New Software Available to Increase Accessibility

Russell Cothren

The University of Arkansas is committed to making services accessible to every member of the campus community and maximizing the success of students with diverse abilities. The university plans to further its mission of inclusion and collaboration by providing campuswide access to new software applications: Read&Write, EquatIO, NonVisual Desktop Access (NVDA) and Fusion. These powerful tools are now available to all students, faculty and staff at no individual charge.

"We hope that these applications will be utilized by all members of the campus community to improve daily computing activities for themselves or others," Heidi Ann Scher, associate director in the Center for Educational Access said. "While some of the software is designed for use by individuals with disabilities, these contain many features that anyone may find beneficial."

Read&Write contains many powerful tools such as converting text to speech to read out loud, writing tools to assist with the writing process, and study tools such as highlighters and capability to easily extract highlighted text. EquatIO, an add-on to Read&Write, allows users to create mathematical expressions instantly on the computer by typing, handwriting or dictating. Both applications are available for multiple operating systems and can be downloaded to personal and campus computing devices.

Fusion, available by request, combines ZoomText, a screen magnifier, with the power and speed of JAWS, for screen reading functionality. Together and separately, these products can provide access to the computing environment. 

NVDA is an open-source screen reader that enables the blind and visually impaired to use computers. 

To learn how to access the new software, visit the Software Distribution List.