Help for a blind friend

[Haworth, Michael A.]

OK, I know that this is a LUG, and not a M$ group, but I have a problem and everyone here is more resourceful than anyone else...

I have a blind friend who has been using Windows XP and Outlook Express 6 for years with no problems. Recently she moved and switched service from Comcast to AT&T uVerse (BIG mistake). The tech that set up her computer to use the new POP and SMTP servers had no clue what he was doing and totally fracked her setup. I have managed to recover all of her emails, but her UI is screwed to pieces (remember - blind - not easy for her to adapt to something that she can't see...). AT&T says that she needs to transition to their webmail solution, that it would "let her have better access to her email and it would look the same no matter where she accessed it from" - I am disgusted by people that only know the scripted answers!

Now for the question - is there another mail client out there that is friendly to blind people (supports tabbing and arrow navigation between windows and fields), supports JAWS (text-to-speech app for Windows that uses MS Active Accessibility), and can be configured to meet her needs...

OR

My Google-foo seems to be weak in this area - Is there a distro of Linux specifically made with blind people in mind?

I have been speaking with her about giving Linux a spin, and am currently working on acquiring the hardware necessary to get her up and running, but she is extremely leery of change (primarily because of her lack of vision). I know that Linux would allow me to use Festival, Orca or KMouth, and that it's much more flexible in what it would allow her to do - I am being cautious though. She has found some other people in the support group that she is part of that use Linux and is haring some really good stuff...

Any help on the immediate need of replacing Outlook with something more configurable (I have tried Thunderbird - her reader app didn't get along with it) would be appreciated. It might be that there is no way of doing it and I have to tell her that I can't help her on the Windows side, if that is the case then I will have to do it...

Thanks in advance for any advice/guidance/help.


Michael Haworth


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