[blindlaw] Accessing Documents in an Office Setting

[Aser Tolentino]

Thank you very much. That was exactly what I needed; I really
appreciated the recommendations and estimates especially. I'm in the
middle of the job search and finals preparation stresses that seem to
characterize November. It's a real relief to have something to go off
of in terms of a possible solution.

Thank you again,
Aser


On Nov 17, 2007 1:43 PM,  <AZNOR99 at aol.com> wrote:
> Hi Aser,
>
> I worked for the local prosecutor's office for several years during law school. I occasionally used a live reader, but that was rare and only when I needed a form filled out really quickly. I relied on tools like the KNFB Reader, which takes a picture of a page and converts it to audio text (with ear buds of course so no one else heard what I was reading). I also used a laptop with Jaws and scanning software so I could fill out forms that were available electronically or read longer motions and breifs. I also used two magnification devices, the PICO and the Traveller. The Pico is palm-sized and works like a portable CCTV. It magnifies up to eight times the standard print size, I think. It was really useful when looking at misdemeanor complaints, rap sheets, police reports, etc. But it doesn't work well when you need to write under it. For those situations, I used the Traveller. It is also like a portable CCTV, though a little bigger. I think the screen size is something like 6 x 6. It has a camera that can swing out and a sort of stand you can pull out to raise it high enough to put a pen underneath it. I also found the Traveller useful when I was studying on the train for the Bar Exam because it was much more durable than the PICO. The PICO costs around $700, and the Traveller costs around $900. I got Rehab to pay for one, and I used scholarship money for the other. The KNFB Reader runs more expensive, but I'm not sure what the going rate is anymore. Any or all of these might be useful to you.
>
> Good luck.
>
> Ronza
>
>
>
> In a message dated 11/17/2007 12:40:09 P.M. Central Standard Time, agtolentino at gmail.com writes:
> Hello,
> I was wondering if I could ask for guidance. I'm a 1L with very
> limited vision. I have pretty much decided that criminal prosecution
> is my calling. The problem as I see it is a very large volume of paper
> material requiring rapid attention; I think I can look forward to
> prepping a lot of misdemeanor cases. Judging from my skimming of the
> list archives, it seems the standard solution has become scanners and
> OCR; the deputy DA I addressed my concerns to, remarked that their
> office had employed a reader as a reasonable accommodation in the
> past. I was wondering if I could get your advice on what in your
> experience would be a more suitable solution. I would also appreciate
> any hardware/software recommendations you might have. I have not been
> very connected to developments in assistive technology and my tendency
> in recent research has been to favor options stressing portability and
> speed like ABISee's Zoom-Ex camera-driven OCR; are such solutions
> viable? Right now I use, JAWS in conjunction with electronic textbooks
> and handouts, a CCTV and help from readers.
> I'm sorry for ranging so widely and probably covering nothing that
> hasn't been hashed out before, but I would be grateful for any help
> you could offer.
> Thank you again,
> Aser
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