Guest post by David Niemeijer of AssistiveWare.
A few years ago, many people complained about the lack of a screen reader on the Mac as the biggest missing assistive technology feature. Apple introduced VoiceOver in 2005 in Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger) putting these complaints to an instant stop.
Following the introduction of VoiceOver a new item surfaced at the top of the wish lists: speech recognition. True, English voice commands had been part of Mac OS for a long time already and third-party developer MacSpeech had a product called iListen, which provided voice dictation. However, neither the built-in speech recognition nor iListen came close to Dragon NaturallySpeaking running on Windows only. After the Intel Macs were introduced and Parallels came up with a way to run Windows inside Mac OS X some people even started running Dragon on Windows in Parallels to dictate and then copied the results over to the Mac-side. That’s how desperate some Mac users were. Earlier this year MacSpeech brought powerful speech recognition to the Mac with its introduction of MacSpeech Dictate, which is powered by the Dragon engine. Case closed.
Now that a built-in screen reader and a powerful speech recognition solution are available, what is the next biggest assistive technology feature missing on Mac OS X? Please share your thoughts on this. Yes, do not hesitate, key Apple people read this blog too, so now is your time to be heard 
- David Niemeijer
When will AssitiveWare make a Morse Code program for the Mac OS-X. I desperately need SOMEONE to do this so I can sequence the Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 2
A big bonus would be to make the new voice “Alex” work with Kurzweil on the Mac!
A way to force programs, particularly games, to run in a window would be nice. I’m not certain how feasible this would be but Apple would certainly be in the best position to offer something like this being that they design the OS. Maybe a preference panel or something.
@richard: while my post was certainly not intended as a means to solicit feedback on what AssistiveWare should do, but on what Apple should do, your point is well taken and it is high on the list for the next major version.
@Michael: I doubt this is an Apple issue. More likely Kurzweil needs to fix something. By the way, Kurzweil 3.0.4 and later should work fine with the Infovox iVox voices. I personally worked on that with them. This gives you access to Ryan, Heather, Laura and their kids Kenny and Nelly. Listen and get fully-functional demos of those voices here: http://www.assistiveware.com/voicedownload.php
@Paul: I have been asking this to Apple for many years. Apparently it is technically very complicated. Even Apple can, for example, not draw a window once a game captures the display. But, I will raise it again. You should also email accessibility at apple.com with this feedback. They do read that box.
Thanks David, I will check out the voices. Right now I am using Cepstral “David” which is not bad. Kurzweil’s tech support was not indicating that this (Alex) was coming anytime soon and, although I expect you are right, kinda pointed the finger at Apple. Hopefully the developers have a different viewpoint.
Though I might be mistaken, I do not believe there is an eyegaze system that runs on Leopard (it is my understanding that there was one for 10.3), so obviously that is a technology that the Mac could benefit from.
Regarding future technology, as soon as neuro-computer interfaces become reliable (where one could manipulate a cursor solely through thought), I would love to see a company bring one to the Mac.
Finally, anything that facilitates gaming for individuals with disabilities is always welcome.
@David: I think MacSpeech Dictate has a fair way to go before it’s a comprehensive solution, even for English. I realise it’s a 1.0.1 product, but at the moment it’s only got basic functions – for example it doesn’t learn as it goes (from corrections) and if I recall rightly it doesn’t even have a spelling mode yet. I have been having trouble getting it to do everything I need – it certainly wouldn’t be sufficient for somebody as a sole input solution.
Hopefully it will incrementally improve as VoiceOver has done, but it’s got a way to go yet.
r
@Richard: Did you see the ControllerMate Morse Code Input post? If morse is your desired main input method it won’t solve all your problems, but it’s a start. And the person who designed it said he’d be happy to elaborate on it if anybody wanted him – to add other commands, etc. It might be worth a try.
r
@Ricky: Thanks for sharing your take on Dictate.
My school is an all Mac network and we were excited when we heard IDictate was starting with Dragon software. We could use this at school to help our students.
Sigh. Many of our students use a PC at home. The commands for Dragon and IDictate are all different. Many of these kiddos have enough trouble remembering. To add at school I say, but at home I say……
It seems to me, universal design should include universal commands.
And ginger software: the write solution, is also working on a mac application.
http://www.gingersoftware.com/
I am working with a blind person who would like an audio download tutorial for OS 10.4, Tiger. If someone knows of something related, any info would be very much appreciated. He now has VoiceOver on 10.4, which is great, and the tutorial for that which was downloaded from this site has been invaluable…thank you!
@Tiana: I’m a bit confused about whether you want the tutorials for 10.4 or not – you said he wants them but he already has them? Sorry, could you clarify the request please?
It would be great if MacSpeech had a profile for seniors. As we age, the clarity of our voice decreases. MacSpeech would be a wonderful tool for my 80 year old father-in-law (he still works )who wants to continue keeping his mind sharp and stay in contact with family. Macular degeneration is stealing his eyesight making keyboards and screens difficult to see. We bought MacSpeech but were disappointed in it’s performance, for it had difficulty recognizing his voice.
His speech is clear to the human ear. Hoping someone has suggestions.