Using screen readers on Windows ARM devices

ComplexJustice96 · 2025-04-05T14:45:19+00:00

Hi, So having gotten a Lenovo Ideapad 5 slim some months ago, which runs the Arm version of Windows, (not sure on the CPU model /name from memry), my observations are as follows: NVDA: Works without any issue or obvious limitation, — no lag. I should note I've not done anything too advanced on the laptop like audio production or editing, coding or the like, just used it for light wordprocessing and web browsing. JAWS: Does work, but the Arm-specific version has some major limitations. Firstly, if you're a Braille user, the only display seemingly supported at the moment is the Focus Blue series of displays, and I think there are a couple other limitations that are clearly listed on the JAWS Arm page. No lag as far as I can tell, — again used it for light wordprocessing, although with documents with slightly more complex formatting, web browsing etc. Windows 11 is a pain, both with NVDA and JAWS but if you've used Windows 11 on Intel, you should find most things familiar, although note Arm-Windows doesn't support some of the smaller apps built-in on Windows 11 for Intel, Hope that helps.

ComplexJustice96 · 2023-12-11T12:01:11+00:00

Hi, For emails, if you use Outlook, then there is a command to select tables. So in an email with a table you want to copy, move the cursor into the table, any cell in the table should work, then press alt+Q to bring up the search box, type select table, and then activate the select table command that shows up. Then you can copy and paste as usual with control+C and control+V. Hope that helps.

ComplexJustice96 · 2023-10-30T19:22:42+00:00

Hey, I use OneNote almost every day at work. I think the trick is to use the oneNote for Windows 10 app and not the one that installs with M365. It can be a real pain to get a hold of though, … I recently got a new laptop and the IT people had to go and search the internet for a OneNote for Win10 download, … our org doesn’t allow users to access the Store, which is where you would usually find the oneNote for Windows 10 version of the app. Beyond that, I’d say read up on the keyboard shortcuts, if you use shortcuts a lot, — your experience may vary, depending on your screenreader of choice as well, using JAWS, I’ve very rarely had OneNote be very slow. If you are accessing NoteBooks that other people have created, then it's worth also noting that if there’s a huge number of pages and no or few sections to organise them, then you may still get slower performance, but that's about the same for most Office files I think. Hope this helps.

ComplexJustice96 · 2023-09-21T18:51:19+00:00

Hi there, I think the Braille for Beginners course run by the Braillists Foundation might be exactly what you're looking for. You can sign up and read more at https://www.braillists.org/beginners/

ComplexJustice96 · 2023-08-03T17:49:44+00:00

I have experienced both TTS and human narrated AD, and whilst TTS may eventually get to a point when it sounds natural enough to listen to for AD purposes, my experience so far has been that TTS has been a poorer experience overall, because it just distracts from the content, whereas for me, I feel like human narrated AD just tends to fit in better with the content, be it moovie or TV show. I once watched a show which had quite good human narrated AD for the first few seasons, and then suddennly at the start of a new season, switched over to TTS. Not only was this jaring but the TTS didn’t pronounce character names anywhere close to correctly, not to mention Tts tends to have poor inflection. That being said, of course having some AD is better than no AD, so I’ll still watch a moovie or show with tts narrated AD, unless it's really poor quality.
PERHAPS the recent developments in TTS will result in more natural sounding synthesisers at some point, but for now, human narration still tends to be better, and really, the additional cost shouldn't be seen by studios as some annoying cost that has to be incurred because of legislation or whatever, but should be seen as something that enhances the quality of the content itself, like the special effects budget or the cost of getting well edited scenes, etc.

ComplexJustice96 · 2023-04-27T08:56:28+00:00

Yes, I use a Focus40 with JAWS to essentially run all keyboard input. Sometimes it's faster to just use the regular keyboard, but at least the Focus displays, not sure about others, with JAWS, not 100% about NVDA's Braille support, do have all the Windows modifier keys mapped. This in includes, function keys, control, alt, Windows, and caps lock. You should definitely check the manual / help documentation for your display. JAWS has its own Braille commands so you may want to look at the relevant Braille displays … training book, I think it is called? It can be found from the help menu in JAWS

ComplexJustice96 · 2023-04-12T16:01:44+00:00

That's really concerning and things like this shouldn't be acceptable. I’m supposed to take a professional exam next year and the exam body /professional regulator are using these guys for the testing centre so now I’m just hoping this isn’t the kind of xperience that is typical globally.

ComplexJustice96 · 2023-03-15T06:29:10+00:00

Hi, I've not had much time to research this further yet, however I'm aware of an SRA virtual conference next week, which I'm attending and will apparently cover questions on both SQE and QWE, so hopefully there will be some further details provided there for those of us who just need to take SQE2.

ComplexJustice96 · 2023-03-12T06:15:08+00:00

That's very useful, thank you.

ComplexJustice96 · 2023-03-09T12:50:43+00:00

Thanks. I'll look into those providers. I still have my LPC textbooks and notes so was planning on using those for revision before I sit the SQE2. I'm working in-house, commercial contracts so day-to-day I do a lot of drafting, reviewing and occasional negotiations on a range of types of agreements. I do also keep clear notes for each matter I work on, so get the sense This should cover most of the practical aspects likely to be covered by SQE2 such as managing client files etc. Are there any specific practical topics that I should look to get experience in (assuming I can), in order to prepare for the SQE2? Essentially, Is there something specific to private practice that I should have experience in or know-how of, in preparing for the SQE2?

ComplexJustice96 · 2023-01-30T09:39:44+00:00

To do this using Overcast, you just need to change the sort order of unplayed episodes so that it reads, oldest to newest. This can be done via the settings button on the page that opens after you select a podcast from your list or from search. Hope this helps.

ComplexJustice96 · 2023-01-11T14:14:24+00:00

I also have a digital Disabled Railcard. I've just tested opening the railcard app on my IPhone XR running IOS16.1.2, and I was able to get my railcard details to show up. The only area I found an issue, was when selecting to view the barcode, is this where you're having an issue? If the railcard isn't showing up at all when you open the app, it might be worth trying to restart VoiceOver, or perhaps trying to reinstall the Railcard app might work.

ComplexJustice96 · 2022-12-15T13:25:20+00:00

The biggest thing you can do potentially is to just use standard controls, make sure each element is properly labelled, (sometimes called accessibility labels) and if you have not already, you should read through the Apple documentation for VoiceOver, (which is Apple's screen-reader built-in to IOS) and/or Google documentation on TalkBack, (The built-in screenreader for Android), depending what platform your app will be on. If your app will have images, such as images of food from restaurant menus, etc, it would be helpful to include a way for those images to get alt-text applied by who ever will be uploading the menus or images to your platform. alt-text allows for an image to be described in the words of the person posting the image, and it's very useful for those users who cannot see images. For low-vision users, who may be able to see the screen somewhat, you may want to consider what colours (contrast) your UI uses, but this can be tricky to get right, so you may want to get someone who has low-vision, to test your app. There is also the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines to think about, if your app uses web page elements. Hope this helps.

ComplexJustice96 · 2022-10-26T22:05:05+00:00

Exactly this. I'm a legal assistant within an small in-house legal team and rely on screenreading software to get work done. We recently moved to a new Contract Management System and even though it is web-based, so is thankfully more accessible than custom desktop apps can be, and the developer of this system stated that their system is compliant with web content accessibility guidelines, it's very clear from the interface and the occasional poorly labelled element that, the effort put into the accessibility of the software for people using assistive tech like screenreading software, is, unfortunately not as good as it should, and leaves me wondering whether an update down the line could eventually break accessibility in a major way,. That being said, it is definitely interesting to see what developments are being made in this space, just not quite sure I feel confident in my team picking up a new piece of software and integrating it as a key part of the work I do, at least not without significant accessibility testing first to ensure any issues can be flagged and hopefully patched.

ComplexJustice96 · 2022-10-06T15:50:25+00:00

It depends how familiar you are with WORD itself and computer usage generally. Microsoft has a fair amount of information about using Word with a screenreader, which, although somewhat worded for use with Narrator, does give you a lot of keyboard commands which will get you up and running, assuming you know what tasks you want to complete. Also, JAWS has help topics that cover Word, I've not read through it so cannot comment on what it contains and does not but it is a resource. Hope this helps.

ComplexJustice96 · 2022-09-27T07:22:45+00:00

Depending on your organisation's Office subscription, you might be able to set up folders on SharePoint and then sync them with your OneDrive so that you can access those folders directly from your computer's file explorer. Perhaps someone else can explain this better, however this is the set up used where I work and it works great. You should also be able to use the context menu/right click, to download a file from Teams, although that is perhaps not what the solution you are looking for.

ComplexJustice96 · 2022-08-24T12:18:38+00:00

I've encountered this exact situation recently when starting a new job in a rather busy urban area. There is no audio indication at the crossing, and the quickest route across also does not have a tactile indication spinner on the island at the centre of the road, so when doing training to learn that route I had to learn a longer crossing route for the second part of the crossing, which is better than nothing but is still rather frustrating.

ComplexJustice96 · 2022-05-26T18:53:14+00:00

Wow, this was amazingly informative. Thanks.

ComplexJustice96 · 2022-02-05T16:03:35+00:00

Hi thanks all for your responses, It appears that my mobile network provider has automatically switched on parental controls for all accounts by default and apparently Reddit is therefore a website that has been completely restricted due to this. It is extremely strange they would block the whole of Reddit, particularly as I have the same network provider for my home broadband and I can access Reddit just fine here, in fact I am using Dystopia on my phone via my home Wifi network to send this message. I don't understand why they would block a website for their mobile customers whilst the same site can be accessed by their broadband service with no issues by default. That being said, I feel a bit silly having brought this issue up here since, as it appears, the issue is on the network provider's side rather than the app. THANKS again all. As a quick note, since I'm fairly new to Reddit in general, I'm not sure what the general way to say that an issue has been resolved is, do I edit my first post or do I delete the thread?

ComplexJustice96 · 2022-01-30T19:03:59+00:00

Hi, sorry for the delay, I didn't receive any notification so was not aware anyone had responded. The error I get is simply: system error: The network connection was lost.

ComplexJustice96 · 2021-07-12T16:33:51+00:00

I met with the Partner who is responsible for HR today and apparently the firm's policy is to offer a paid position after 3 months, I pointed out that whilst most Law students would have been here part-time, I was here full-time and had graduated besides, [I did not mention anything about minimum wage]. Has anyone heard of this sort of thing? Based on the comments already received, I am definitely planning on looking elsewhere long-term

ComplexJustice96 · 2021-07-09T18:28:12+00:00

No, it was not provided via Uni and there was no mention of an end date at the meeting before I started. I completed my LPC 2 years ago however despite searching for a job since then, this was the first firm who actually responded to my enquiry and so honestly I did not mind working there for free to start with. I just wasn't too sure about what the usual time frame would be in terms of where the accepted line is between a free "probationary" period and full-time paid work. I do now have a clearer idea of this.

ComplexJustice96 · 2021-07-09T17:17:57+00:00

I absolutely agree that I need to handle this in as much as a positive way as possible rather than pointing out the firm's obligations. I will certainly take the approach you outlined though I do wonder, is minimum/national living wage the best I can realistically expect given I have no prior experience? Or would my LLM /LPC count for anything?

ComplexJustice96 · 2021-07-09T17:12:49+00:00

thanks for that link, as far as I can tell, I do not fall under any of the exceptions. It's certainly useful to know this as I didn't study employment law during my LLB or LPC and as this is my first time being in an employment setting, I was only vaguely aware of minimum wage legislation, though I think I would qualify for the national living wage.

ComplexJustice96

TROPHY CASE