Assistive Technology

Assistive technology is technology used by individuals with disabilities in order to perform functions that might otherwise be difficult or impossible. Assistive technology can include mobility devices such as walkers and wheelchairs, as well as hardware, software, and peripherals that assist people with disabilities in accessing computers or other information technologies. For example, people with limited hand function may use a keyboard with large keys or a special mouse to operate a computer, people who are blind may use software that reads text on the screen in a computer-generated voice, people with low vision may use software that enlarges screen content, people who are deaf may use a TTY (text telephone), or people with speech impairments may use a device that speaks out loud as they enter text via a keyboard.

The below listed products are Target Current (TC), approved as a standard and implemented at HUD.

Enabling Technologies Juliet Pro 6.0
Vitural Vision Technologies PowerBraille 40 and 8.0
Freedom Scientific JAWS for Windows 7.0
Freedom Scientific MAGic 9.0 and 9.5
Kurzweil Education Systems 1000 7.0
Nuance Dragon Naturally Speaking 7.3
Nuance Dragon Naturally Speaking 9.0
NXi Communications Network Telephony Services 4.0
Optelec Tieman Group Clearview 700

The below listed products are Target Future (TF), approved as a standard but not yet implemented at HUD.

Freedom Scientific JAWS for Windows 8.0
Freedom Scientific MAGic 10.0
Kurzweil Education Systems 1000 11.0
NXi Communications Network Telephony Services 6.2
Optelec Tieman Group Clearview

The below listed products are in use and being Maintained (M), they will be periodically reviewed by the Configuration Control Management Board (CCMB), Enterprise Architecture (EA), & OPS to determine status and whether plans should be made to migrate to Target or should be moved to the Obsolete category.

Nuance Dragon Naturally Speaking 6.0

The below listed products are Obsolete (O), outdated technology that plans are being made to sunset the product.

Freedom Scientific JAWS for Windows 3.2
Freedom Scientific MAGic 8.0
HP DECTalk Speech Synthesizer
MicroFlip Inc. WinTalk 2.24
Nuance Dragon Naturally Speaking 3.0 and 5.0
Optelec Tieman Group Clearview Spectrum

Target Current Products

Enabling Technologies Juliet Pro 6.0

Product Description

A Double Sided Braille Embosser has the capabilities of embossing Braille on the front and back of each sheet of paper. This reduces the amount of paper used to create a document by half, verses a Single Sided Braille Embosser. Double sided Braille reduces the number of pages and weight of the finished document for those who need to carry their work with them, such as students, and for those who ship their finished document, such as a small business.

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Vitural Vision Technologies PowerBraille 4.0 and 8.0

Product Description

The PowerBraille user can read material line-byline in Grade 2 or 8-dot Computer Braille. To jump directly to a particular screen location, you just press a key on the PowerBraille. The PowerBraille works with or without speech access. If you have trouble understanding speech synthesizers, and would rather work exclusively with Braille, the PowerBraille gives you complete access to the PC without speech. But, if you enjoy using speech to access a PC, you will find that the PowerBraille enables you to speedily skim material or proofread documents with accuracy.

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Freedom Scientific JAWS for Windows 7.0

Product Description

JAWS (an acronym for Job Access With Speech) is a screen reader, a software program for visually impaired users produced by the Blind and Low Vision Group at Freedom Scientific of St. Petersburg, Florida, USA. Its purpose is to make MS-DOS and, more recently, Microsoft Windows accessible to a blind user. It accomplishes this by providing the user with access to the information displayed on the screen via text-to-speech or by means of a braille display, and allows for more comprehensive keyboard interaction with the computer.

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Freedom Scientific MAGic 9.0 and 9.5

Product Description

MAGic® combines great magnification features with true low vision screen reading when purchased with the speech option. It gives you the ability to choose the information you want read from the screen as you navigate your applications. MAGic is easy to use with its talking large print installation, color-coded user interface, and hot keys that avoid conflicts with Windows and popular software applications.

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Kurzweil Education Systems 1000TM 7.0

Product Description

Kurzweil 1000TM is award-winning software that makes printed or electronic text readily available to people who are blind or visually impaired. It combines accessibility, communication and productivity tools to ease and enhance their reading, writing and learning experience.

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Nuance Dragon Naturally Speaking 7.3

Product Description

Voice recognition software that allows people to dictate letters and words into word processing software.

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Nuance Dragon Naturally Speaking 9.0

Product Description

Dragon NaturallySpeaking is the speech recognition software package. NaturallySpeaking superimposes on top of other software. Dictation temporarily appears in a floating Results Box as words are spoken, and when a pause for breath is taken, the program will essentially transcribe or paste the words into the location of the cursor.

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NXi Communications Network Telephony Services 4.0

Product Description

NTS provides organizations not only access for the deaf, but also leading edge text communications features including: Secure instant messaging designed for organizations. Browser links for text calls and text messaging. Links to 2-way pagers and PDAs.

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Optelec Tieman Group Clearview 700

Product Description

Add color video magnification to your computer! Interfaces with any PC or Macintosh computer system and features an oversized, smooth-riding table with a braking system for easy reading and writing. Controls on the front of the table include: Instant Focus, One-touch Zoom, Position Locator and 3 viewing modes (photo, reading and reverse contrast). Additional features include split- screen capability, false color selections, line markers and windowing, as well as the ability to add an external camera.

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Target Future Products

Freedom Scientific JAWS for Windows 8.0

Product Description

JAWS (an acronym for Job Access With Speech) is a screen reader, a software program for visually impaired users produced by the Blind and Low Vision Group at Freedom Scientific of St. Petersburg, Florida, USA. Its purpose is to make MS-DOS and, more recently, Microsoft Windows accessible to a blind user. It accomplishes this by providing the user with access to the information displayed on the screen via text-to-speech or by means of a braille display, and allows for more comprehensive keyboard interaction with the computer.

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Freedom Scientific MAGic 10.0

Product Description

MAGic® combines great magnification features with true low vision screen reading when purchased with the speech option. It gives you the ability to choose the information you want read from the screen as you navigate your applications. MAGic is easy to use with its talking large print installation, color-coded user interface, and hot keys that avoid conflicts with Windows and popular software applications.

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Kurzweil Education Systems 1000TM 11.0

Product Description

Kurzweil 1000TM is award-winning software that makes printed or electronic text readily available to people who are blind or visually impaired. It combines accessibility, communication and productivity tools to ease and enhance their reading, writing and learning experience.

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NXi Communications Network Telephony Services 6.2

Product Description

NTS provides organizations not only access for the deaf, but also leading edge text communications features including: Secure instant messaging designed for organizations. Browser links for text calls and text messaging. Links to 2-way pagers and PDAs.

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Optelec Tieman Group Clearview

Product Description

Add color video magnification to your computer! Interfaces with any PC or Macintosh computer system and features an oversized, smooth-riding table with a braking system for easy reading and writing. Controls on the front of the table include: Instant Focus, One-touch Zoom, Position Locator and 3 viewing modes (photo, reading and reverse contrast). Additional features include split- screen capability, false color selections, line markers and windowing, as well as the ability to add an external camera.

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Maintain Products

Nuance Dragon Naturally Speaking 6.0

Product Description

Dragon NaturallySpeaking is the speech recognition software package. NaturallySpeaking superimposes on top of other software. Dictation temporarily appears in a floating Results Box as words are spoken, and when a pause for breath is taken, the program will essentially transcribe or paste the words into the location of the cursor.

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Obsolete Products

Freedom Scientific JAWS for Windows 3.2

Product Description

Voice recognition software that allows people to dictate letters and words into word processing software.

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Freedom Scientific MAGic 8.0

Product Description

MAGic® combines great magnification features with true low vision screen reading when purchased with the speech option. It gives you the ability to choose the information you want read from the screen as you navigate your applications. MAGic is easy to use with its talking large print installation, color-coded user interface, and hot keys that avoid conflicts with Windows and popular software applications.

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HP DECTalk Speech Synthesizer

Product Description

Speech synthesis is the artificial production of human speech. A computer system used for this purpose is called a speech synthesizer, and can be implemented in software or hardware. A text-to-speech (TTS) system converts normal language text into speech; other systems render symbolic linguistic representations like phonetic transcriptions into speech. Synthesized speech can be created by concatenating pieces of recorded speech that are stored in a database. Systems differ in the size of the stored speech units; a system that stores phones or diphones provides the largest output range, but may lack clarity. For specific usage domains, the storage of entire words or sentences allows for high-quality output. Alternatively, a synthesizer can incorporate a model of the vocal tract and other human voice characteristics to create a completely synthetic voice output.

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MicroFlip Inc. WinTalk 2.24

Product Description

TTY refers to the TeleTypewriter, used for telegram and military communications. Deaf and hard of hearing people today use "TTY." The TTY modem allows for TTY communication easier.

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Nuance Dragon Naturally Speaking 3.0 and 5.0

Product Description

Dragon NaturallySpeaking is the speech recognition software package. NaturallySpeaking superimposes on top of other software. Dictation temporarily appears in a floating Results Box as words are spoken, and when a pause for breath is taken, the program will essentially transcribe or paste the words into the location of the cursor.

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Optelec Tieman Group Clearview Spectrum

Product Description

ClearView Spectrum is a full colour Electronic Magnification Unit (EMU) that magnifies and displays text and images up to 43 times on a 17-inch screen. Very easy and simple to use the ClearView Spectrum is the comprehensive all-rounder for all tasks. Reading, writing, sewing and sorting stamps are just some of the examples the ClearView Spectrum can comfortably be used for.

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