A screen reader is a piece of software that allows people who are blind or have significant vision loss to use a computer.
A screen reader is a piece of software which is called assistive techology. This software allows people who are blind or have a vision impairment to interpret what is currently on the screen via speech output or a Refreshable Braille Display.
Since the web is such a big part of people's lives, they think a screen reader enables a person to access the web. In fact this is incorrect, a screen reader enables a person to access all parts of the computer, granted that the programs they are attempting to use are accessible.
Popular Screen Readers
- JAWS (Job Access With Speech) - Windows-based
- Window-Eyes - Windows-based
- VoiceOver - Apple
- NVDA (NonVisual Desktop Access) - Windows-based
- System Access or System Access To Go
Others
- ChromeVox - ChromeVox is a screen reader for Chrome OS/browser. Because ChromeVox is built by Google, it's optimized for the web.
- ZoomText - This is a screen-magnifier program with speech-output capabilities. It is used primarily with people with vision loss, not total blindness.
