Windows 95 Stymies Blind Users

Joseph J. Lazzaro

Despite promises to make Windows 95 more accessible to developers who create adaptive technology for the blind, much-awaited technology remains in Microsoft's labs and is still months away. Blind computer users who want to use Win 95 applications or the Internet require a screen reader, which is assistive software that translates standard video monitor output into the spoken word or braille alphabet. Unfortunately, not all software and OSes work well with screen readers and other forms of adaptive technology. Because developers of screen-reader applications can't always determine what's displayed on the screen of a Win 95 application, these programs don't work as well as they could, which costs the disability community jobs and opportunities.

When advocates in the disability community, including the National Council on Disability (Washington, D.C.; 202-272-2004), complained to Microsoft about the lack of embedded system hooks in Win 3.x, Microsoft said it would make Win 95 more compatible with screen readers and adaptive equipment in general. But features to assist the blind have fallen behind schedule. They include an off-screen model that will keep a record of all informa tion written to the screen, letting a blind user accurately read what is on the screen using special software. According to Microsoft, the off-screen model is still under development and not even ready for alpha release.

Trying to make the best of the situation, adaptive software developers are rolling out new screen readers for Win 95. Without the off-screen model, however, the job is difficult. Nevertheless, Automatic Screen Access for Windows (MicroTalk, (903) 832-3471; http://www.screenaccess.com/ ), the latest entry in this category, supports both Win 95 and Win 3.x. Biolink's ((604) 984-4099; http://biz.bctel.net/biolink/ ) ProTalk 32 screen reader supports Win 95 and NT.

But adaptive technology specialists say computers would be more accessible if software developers worked with the disability community to create products everyone can use.