[SASAG] Advice for a student with vision issues

[Andrew Kane]

On 07/22/2015 05:08 PM, Ted Cox wrote:
> Hello! I just got the email below from Seattle Central and thought that
> SASAG might have some advice:
> 
> I have a student that is very interested in becoming a Linux administrator;
> he will have some challenges due to deteriorating eye sight and so I'm
> reaching out to see if you might know of another Linux guru that also
> challenges with disability, particularly eye site, or can suggest any
> toolsets that would make the technology smoother.
> 
> Any reference or suggestion you can provide is greatly appreciated - thanks
> so much!!
> 

Hi Ted, I don't know if this student uses Braille already but the
question immediately made me think of brltty (I think that's how it was
spelled) so I went looking for it in Debian package search and found
console-braille and a bunch of other stuff.[1]

There's also at least one occasional poster to the GSLUG list who has
experience working with assistive technology for low vision. I think
it's Gary Kline, but his website thought.org seems to be down right now
so it's hard to tell.

Ducking 'linux for the blind' turned up some interesting stuff:

http://vinuxproject.org/

"Vinux is a Ubuntu derived distribution optimised for the needs of blind
and partially sighted users. By default Vinux provides two
screen-readers, Braille display support and a friendly community.
When you boot the live Vinux image, you will be greeted by the Orca
screen reader enabling you to navigate the graphical Gnome desktop using
keyboard commands. Finally, Brltty provides Grade 1 and 2 Braille output
via Orca."

http://www.leb.net/blinux/blinux-faq.html

"1.1 Q: What is Blinux-list? What can I use it for?

A: Blinux-list is a list intended for discussion of Linux usage as it
relates to the blind and visually impaired community, maintained by Hans
Zoebelein <hzo at gmx.de> "

TLDP has an "Acessibility HOWTO", linux.com has a version of it here:

https://www.linux.com/learn/docs/ldp/417-accessibility-howto

It might be pretty old, but hopefully some of the information is still
useful (like the links to accessibility.kde.org and friends).

I hope some of this helps. Good luck!