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NonVisual Desktop Access - a free, open-source, assistive technology software that enables blind users to access personal computers

Shared by Maria João Jacinto on 2022-11-30 15:01

About the solution

NonVisual Desktop Access (NVDA) allows blind and vision impaired people to access and interact with the Windows operating system and many third party applications.

Major highlights include:
- Support for popular applications including web browsers such as Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome, email clients, internet chat software, music players, and office programs such as Microsoft Word and Excel
- Reporting of textual formatting where available such as font name and size, style and spelling errors
- Automatic announcement of text under the mouse and optional audible indication of the mouse position
- Support for many refreshable braille displays, including input of Braille via braille displays that have a braille keyboard
- Announcing controls and text while interacting with gestures on touch screens

NVDA has been translated by volunteers into more than 55 languages, and been used by people in more than 175 countries. NVDA is open source software, which means the code is accessible to anyone. This enables translators and developers around the world to continually contribute to its expansion and improvement.

The founders were able to work full-time on the project thanks to a series of corporate grants and individual donations. It has also won multiple awards.

Adapted from: https://www.nvaccess.org/
https://youtu.be/Ks7AwV_uxO0

This solution shall not include mention to the use of drugs, chemicals or biologicals (including food); invasive devices; offensive, commercial or inherently dangerous content. This solution was not medically validated. Proceed with caution! If you have any doubts, please consult with a health professional.

DISCLAIMER: This story was written by someone who is not the author of the solution, therefore please be advised that, although it was written with the utmost respect for the innovation and the innovator, there can be some incorrect statements. If you find any errors please contact the patient Innovation team via info@patient-innovation.com

About the author

Michael Curran and James Teh met as children on a music camp for the blind, where they realised they shared a strong interest in computers.
In April 2006 Michael began to develop a free screen reader called NVDA (NonVisual Desktop Access) for use with computers running on Windows. He invited James, who had recently completed his IT degree, to develop the software with him. Together these two fully blind men founded the not-for-profit organisation NV Access to to support the development of the NVDA screen reader.

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