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David Bradburn, Vice-President Global Sales at Humanware, has been involved in the access technology field for over 35 years. A lot has changed over that time. Listen in on a conversation between David as a salesman and host Peter Torpey as a user as they reminisce about the evolution of access technology equipment since the early days.

Reaper is a powerful multi-track audio production program used by many people with visual impairments. The program is made accessible using a screen reader on both PC’s and Mac’s by the open source OSARA extension for Reaper. Hosts Nancy and Peter Torpey talk with Scott Chesworth who manages the Reaper forums and Jamie Teh, the author of OSARA.

Maxima is a computer algebra system (CAS) that enables the user to work with complex mathematical expressions. Hosts Nancy and Peter Torpey talk with Robert Dodier, one of the developers of Maxima, about the capabilities of this free, open source program and also demonstrate how it can be used with a screen reader by those who are blind.

MuseScore is a program for creating and sharing musical scores. Despite being open source and free, MuseScore includes many of the features found in commercial programs. Hosts Nancy and Peter Torpey talk with Marc Sabatella, one of the developers, about his work to make MuseScore accessible with a variety of screen readers.

Hosts Nancy and Peter Torpey continue their conversation from last week with Eric Damery, VP of Software Product Management at Freedom Scientific, a Vispero company. This week they discuss how the marketing and distribution of assistive technologies for people with vision loss have evolved over his long career in the field.

Eric Damery has had a long career in the field of assistive technology and is currently VP of Software Product Management at Freedom Scientific, a Vispero company. Hosts Nancy and Peter Torpey talk with Eric about how he got started in the field and how he worked to bring these technologies to people with vision loss around the world.

David Bradburn, Vice-President Global Sales at Humanware, has been involved in the access technology field for over 35 years. A lot has changed over that time. Listen in on a conversation between David as a salesman and host Peter Torpey as a user as they reminisce about the evolution of access technology equipment since the early days.

Sometimes one web browser just isn’t enough. Hosts Nancy and Peter Torpey talk with David Kingsbury from the Carroll Center for the Blind about his new book that describes why this is true and why you might find need for more than one browser. He talks about the book and how the various web browsers can be used with popular screen readers.

Zoom is a popular video conferencing service that enables people to work from home, connect with friends and family, attend performances, and much more. Hosts Nancy and Peter Torpey talk with Heather Thomas about her new book, “Getting Started With Zoom Meetings: A Guide for JAWS, NVDA, and iPhone Voiceover Users”, that describes how Zoom can be used with a screen reader.

Eric Damery is VP of Software Product Management of Freedom Scientific, a Vispero company, a worldwide leader in providing assistive technology for visually impaired people. Hosts Nancy and Peter Torpey talk with Eric about the company, features of JAWS, ZoomText and Fusion, and special offerings for students as well as during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Band-in-a-Box from PG Music continues to evolve and introduce new features that are appealing to both professional and amateur musicians alike. Hosts Nancy and Peter Torpey talk with Tobin Frank, chief development officer at PG Music, about the program and how the scripts Peter developed make this program accessible with the JAWS screen reader.

Over the past few years, Microsoft has added a number of major enhancements to the Narrator screen reader that is built into Windows. Hosts Nancy and Peter talk with Jeff Bishop, a program manager in the accessibility team at Microsoft, about some of Narrator’s new features, and why, if you haven’t used Narrator in a while, it might be worth a second look.

Hosts Nancy and Peter Torpey honor the life and work of Jim Thatcher who passed away last month by reprising episode 1420 in which we interviewed Jim about his pioneering work in the development of the first screen readers and years later of the first standards for web accessibility. Thanks to Jim for his continued contributions to the field of accessibility.

People using screen readers rely on keyboard hotkeys in order to interact with their computers. But there is always more to learn! Hosts Nancy and Peter Torpey talk with Dean Martineau about his new book that describes how you can use keyboard hotkeys in Windows more effectively, customize your work flow, and take these shortcuts to the next level.

Derek Riemer works at Google as a software engineer. He also has contributed to the development of the free NVDA screen reader and is coordinating this year’s NVDACon conference. Hosts Nancy and Peter Torpey talk with Derek about his experiences growing up and being educated as a blind youth as well as the hurdles he had to overcome in school, work and play.

Blind since birth, twin brothers John and Larry Gassman became proficient with computers and now both have similar jobs that entail making sure the software used by each of their employers is accessible to other blind employees using screen readers. Join hosts Nancy and Peter Torpey as they talk with the Gassman brothers about their work and other experiences.

Jamie Teh was one of the co-founders and a co-developer of the free NVDA screen reader for Windows. After 10 years as a key contributor to this project, he has now accepted a position working at Mozilla. Hosts Nancy and Peter Torpey talk with Jamie about what prompted this transition, what he will be doing at Mozilla, and the future of NVDA.

Hosts Nancy and Peter Torpey continue the conversation with three leaders in the field of assistive technology: Deane Blazie, Jim Fruchterman, and Ted Henter. They made pioneering contributions to the development of refreshable Braille displays, OCR, and screen readers, respectively. Learn about their visions for the future in this informative round table discussion.

This week hosts Nancy and Peter Torpey bring together three leaders in the field of assistive technology: Deane Blazie, Jim Fruchterman, and Ted Henter. They made pioneering contributions to the development of refreshable Braille displays, OCR, and screen readers, respectively. Learn what each of them is up to today in this informative round table discussion.

If you use the JAWS screen reader, chances are you've heard of Ted Henter who founded Henter-Joyce and later sold the company to Freedom Scientific. This week, Nancy and Peter Torpey talk with Ted about his contributions to assistive technologies and other projects. If you think you know where the "Joyce" came from in Henter-Joyce, be prepared for a surprise!

NVDA is a free screen reader for Windows. For the past several years, the annual NVDACon has provided a forum for developers, users, and others to share what’s new, suggestions for future improvements, and much more. Hosts Nancy and Peter Torpey talk with Derek Riemer and Bhavya Shah, co-chairs of this year’s annual international web-based conference.

Microsoft Windows now comes with built in speech recognition. Unfortunately, on its own, it is difficult to use with a screen reader. DictationBridge is a free program that solves this problem using most popular screen readers. Hosts Nancy and Peter Torpey speak with Lucy Greco, a member of the team that created the technology, about how it works.

Android smart phones have become more accessible to the visually impaired. But are they as accessible as an iPhone? Is it time to reconsider? We address these questions when hosts Nancy and Peter Torpey speak with Ana Garza, also known as Access Ana, author of a new book called “Getting Started With Android” about using Android devices with TalkBack.

Microsoft offers a special service by which disabled individuals can obtain free personalized technical help with Microsoft products. Hosts Nancy and Peter Torpey talk with Neil Barnett, leader of the Disability Answer Desk, about that program and other resources and services they offer to the visually impaired using screen readers or other adaptive technologies.

New features being introduced into Amazon’s Kindle readers and Fire tablets will now make these devices readily accessible to the visually impaired. Hosts Nancy and Peter Torpey talk with Peter Korn, accessibility architect at Amazon, about the work that went into developing an enhanced user interface and how it has improved accessibility of these products.

This week, hosts Nancy and Peter Torpey talk with Peter Korn who traces the evolution of screen reader technology from the early text-based systems to today’s modern graphical interfaces. Korn, who has been a major contributor to the development of screen readers for many years, describes how a screen reader works and what challenges had to be overcome.

The AudioScreen add-on for NVDA is based on concepts from the vOICe technology discussed in last week’s show. This week hosts Nancy and Peter Torpey talk with Mick Curran, co-lead developer of the NVDA screen reader, about how this add-on that he developed can be used to help the blind “see” maps, colors, and more. Mick also demos AudioScreen in action.

Do you struggle using Facebook with a screen reader? Matt King, a member of the Accessibility Engineering Team at Facebook, describes many tips and hotkeys for using Facebook more efficiently. Hosts Nancy and Peter Torpey also talk with him about an exciting new feature launching this week to help make photos more accessible to people with vision loss.

This week hosts Nancy and Peter Torpey share some helpful hints they use to perform common tasks. You’ll hear some surprising things SIRI can do. You’ll also learn how to more easily control the playback of audio on YouTube with some handy keyboard shortcuts, automatically download audio from YouTube for later playback, how to make on-line shopping easier and more!

Many listeners have expressed interest in learning how to create their own web site, but don’t know where to start. Hosts Nancy and Peter Torpey speak with Mobeen Iqbal about how to do this and which tools are most accessible with a screen reader, covering everything from finding a web hosting service to creating the actual content.

NVDA is a free and open source screen reader for Windows. Over the years it has matured to be a viable alternative to commercial screen readers for personal, educational and professional use. Hosts Nancy and Peter Torpey talk with Jamie Teh, one of the founders and co-lead developers of NVDA about some of the new features of NVDA and what to expect in the future.

A number of on-line board games and card games are hosted by RS Games. They are all accessible using a screen reader and can be enjoyable as well as being a great way to connect with friends or meet new ones. Host Nancy and Peter Torpey talk with Michael Forzano, a founder and developer of RS Games about how it works and how you can participate.

The ability to read mathematical expressions in documents and on the web is crucial for those learning math and for professionals in the sciences. Hosts Nancy and Peter Torpey talk with Rob Gallo, a software developer at Freedom Scientific responsible for implementing support for MathML in the JAWS screen reader. Also hear a demo of JAWS reading MathML.

Modern screen readers make computer programs and software readily accessible to the blind. But what about working with hardware? Mobeen Iqbal has years of experience repairing both desktop and laptop computers and has even built several computers. Hosts Nancy and Peter Torpey talk with him about how he achieves each required task in spite of being totally blind

A number of screen readers are available to access computers. But it wasn’t always this way. Jim Thatcher was a pioneer in the development of the first screen readers and years later of the first standards for web accessibility. Hosts Peter and Nancy Torpey speak with him about the early history of both and about his current work as an accessibility consultant.

Although social media is becoming ubiquitous, some of the web-sites are cumbersome to use for people with visual impairments. This week hosts Nancy and Peter Torpey talk with Stephen Clower from GW Micro about their recently launched SocialEyes which facilitates using FaceBook with any of the common screen readers, including demonstrations of some features.

As technology advances, screen readers strive to keep up with new ways of accessing information and working with applications. Hosts Peter and Nancy Torpey talk with Leonie Watson about the British Computer Association of the Blind, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), AccessTalk Podcast, Leonie’s blog and other sources of information about computer accessibility.

Sonar is a powerful audio and production program that is used by many blind musicians and audio engineers. This week hosts Peter and Nancy Torpey talk with Jamie Teh, co-developer of the free NVDA screen reader, about the tools he has developed to make Sonar more accessible with NVDA. Find out how you can acquire these tools and even help in future development.

J-Say is middle-ware for Dragon Dictate and JAWS to allow speech activated navigation and control with a screen reader and enable hands-free eyes-free computing. Join hosts Peter and Nancy Torpey with Ed Rosenthal, head of Next Generation Technologies, who demonstrates many of its features. Last week’s show was an overview of J-Say and MagniTalk.

J-Say and MagniTalk are middle-ware for using Dragon Dictate with JAWS or ZoomText to allow speech activated navigation and control with a screen reader or magnifier. This enables hands-free eyes-free computing. Hosts Nancy and Peter Torpey speak with Ed Rosenthal, head of Next Generation Technologies, about both products. He’ll demonstrate many features next week.

Windows 8 is launching in October 2012 and has a very different interface and paradigm from previous versions of Windows. Fortunately, some screen readers will be able to work with Windows 8 from day 1. Hosts Nancy Goodman Torpey and Peter Torpey talk with Jeremy Curry of GW Micro about Windows 8 and using it with Window-Eyes.

Blind since infancy and self-taught, Chris Belle worked hard to acquire the skills needed to run a successful audio production business. Host Peter and Nancy Torpey follow Chris’s journey in a fun interview that illustrates the power of a “can do” attitude. Also hear about powerful music editing programs that can be used with a screen reader.

If you use the JAWS screen reader, chances are you've heard of Ted Henter who founded Henter-Joyce and later sold the company to Freedom Scientific. This week, Nancy and Peter Torpey talk with Ted about his contributions to assistive technologies and what he is up to now. If you think you know where the "Joyce" came from in Henter-Joyce, be prepared for a surprise!

Hosts Peter and Nancy Torpey compare and demonstrate two powerful tools for audio editing. Studio Recorder was developed at the American Printing House for the Blind for their own use and is very accessible. Audacity is a free open-source program that contains additional capabilities but is not quite as user-friendly with a screen reader.

This week’s show focuses on the Orca screen reader, the Gnome desktop and how accessibility works in Linux. Join hosts Nancy Goodman Torpey and Peter Torpey as they talk with Joanmarie Diggs and Alejandro Pineiro, two of the lead developers about what’s under the hood, how it got there and how you can help improve it.

Apple computers have accessibility built in to the operating system. Zoom is a magnifier and VoiceOver is a screen reader. Each is as powerful as commercial products for Windows. Hosts Peter Torpey and Nancy Goodman Torpey speak with Mike Arrigo about features of both and demonstrate VoiceOver working with the desktop and the web.

Hosts Nancy Goodman Torpey and Peter Torpey talk with Lisa Salinger and Jamie Pauls of Serotek about some of their products and services. These include the System Access screen reader, System Access Mobile Network (SAMNet), iBlink Radio, SeroTalk podcasts, Accessible Event, DocuScan Plus and others.

This week hosts Nancy Goodman Torpey and Peter Torpey take a look at some of the exciting features in the newly released JAWS 13. Learn how the “Convenient OCR” feature now built into JAWS enables users to do more things than before. Find out what other training resources are available for learning to use JAWS and some of its specialized functions.

This week’s show focuses on JAWS (Job Access With Speech), a screen reader providing accessibility to a computer for visually impaired users through speech and Braille. Hosts Peter Torpey and Nancy Goodman Torpey describe advanced features in JAWS and how you can customize its behavior by writing your own scripts, as well as where you can get help.

This week’s show is about novel software being developed to enhance accessibility to both cameras and the web. Hosts Peter Torpey and Nancy Goodman Torpey describe Web Anywhere (a free web-based screen reader), Qwiki (a multimedia information source akin to wikipedia) and Easy Snap (a cell phone app that helps the blind take better photos).

Hosts Peter Torpey and Nancy Goodman Torpey discuss various aspects of working from selecting a job, to applying for one, to life on the job. They also talk about ADA requirements for employers of the visually impaired and describe headsets that work with both telephones and computers so you can hear your screen reader while talking on the phone.

This week’s theme is telephones and alternative methods of communicating. Hosts Nancy Goodman Torpey and Peter Torpey discuss using Google Voice, Google Talk and Skype with a screen reader. They also give tips on what features to look for when purchasing a telephone and talk about available software packages that make even smart phones accessible.

Hosts Peter Torpey and Nancy Goodman Torpey discuss free screen readers (e.g.: NVDA and System Access To Go) and Optical Character Recognition (OCR). They also talk about local and on-line training opportunities for using hardware and software accessibility tools.

This week hosts Peter Torpey and Nancy Goodman Torpey discuss using a screen reader and/or a refreshable Braille display for accessing a computer, identifying money (folding paper money, feeling coins, using scanners, …) and various types of earphones (on ear & in ear, noise cancelling, built-in radio, wireless, Bluetooth).