It's a bit redundant to point out that we never stop learning. I mean, everyone knows that, right? For me, however, so much of that learning seems to be formal learning of one kind or other. For example, for the past couple of years I've been learning to read braille, and just as I have gotten to the end of all the 'new' stuff - just as the formal part of the lessons conclude and we move onto some fun reinforcement work, I'm confronted with a whole new world of adaptive technology.
In preparation for working, I've just started learning how to navigate the most common screen reading program on the market (some would say the best on the market). It's call JAWS, which stands for 'job access with speech'. Basically, it's a program with an extraordinarily long list of commands to assist people who are blind or have low vision navigate the contents of a computer screen, whether it be in a word document, an excel document, or the internet.
Just for fun, let me show you a list of commands:
Reading Text
| Command | Description |
|---|
| ← | Say Prior Character |
| → | Say Next Character |
| Num Pad 5 | Say Character |
| Num Pad 5 twice quickly | Say Character Phonetically |
| Insert + ← | Say Prior Word |
| Insert + → | Say Next Word |
| Insert + Num Pad 5 | Say Word |
| Insert + Num Pad 5 twice quickly | Spell Word |
| ↑ | Say Prior Line |
| ↓ | Say Next Line |
| Insert + ↑ | Say Current Line |
| Insert + ↑ twice quickly | Spell Current Line |
| Alt + ↑ | Say Prior Sentence |
| Alt + ↓ | Say Next Sentence |
| Alt+Num Pad 5 | Say Current Sentence |
| Insert + Home | Say to Cursor |
| Insert + Page Up | Say from Cursor |
| Insert + Home twice quickly | Spell to Cursor |
| Insert + Page Up twice quickly | Spell from Cursor |
| Insert + ↓ | Say All |
| → | Fast Forward during a Say All |
| ← | Rewind during a Say All |
| Insert + 5 | Say Color |
| Num Pad 5 three times quickly | Say ASCII or Hexadecimal Value |
| Insert + F, twice quickly | Say Font |
| Ctrl + Insert + ↓ | Start Skim Reading |
| Ctrl + Insert + Shift + ↓ | Skim Reading dialog box |
| Insert + Windows Key + ↓ | Display Skim Reading Summary |
Voice Rate
| Command | Description |
|---|
| Ctrl + Alt + Page Down | Decrease Voice Rate |
| Ctrl + Alt + Page Up | Increase Voice Rate |
| Page Down | Decrease Voice Rate (when using SayAll) |
| Page Up | Increase Voice Rate (when using SayAll) |
Regions, Headings, and Lists
| Command | Description |
|---|
| R | Regions Quick Key |
| Q | Main Content Quick Key |
| H | Headings Quick Key |
| 1-6 | Headings level 1-6 |
| Insert + F6 | List of Headings |
| L | List Quick Key |
| I | List Item Quick Key |
Tables
Moving within tables
| Command | Description |
|---|
| T | Table Quick Key |
| Ctrl + Alt + → | Cell to Right |
| Ctrl + Alt + ← | Cell to Left |
| Ctrl + Alt + ↓ | Cell Below |
| Ctrl + Alt + ↑ | Cell Above |
| Ctrl + Alt + Home | First Cell |
| Ctrl + Alt+END | Last Cell |
| Ctrl + Alt + Shift + ↑ | First Cell in Column |
| Ctrl + Alt + Shift + ↓ | Last Cell in Column |
| Ctrl + Alt + Shift + ← | First Cell in Row |
| Ctrl + Alt + Shift + → | Last Cell in Row |
Table reading
| Command | Description |
|---|
| Ctrl + Alt+Num Pad 5 | Say Current Cell |
| Insert + Shift + ↑ | Read Current Row |
| Insert + Shift + Home | Read from Start of Row |
| Insert + Shift + Page Up | Read to End of Row |
| Insert + Shift+Num Pad 5 | Read Current Column |
| Insert + Shift + End | Read from Top of Column |
| Insert + Shift + Page Down | Read to Bottom of Column |
Forms
| Command | Description |
|---|
| F | Form Quick Key |
| B | Button Quick Key |
| Enter (in a form element) | Enter Forms Mode |
| Tab | Navigate to Next form Control |
| Shift + Tab | Navigate to Previous Form Control |
| Spacebar | Select and Deselect Checkboxes |
| Alt + ↓ | Open Combo Box/Jump Menu |
| Ctrl + Shift or Ctrl + Spacebar | Select Multiple List Items |
| Ctrl+ \ | Unselect All But Current |
| ↑/↓ | Select Radio Button |
| ↑/↓ or the First letter | Select Element in Combo Box |
| Enter (in forms mode) | Submit Form |
| + key | Exit Forms Mode |
| Insert + F5 | List of Form Elements |
Links
| Command | Description |
|---|
| Tab | Jump from link/Form element next one |
| Shift + Tab | Jump from link/Form element next previous one |
| Ins + F7 | Bring up a list of links within the page |
| U | Unvisited Link Quick Key |
| V | Visited Link Quick Key |
Frames
| Command | Description |
|---|
| Ctrl + Tab | Move from one frame to the next frame within the page. |
| Ctrl + Shift + Tab | Move from one frame to the previous frame within the page. |
| Ins + F9 | Bring up a list of frames that are present within the page |
Other Commands
| Command | Description |
|---|
| Ctrl + F | Search for a word or a phrase |
| Ins + Esc | Refresh Screen, i.e. repaints all the currently displayed items on the screen |
| Ins + F5 | Reformat documents, i.e. reformats multiple column pages to be more readable with speech. |
| Insert + F1 | Help with current element |
Ha! Okay, that wasn't really fair, and I'm sure you skimmed over 90%, which is just fine because that's pretty much how I feel, too. It's pretty overwhelming and I've got try to learn this in the next month. Also, JAWS - while it can be used on a Mac environment - is a native Windows platform program. I haven't worked with Windows in about six years and back then I was still using Windows XP, so there will be a bit to catch up on there, too.
To begin with at work, I'm going to have to keep using zoom - Windows zoom is different to Apple zoom, but it'll be quicker to learn than JAWS. I'll have to move onto JAWS pretty quickly though because I'm living with horrendous daily migraines because of the glare and strain of looking at computer screens even when to screen contents is magnified by 16x magnification (that's 192 point font). To most of you that would be extremely pixelated, but to me it's only a little bit blurry, and yet, my eyes get tired very quickly even reading font at that size.
So, I pretty much need to learn how to navigate a computer by Voice Over only. I need to do this on a Windows platform. Finally, I need to learn how to use the Client Management System (or CMS) at work. Luckily, I'm a pretty quick study, and I love a challenge. It would be a lot easier to study all of these things if I had a PC laptop to study on, but as one will be provided through work, it's not very cost effective to buy my own. I'm still thinking about doing it, mind you, only because I'm thinking it might be safest to only use the work one for work, especially with all the sites I browse and the crappy nature of PCs when it comes to warding off viruses (yes, I did just say that, I'm still a committed Mac user at heart).
Leaving uni ≠ no longer studying.
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