RNIB Transcript for: Getting Interested in Technology
Voice Over:
RNIB – Supporting blind and partially sighted people.
Getting Interested in Technology
Intro:
Robin Spinks:
Having access to technology can enhance almost every aspect of our lives. Being included is very much about being connected. Whether it's for online shopping, Internet banking, or simply staying in touch with friends or family, technology plays a pivotal role in everyone's lives.
It's very, very simple to get started with technology. You can learn bit by bit and day by day. So in this short series of videos we've broken down all of the popular topics and questions around technology and we've made it really simple and user friendly and we hope that you find it to be a very valuable resource.
Chapter 1 - Screen Magnification and Screen readers
Robin Spinks:
Hi, I'm Robin Spinks, I'm 39, I'm partially sighted and I've been using technology since I was a kid. I'm also using magnification on mobile and desktop devices.
Ellie Southwood:
Oh hi, I'm Ellie Southwood, I've got no useful vision, so I use a screen reading software and I use it for everything that I do on the Internet.
Ian Jentle:
Hi, I'm Ian Jentle, I have a degenerative condition, I now have no central vision but I have peripheral vision on the left side of my left eye and now I use a combination of magnification and screen reader.
Robin Spinks:
Now let's first of all talk about screen magnification. Screen magnification does exactly what it says on the tin. Screen magnification makes everything on your screen look bigger.
Ellie Southwood:
Robin is that literally everything on the screen?
Robin Spinks:
Basically everything that's on the screen, so it will magnify the menus, the icons, any information about battery, time, etc, and you can make it bigger in increments so you can go up a little bit at a time, you can find exactly the right level that works for you and you can also change the colours and the contrast.
Now Ian, you're a magnification user, aren't you?
Ian Jentle:
Yes, I am. I started off with a program called Magni-Comp and then I graduated on to a program called Zoom Text Extra.
Ellie Southwood:
Presumably Ian you can only get so much on the screen when it's much bigger so you might not have everything there at the same time. How does that work? Do you find that manageable?
Ian Jentle:
Well, what the options are in the professional programmes is you can actually split the screen. Say you split it horizontally; the top-half could be magnified, whereas the bottom-half contains a smaller version of the whole screen. So you could move your cursor around the bottom screen, knowing where you are and wherever the cursor stops will be magnified at the top.
Robin Spinks:
If you are losing your vision, you're concerned about your ability to be able to use a computer actually there are many opportunities there and there are many products available that can help so you needn't give up. Now if you are someone who doesn't have useful vision and actually you need to navigate your device you can do that, using something called a screen reader. And as the name suggests a screen reader will quite simply read out all of the information that's on the screen of your device. But more than that, it will allow you to fully navigate the device and to navigate menus.
Ellie Southwood:
Of course they come in all shapes and sizes, don't they? So I use one, called Jaws, but people have their own preferences in terms of the voices.
Ian Jentle:
I remember when I first heard these voices I thought I'm never ever going to get use to this because it is so alien.
Ellie Southwood:
How do you have yours set?
Ian Jentle:
I started off, using the basic verbosity where it speaks absolutely everything. After a while because I got better at using it then I went to a middle level of verbosity so it would speak some of the information and the text.
These days I'm super! So it just reads the text on the screen or whatever piece of menu I want it to read.
Ellie Southwood:
And Robin do you find that most sort of older people perhaps who are losing sight is it Guide the one that people like to use?
Robin Spinks:
That's right. Dolphin Guide is a really well-designed product that allows an older person to navigate a computer really simply, using speech and what's really nice about it is that it also re-designs the entire interface of the computer and offers it up in a much simpler form.
Ellie Southwood:
And the other really good one is NVDA, isn't it? which has improved lots in recent years and is free which is obviously always brilliant
Robin Spinks:
So getting started with screen magnification and screen readers, first of all...
Check the built in software that comes with your device, there are built in screen reading and screen magnification options on the main platforms (Windows and Mac).
There are also options for Linux and for mobile devices. Increasingly there are built in screen readers and screen magnifiers. And get the chance to try out some of the other screen readers and find out if they work for you.
So thanks very much both of you for your contributions. As we've heard lots of positive things out there, lots of resources available and if you want more information on this topic you can find out by getting in touch via the helpline.
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