Re: Visually impaired technical writers

[Keith Soltys <ksoltys -at- INTERLOG -dot- COM>]

On Thu, 2 Jul 1998 11:52:13 -0500, "David A. McMurrey"
<hcexres -at- IO -dot- COM> wrote:

>We've received several inquiries from blind students about their prospects
>for working as professional technical writers.  Does anyone have any
>experience in this area?  Can the visually impaired work as technical
>writers?  If so, what are the accommodatioons that must be made?  Thanks
>for any help anybody can send my way!
>
>-- David
>
It probably depends on what degree of visual impairment you are
talking about. I am legally blind (less than 20/200) but the only
accommodation that I need is a larger than normal monitor (my employer
got me a 21" monitor, I could work comfortably on a 17") and the
adaptability mouse cursors that MS provides.

For people with more visual impairment, but who still have some sight<
there are devices that magnify all or part of a screen image, screen
to speech software, and magnifying scanners for working with paper
documents. You'd be surprised at how much work someone with just a
little sight can accomplish using these aids.

There are some tasks that a completely blind writer might not be able
to do (page layout and graphics). At a rough guess, I'd say that I'd
be able to do at least 80% of my current job without sight. 

Regards
Keith


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   Keith Soltys -- ksoltys -at- interlog -dot- com -- http://www.interlog.com/~ksoltys/
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