Chess, anyone?

[leadinglabbie]

I just signed up for Hadley's chess courses. I think you get a free accessible chess set (and I think you get to keep it, though I could be wrong about that). I also just ordered a chess set from Independent Living Aids, which has a wooden one (the site doesn't say it's wooden, but it is--I checked) on sale. So, either way, I will have a chess set

Comments

[leadinglabbie]

I like that the OS is financially accessible - buy a computer, get your accessibility!

Well, I like the idea of that, too. I mean, something like that would have made things sooooo much easier for me professionally as a VR counselor discussing accommodations with employers. And it sounds like it will actually be true at some point...but it doesn't sound like it's *completely* true right now. I guess it depends on what you use the computer for.

And I definitely, definitely take your point about more power for the buck with less crashes!!! :)

AAAAAAAND open source projects pop up all the time - there are even some OCR softwares coming out that work on mac that are almost almost (and quickly
becoming) better than Kurzweil.

The OCR I use now is better than Kurzweil and costs half as much. (It's more responsive, etc.) What would I use right now if I switched to a Mac? I need very powerful OCR.

Why are *we* buying separate stuff that isn't universally compatible (JAWS doesn't work with much
of what I do at work) when there's a company that's building it into their systems, working to make it work, working to make accessibility work (and I'll
have an exciting update to that personally soon if all cards fall into place), and are looking at it on a broader platform than just "hey we made a screen
reader."

I'll be eager to hear the update when it comes. And I do take your point: My love of things mainstream is why I use Abbyy and not Kurzweil (plus, it's better software for strictly OCR purposes). Of course, there are free Windows screenreaders now, too. Problem is, they just don't provide as much access.

I haven't gotten to play much with a Mac--I need to remedy that. But, it seems to me, that the current "official" status of things is sort of, "Well, OK, you can read Word files, but let's hope you don't have to do anything really advanced with them." For the record, I'm not particularly in love with JAWS (and I certainly don't lurve Windows!!!). But it *does* allow me to do pretty much everything I need to do. (Also, I don't really find the table navigation troublesome, and even forms mode doesn't bother me that much. How is navigating tables easier with a Mac?)

In any case, I probably won't be computer-shopping for another year, so things could change by then. I'm open to considering a Mac (despite the fact that I do prefer the sound of Eloquence to the more human-sounding voice on the Mac). I've thought for years and years that if I could see, I would have been a Mac user long ago. I justt need to make sure I can do everything I need to do before I take the plunge. :) Thanks for the resources you mentioned.