We're looking at software for help a blind student do course readings. One
option being considered is the Kurzweil 1000 that will scan and read printed
material. Another alternative is to use a standard OCR package like
OmniPage combined with JAWS. My impression, based on limited experience, is
that while the Kurzweil may be very good at what it does, it wouldn't help
with doing anything else on the computer and we would probably need JAWS, or
something like it, anyway. The OmniPage and JAWS combination has the
advantage that JAWS can handle other requirements beyond just reading
scanned text, but since OmniPage is not optimized for screen reading it may
be a little harder to work with.
Are my basic impressions correct and does anyone have any additional
comments or suggestions?
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Paul Chapin
Curricular Computing Specialist
Amherst College
413 542-2144