, she is following up on any and all data I've received so far. I'll keep you posted on the fruits of your considerate responses/.

Lazy K - Chip

 

[LazyK]

Dan...thanks for getting back. I'll try to get back to let you know how it goes. Good on you for your help.

Lazy K - Chip

 

[dmccarty]

Lazy K,

Let us know how the search goes. I KNOW there has to be more accessibility resources from IBM. I know the site I gave you is a good starting point. If she needs more info and I'll go searching.

What is wierd about this TBN thread and a couple of others this week is that I would answer a question, well attempt to /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif, submit the note to TBN, and someone would walk in and start talking about a very similar situation. A guy walked in after I submitted the accessiblity web site info and started talking about a women who has Carpel Tunnel and has a tough time typing. She has some equipment to help her type as well as voice recognition software to help her navigate.

Your friend might want to try some of the voice recognition software, IBM has a product that might be downloadable and I think Dragon(sp) has a well thought of product as well.

I suspect she does not have a problem getting info INTO the computer just OUT.

As an aside, one of my first relevations about how different/powerful email/newsgroups/forums can be happend in the mid 80's. IBM has had for decades an internal forum system similiar to Internet Newsgroups but prior to the Internet. At least the general public Internet. Websites like TBN are an evolution of the Forums/Newsgroups. The IBM forums covered, and still do, technical issues and can be a great resource. One of the people who ran some of the forums and I think the overall system in general was blind. I did not know that for many years. You would see his name all over the place answering questions. One day as part of the conversation he mentioned that he was blind.

Now here was someone who I "knew" but I never had a clue about him being blind. But then how could I? It kinda hit me that you might know someone's gender when communicating in this media but that was about it. Everything else you knew about the person was from what they wrote, which might tell you of their personality, but of their physicallity you knew nothing. You did not know if the person tall, short, weak, strong, or most important of all, Green, Blue, or Orange! /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

It really impressed me that the computer systems were allowing someone with a handicap that limits them in many ways, most especially with the computer systems of 15 years ago, but he was still able to function at such a high level, to be so productive and important yet you would not have a clue the guy was blind. It really made me appreciate what computer systems can do for people.

Later...
Dan McCarty

 

[RobertN]

We are pretty proud of Gary. He is blind, and parapelegic. He had a successfull college radio show in Berkely for a number of years. He has done well with his computer endeavors.

I will see what kind of information he could provide.

RobertN in Shingle Springs Calif