Adaptive Equipment and Software for Students With Disabilities

All disability-related academic support services are based on your current diagnosis and correlated limitations that may impede your academic processing.

Before receiving support

Before you can receive any academic support, you must apply for services from the Office for Students with Disabilities (OSD).

Adaptive computer stations

You can access an adaptive computer work station with specialized software at these locations:

• OSD Office, 2 stations available by appointment 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. 
• CLICS, 1 station available with advanced reservation

Adaptive software

OSD provides several types of adaptive software to qualifying students at no charge:

• Dragon Naturally Speaking

  A voice recognition software program that lets the user create documents with one’s voice, without the need for constant keyboarding. Users train Dragon with commands that start and stop programs and control program windows. Dragon is known for being helpful for those who have disabilities that make typing or writing difficult.

• Zoom Text

  Zoom Text offers magnification and screen reading software for the visually impaired. It lets you see and hear everything on your computer screen more clearly than ever. Zoom Text’s xFont magnification displays high-definition text that you’ll recognize effortlessly. Its NeoSpeech synthesizers read your applications and documents aloud with friendly, human-sounding voices, right through your computer’s speakers. With Zoom Text’s productivity tools, finding what you’re looking for is quick and easy.

• Kurzweil 1000

  This software 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 your reading, writing, and learning experience. The software speaks text aloud in a variety of natural- sounding voices that can be modified to suit individual preferences. In addition, it provides users with document creation and editing, as well as notetaking, summarizing, and outlining text capabilities for study skills.

• Kurzweil 3000

  A combined scanning and reading feature that reproduces text on screen, as it appears on paper. Audio files of scanned text can be created for portable listening. Kurzweil 3000 also includes study tools such as bookmarks, highlighting, and sticky notes, which students can use to improve their reading comprehension.

• JAWS

  JAWS is a screen reader that provides the visually impaired access to a variety of information like navigating the web, reading or writing e-mail messages, or accessing information from a database. JAWS also outputs to the most popular refreshable Braille displays.

• If you would like to know if any of the adaptive software might be useful to you, contact OSD at (858) 534-4382.