Kurzweil 1000 Lets Blind Users Read Printed Materials—Provides Information Bridge for Texas A&M Psychologist

Robert Carter, Ph.D. works in academia. Consequently, effective access to written materials is crucial. Carter, who is blind, uses several powerful assistive technologies to get that access. His Kurzweil 1000 reading software allows him to access virtually any printed material and have it read to him via synthesized speech.

"Assistive technology in many ways has leveled the playing field in terms of being able to do my job and provide the same quality of service—and to access the same information—my coworkers and colleagues do," says Robert Carter, Ph.D.

Blind since birth, Carter relies on computer assistive technology to do his work and considers such technology vital to his success. In particular, Carter uses Kurzweil 1000 reading software and the Window-Eyes screen reader to get text-to-speech access.

Carter is a psychologist for the Student Counseling Service at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas. His department provides psychological services to students of the University including individual, group, and couples counseling.

Carter not only works in an academic environment but is highly educated as well, holding a doctorate in psychology from the University of Florida and a bachelor or arts degree in English from the University of North Carolina.

He is also one of those rare individuals who possess talent and expertise in both verbal and technical realms. His verbal skills are essential in his chosen field, of course, but his interest in computers, software, and other technologies has also served him well in gaining access to critical information—without the use of sight.

Employment Revolves Around Effective Access to Computers

Carter's workplace computer is set up with Microsoft Windows XP, Window-Eyes screen reading software, and Kurzweil 1000 reading software. "We use our PCs for our scheduling, word processing, note-keeping, and everything that we do online," says Carter. "My employment revolves around being able to successfully access the PC to do everything from check my schedule, to read my e-mail, to scan materials that are provided to us in a printed paper format," Carter says.

Kurzweil 1000 is a particularly useful tool in his assistive technology set. Carter uses the product to read printed materials such as books, magazines, single sheets, and newspapers. Printed materials are first scanned into the computer. Then, Kurzweil 1000's optical character recognition capabilities recognize the type and convert it to synthetic speech. This allows people who are blind to access audibly what was a moment ago on the printed page. "If I receive something in the mail or there's a journal article that I need to prepare for a presentation, for example, I would use Kurzweil 1000 to scan that material; then I'd read it, take notes on it, and prepare my presentation," Carter says. "Kurzweil 1000 is a very innovative, flexible, exciting product because it is constantly developing and changing and growing."

Texas A&M Supports Accessibility Needs of Students, Faculty, and Staff

"The University has been very supportive of me regarding assistive technology—providing speech synthesizers and both hardware and software," Carter says. "They have been very accommodating and willing to provide the technologies as I need them—they have provided tremendous support and cooperation with accommodations and technology."

Assistive Technology Enables Productivity in the Workforce

Texas A&M includes several organizations that provide services for people with disabilities including students, staff, and faculty. Anne Reber, Ph.D., is Assistant Director, Department of Student Life in the Services for Students with Disabilities Office. "We train our students on assistive technology," she says, "and tell them that using it will make them more productive members of the workforce."

"We also emphasize that they may find that assistive technology can benefit the wider workforce as well—including those who have no disabilities." It's the concept of universal design—designing products and processes that benefit a wider range of users. For example, Reber explains, when professors put their class materials online, it's an obvious benefit for blind students who need electronic access so that they can use assistive technology such as screen readers to get the information. But online information actually benefits most students. Students can utilize the notes in any format that's appropriate to them—whether they need to read them visually, or have them read to them through synthesized voice output, or provided tactilely with Braille output.

"People with disabilities can bring their experience with alternative input and output technology to their workplaces and thereby stimulate new ideas about how to reach and include more people with information," Reber says. Fostering a diverse workforce—which includes people with disabilities—enhances businesses' ability to provide products and services that appeal to a broader range of customers. That means more business opportunity.