Creating Web Workstation for people with disabilities

[Robert Sullivan]

>I'm looking for information from those of you who have created Web
>Workstations designed to permit those with a variety of disabilites to
>access the Internet.  The most obvious obstacle is for those with visual
>impairments and so far I have heard that these users would benefit from:

>1) Large (20"+) Monitors with large fonts enabled for those with limited
>vision.

Rather than equip a few stations with expensive monitors, we chose to order 17"
monitors for all of our new computers.

>2) pwWebSpeak or some other type of screen reader that will "read" web
>pages for those without any vision.

This is not a screen reader, but would be useful for the disabled.  The March
1998 issue of Windows Sources arrived today, and page 146 contains a review of
of a beta version of Conversa' Web (pronounced Conversay), which lets you speak
to your Web browser.  At the moment, it supports Windows 95 and NT 4 and
Internet Explorer 4, with a Netscape version coming.  The review is favorable,
although it notes the beta did not support forms or frames.  The program is
$29.95 from http://www.conversa.com.

Bob Sullivan                               scp_sulli at sals.edu
Schenectady County Public Library (NY)     http://www.scpl.org