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In late June, the United States Postal Service (USPS) began offering more accessible at-home COVID-19 tests to people with vision loss who could not take at-home tests using another method. Tests pair with a companion mobile app to provide accessible instructions and results. 12 tests will be provided per order. If you would like to order these tests, you can either order on this page or call 1-800-232-0233. Stay tuned, as we will be bringing you an article taking a deeper look at these tests in the AccessWorld issue after this one, courtesy of AccessWorld author Bill Holton.

Sincerely,

Aaron Preece, AccessWorld Editor and Chief

This article is made possible in part by generous funding from the James H. and Alice Teubert Charitable Trust, Huntington, West Virginia.

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Janet Ingber

On June 6, 2022, Apple held its annual WWDC event, online due to Covid. In the keynote presentation, new operating systems and their new features were introduced. For this article, be aware that even if your device is supported, older models might not be able to use all the new features.

Apps that work on multiple devices, such as Mail and Safari, will be discussed in the Mac section of this article.

iOS 16

The iPhone 8 or newer can use iOS 16. iPads launched in fall 2015 or later, that have at least an A9X processor, can use iPadOS 16.

Lock Screen

The new Lock Screen will be customizable and you will be able to create multiple lock screens. Swipe left or right to choose the one you want at a specific time. You can choose to add photos and widgets here.

Notifications will be located at the bottom of the screen instead of the top. You will be able to hide them. With Apple’s Live Activities feature, such as when watching a sporting event, instead of having multiple notifications, the notification will update in real time.

You can have Focuses on your lock screen. All settings for each specific Focus will be there. Since you can have multiple lock screens, you can create different Focuses. Focus filters can help you avoid distracting content. If you are low vision, there are new visual options for the screen including fonts and colors. There will be a new wallpaper gallery. With the new photo shuffle feature, you can have different photos displayed at different times.

Messages

You will be able to edit any message you just sent. The new Undo Send feature will let you call back a message you just sent. Any message thread can be marked as Unread, so you can be sure to come back to it later. SharePlay has now been added to Messages. In iOS 16, Apple has added parental controls in the Messages app. For example, if your child requests more screen time, you can respond to the request directly from the Messages app. You must be managing the child’s phone to do this. Apple said it will be easier to set up a child’s new device.

Dictation

iOS 16 integrates typing text and dictating text. You will be able to bring up the keyboard and use both the keyboard and your voice. Dictation will add punctuation and you can dictate which emoji you want to add. This also works when sending a message with Siri.

Live Text

Live Text was introduced in iOS 15. Now you can stop a video on a specific frame and interact with the text. Apple has added Quick Actions with Live Text. You will be able to use Live Text from within the Translate app.

When you tap and hold on an image, you can place it in apps such as Messages.

Wallet

Additional U.S. states are working on accepting ID using Wallet. Some TSA checkpoints do so already. You will be able to present ID securely for apps requiring identification.

Key sharing will work with Mail, Messages, and WhatsApp. A key can be sent from your wallet to a chosen recipient. If the recipient does not have an iPhone, Apple is working to make sharing keys available for them as well.

Apple Pay will support contactless payments with Tap to Pay on iPhone. With Apple Pay Later, if you purchase something with Apple Pay, you can spread the cost into four payments rather than paying at once. There are no additional charges for this feature. You will have up to six weeks to complete your payments. Payments are managed through Wallet. Apple Pay Later is available from any merchant who accepts Apple Pay.

Apple Pay Order Tracking sends receipts, order status, and tracking directly to Wallet. If you have a transit card in Wallet, you can now find out its balance and reload it directly from Wallet.

Maps

In iOS 16, Maps will support multi-stop routing. Up to 15 stops can be added. Routes can be planned on the Mac and then be sent to your iPhone. Previous routes will be located in the Recents section. Users will have the ability to find prices of public transportation. Transit cards can be stored in Wallet. If more money needs to go on a card, you will receive an alert. You can reload the card without exiting Maps.

Privacy

A new feature of iOS 16 is a tool called Safety Check in a new section in Settings. Safety Check lets the user review and reset the access given to other people. This includes location and passwords. At WWDC, the presenter spoke about how this can help people in abusive relationships quickly stop sharing location, passwords, and other information.

Security

Security updates will be sent to your iOS device as they are available. You will not need to do a complete download and install.

Fitness

The fitness app will be on the iPhone with iOS 16. It will use the phone’s motion sensors to track steps, flights climbed, and distance. You can also track workouts from apps. Your phone will use the data to give an estimate of your active calories.

Spotlight

In iOS 16, a search button will be located on the bottom of the Home screen. Additional information about Spotlight is presented in the Mac section of this article.

Quick Note

Quick Note will be available on iPhones.

iPadOS 16

In addition to iOS 16, the iPad has software specifically designed for the iPad.

Collaboration

Collaboration lets users work together on a document or similar project across different devices. Apps that can use this feature include Messages and FaceTime. The new operating systems for iOS and macOS will get these features.

Freeform

This is a new feature where people can collaborate in real time. It is essentially a giant white board. People can add photos, text, and can even draw on the white board with Apple Pencil and other supported tools. It will be available for iOS, iPad OS, and Mac later this year.

Miscellaneous new features

Customizable toolbars in iPadOS 16. Stage Manager in iPadOS 16. This feature is described in the Mac section. The Weather app will be on the iPad.

WatchOS 9

The following Apple watches can use watchOS 9: Series 4, Series 5, Se, Series 6, and Series 7.

New Faces

The Apple watch will have some new watch faces including a Lunar watch face which has support for Hebrew, Islamic, and Chinese. More watch faces will have room for complications.

Fitness

The workout app has added new metrics for runners. Some of the metrics can be used with other workouts such as high intensity interval training (HIIT) and hiking.

Sleep

In watchOS 9, Sleep stages will be recorded. The watch’s accelerometer and heart rate data will be used to determine which stage you are in. Information is presented on how much time is spent in each stage and when you have woken up.

The iPhone’s Health app will contain additional information about your sleep.

Medication App

The Medication app will let you track medications, vitamins, and supplements, including those you take occasionally. You can receive notifications when it is time for your next dose.

Use this feature by typing a product’s name on your iPhone and then select it. Another option is to scan the item’s label. When you add a new item, you will be notified if there is a drug interaction with anything else you have recorded.

Atrial Fibrillation

If you have been diagnosed with a heart ailment called atrial fibrillation (AFib), your watch can notify you if you are in AFib and how long it is lasting. Apple has not yet received final approval from the FDA for this feature.

Apple Podcast App

The Podcast app will have several new capabilities including searching for podcasts and playing streaming episodes. Parental controls will be available for the app.

Mac

The new operating system for the Mac is macOS 13 Ventura. Visit this page for a list of Macs which can use this version of the operating system.

New Chip and New Mac

Apple introduced its new M2 chip and a new, thinner, and lighter MacBook Air. The new M2 chip will be available on the new MacBook Air and the 13 inch MacBook Pro. The M2 chip makes these computers significantly faster. According to Apple, these two computers will be available in July 2022. The current MacBook Air will still be available with the M1 chip starting at $999. The new MacBook Air with the M2 chip starts at $1199. The MacBook Pro with the M2 chip starts at $1299.

Stage Manager

This new feature will be located in the Control Center. It focuses on whichever app is currently in use and puts other open apps off to the side. If you change to a different app, it will be moved to the “stage” and the previous app will move off to the side. If an app has multiple windows open, Stage Manager displays all the windows in a group, and you select the window you want.

Spotlight

Spotlight has added many new features. When on a result, press the spacebar to get more information without going into the result. Images can be found in new places including the web and Live Text. There are new actions that can be performed within Spotlight such as setting a timer and running a shortcut. More information will be displayed in the results list.

Mail

The Undo Send feature will be in Apple Mail. You will be able to schedule when an email should be sent. Mail will give follow-up instructions if an email you sent has not received a response. The Remind Me feature lets you know when it is time to come back to a specific email.

The Search feature in Mail will show recently shared documents and links. If you don’t spell the search query correctly, Mail will give search results for the correct spelling.

Safari

In macOS Ventura, you will be able to share tabs with others and at the same time they can share tabs with you.

Passkeys

A Passkey is designed to take the place of a password and to only work on the website where it was created. Passkeys can be created with Touch ID or Face ID. The passkey never leaves your device. Passkeys also can be used in apps. Once a passkey is created, it will sync on the iPhone, Mac, iPad, and Apple TV through Keychain. Apple has been working with industry leaders, including Google and Microsoft, to insure Passkey works across platforms.

iCloud Photo Sharing

You can share a folder of photos or just one photo. This can be done directly rather than attaching to a message or email.

Continuity

You can hand off calls to any of your devices. iPhone’s web camera can be used as your Mac’s webcam for FaceTime or any other Mac video conferencing app such as Zoom and Webex. You will need to purchase a stand to hold your iPhone and connect to your Mac. Stands should be available later this year. Nothing was said about the cost.

Spatial Audio

With Apple’s spatial audio, you will be able to create your specific profile using the true depth camera. The true depth camera is on iPhone 10 and later.

Home

Apple has redesigned the Home app. They are working to make more products compatible with HomeKit.

What’s Next

Public betas for Apple’s new operating systems will be released in July, 2022. Final versions will be released in the fall.

This article is made possible in part by generous funding from the James H. and Alice Teubert Charitable Trust, Huntington, West Virginia.

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DEBORAH KENDRICK

If you are a consumer of audio description, chances are you have already encountered her work. Nefertiti Matos Olivares is immersing herself in all things audio description these days. She has written it, narrated it, reviewed work by others, and built a network of friends and colleagues who care about audio description as much as she does. For someone who made the career change just over a year ago, she has had some pretty heady successes already and undoubtedly moving toward more. Hers is a story I wanted to know, and am eager to share with you.

Nefertiti Matos Olivares loves her work, loves her family, and loves life. That's not a particularly unusual trio of personal preferences, but the particular roads leading her to these realizations are, well, undeniably inspiring.

Who is Nefertiti?

Proudly Latina, Nefertiti is a first generation American born to Dominican parents. She identifies herself as a person who is blind and lives with chronic illness,, but there is no pathos or regret in the labels. They are just facts she openly reports about herself, like her heritage and her flair for art and drama. Blind since age three, Nefertiti’s early education was in the schools for the blind in the Bronx. Her family lived in Manhattan, and the programs for blind students in the Bronx were her best match at the time. She missed the experience of being with sighted classmates until attending college, she says, and had some definite gaps in her education, particularly with regard to math and science. On the other hand, she is quick to point out that had she been the only blind student in a public school, she may well have missed the enriching experiences of being a cheerleader, a track star, and a member of the swim team. She got that mainstream experience of being with sighted peers when it came time for college, but that experience was interrupted by illness. She was only 19 when She dropped out of college and into dialysis treatments when it became apparent that she desperately needed a kidney transplant. Eventually, she was diagnosed as a Type I diabetic, which was the probable cause of the failing kidneys. Many family members were tested for kidney donation. Her mother was the best match and the transplant was successful. Fifteen years later, however, that kidney has failed, and Nefertiti is on a transplant wait list again, this time for both kidney and pancreas. Later, as an adult student, Nefertiti returned to college, earned her bachelor of arts degree, and worked for seven years as an access technology instructor with the New York Public Library.

Career Change

She is a lifelong reader and writer of braille, and at 36, a lifelong user of access technology. After seven years as an access technology instructor, she was ready to try something new. She loved audio description, and had always been drawn to the arts -- writing, acting, creating. Maybe she wasn't meant to be on the Broadway stage, she determined, but on the audio stage. She loved audio description, and often noted the characteristics that made one description or narration stand out more than another. She set up a home recording studio, obtained a voice coach and, best of all, has been happier and more financially secure since changing direction a year ago than ever before.

Into the Closet

Sparked by long searching conversations with those closest to her, a plan to investigate working in the field of audio description emerged. Nefertiti was already working from home, as we all were due to the pandemic_ as an assistive technology instructor for the library. Through social media, she built her audio description network. She learned from professionals she admired and from others who were just getting started as she was. She enrolled in a voice over training program, got a voice coach, and did all of it remotely, using her familiar technological tools. She received her voice-over training, produced some demos in English and Spanish, and when she got the first gig, she was ready with her improvised home studio.

Living in New York City, space is scarce for everyone. Nefertiti fashioned a perfect little recording studio in her closet. With a wedge seat, collapsible tray table, laptop, microphone, and mixer, her tiny space is soundproofed by hanging clothes and close walls. When she is reading a script from a braille display, that comes into the closet studio with her. Alternatively, if she’s reading from hard copy braille, that comes in. Most often, she is reading by careful repetition. Setting her screen reader, Jaws, to a slower speed than her usual listening pace, she is able to repeat in natural cadences the script as she hears it. It’s a skill that takes practice, but as she has used it for many commercials, documentaries, and audio descriptive tracks, it is a method that works well for her.

Getting the work and getting it done

Networking with others involved in audio description has been key in getting the work. She has done voiceover work for ads and promotions, and audio description narration for videos, trailers, and more. She was the author of the audio description narration for a short documentary “Say His Name: Five Days for George Floyd,” which was voiced by another blind audio description professional, Thomas Reid.

When I caught up with her for this article, she was riding high on the excitement of having just completed recording the audio description narration for  “Halftime,” a documentary featuring Jennifer Lopez that will open the Tribeca Film Festival on June 8, and become available for streaming on Netflix June 14.

So how does a blind person describe a program for others when she can’t see it herself? When Roy Samuelson, renowned audio describer and advocate, presented the proposal which included Nefertiti as writer of the script for “Say His Name,” for example, a visual assistant was factored into the budget. When that happens, she hires a trusted person to help her see the film. She times the gaps, pauses where bits of description can be fit into the audio, and then writes the script accordingly. When she doesn’t hire a particular person, she says, she can use a visual assistance service, such as AIRA to get the needed information.

Using familiar tools such as Microsoft Word or Excel, she works through a script, noting the amount of time available and where it is located in the film. She then writes the needed description to fit the available space.

When she is working as a narrator, she uses whichever method – braille display, hard copy braille, or echoing lines spoken by the screen reader through her headset. For the “Halftime,” documentary, for instance, because she was traveling to a professional studio to record, she produced hard copy braille before leaving home and arrived with braille script in hand. She is particularly proud of the “Halftime” project for multiple reasons. It was the first time she was called upon to record outside her home studio, but more importantly, as a Latina herself, she was thrilled to be chosen to narrate the descriptive track for a documentary highlighting the career of perhaps the most wildly popular Latina of our era, Jennifer Lopez.

Future Releases

Sometimes, getting your dream job means creating it yourself. In a sense, that is what Nefertiti Matos Olivares has done. She had a job that was filling a need, teaching other blind and low vision people to use assistive technology, but it had run its course for her and her dream of engaging in work that tapped her artistic talents was awakened and beckoning. By connecting who she knew with what she knew, reaching out to others involved with audio description, she managed to get the training and opportunities she needed, and is now completely engaged as an audio description and voice-over professional. In just a little more than a year, she has already landed plenty of assignments, ranging in length and genre, and she is elated to be doing work that brings joy to her and to others. If you listen to those credits voiced at the end of audio-described productions, the likelihood of your hearing the name Nefertiti Matos Olivares as writer or narrator is steadily growing.

This article is made possible in part by generous funding from the James H. and Alice Teubert Charitable Trust, Huntington, West Virginia.

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Sylvia Stinson-Perez

One of the highlights and most popular sessions during the 2022 American Foundation for the Blind Leadership Conference was an interactive Ideathon, facilitated by JPMorgan Chase. As part of JPMorgan Chase’s initiatives to build technology solutions for nonprofit organizations, AFB team members worked with the JPMorgan Chase Tech for Social Good team for several months to develop an ideation statement that incorporated the Leadership Conference theme of inclusion at work. There was great enthusiasm and engagement in this Day 1 activity, and much discussion followed. AFB plans to continue the conversation and work with those who committed to create more inclusion at work.

The below describes the process, and provides many of the direct statements provided during the Ideathon.

Ideation Statement:

Despite the efforts of many organizations attempting to make their products accessible, users often find challenges using these products, whether in daily life or during employment. How can we ensure that organizations understand and address the gap between accessibility and usability of their products?

Ideation Context:

Knowing that accessibility and usability are different, and we need both to create real inclusion particularly regarding digital inclusion, how do we best identify these gaps? Accessibility is an ever-present need in our society.  For example, accessibility is needed when we go to the doctor, work, learn, use devices to check our health, cook, etc.

However, many products and services remain inaccessible, and many of us use, rather than create, these products.

As employers, businesses, organizations, policy makers, and as individuals, how can we push for a more accessible world?

The AFB Leadership Conference 2022 “Ideathon”

Attendees were assigned to diverse groups of 4-8 people representing participants in the AFB Blind Leaders Program, government, nonprofit, and corporate sectors. Groups were asked to spend approximately 45 minutes discussing and answering the following questions, and then to submit these to a Google form for further analysis. Time was spent at the end of the general session sharing themes from group participants.

Ideation Steps:

2. • Define usability.
3. • Define accessibility. What does accessibility mean to your group? How does usability play a role in your description?
4. • Applying your definition(s), identify areas (products, experiences, or even places, etc.) that need improvement.
5. • How can we improve those things? Be it in the form of redesigning experiences, new public policy, or otherwise, remember the following questions: How do we ensure that organizations provide fully accessible products with empathy for their users? What are the best ways to hold these organizations accountable? What can we do starting today?

There were 27 submissions, with many common themes. The below represent key trends in responses.

Defining “usability”

“Practical, functional, intuitive.”

“We see usability as a culture and mindset shift. It embraces inclusion and focuses on a user-centric approach, rather than a compliance-focused approach. It answers the questions, “Will I use it, is it seamless, frictionless and will I recommend it and come back?”

“From a user’s viewpoint, you can actually use it. Not just access, but meaningful access. Access that is continuous all the way through the process. Changing and adapting the accessibility so it can meet the needs of anyone who uses it.”

“The idea that it should not take a disabled person additional time to use a service or product than it would a nondisabled person.”

“Usability is the ability for a person to operate or function as the item is intended for use. The workflow should be effective for the user. A user should have a basic level of competency but not have to be an expert to use it.”

“A product, etc. is usable if a person can use the product to fully accomplish what the product is intended for. For example, an appliance is usable if I can successfully use all the features on the appliance, for at least all the functions it’s designed to do.”

Accessibility vs. Usability

“Usability is the practical application of accessibility.”

“Accessibility is the minimum legal standard required. Many items are technically accessible but not practically usable.”

“Truly universal design means accessibility is "baked in" from origin, has been trialed with a truly diverse spectrum of users in their everyday lives, Accessibility should include long-term accessibility in real conditions, without putting the burden of the use onto the consumer. "I can access it when I want, where and how."

How can we increase accessibility, usability and inclusion?

“Make accessibility part of the culture and brand attributes of the company. Require vendors to be aligned on accessibility goals. Push for consistent disability data to allow entities to partner.”

“Inclusion and representation of the end user needs to be part of the development, testing, and implementation of the item, program, services and THEN issues addressed. The company needs to be intentional about making items both accessible and user friendly beyond a regulation.”

“Product developers need to increase user testing, education, and Systemic support for incorporating the feedback.

"Ignite a mindset shift and evolution of culture. Let go of assumptions, lead with empathy and turn inclusion into action. Hire people with disabilities to be a part of these product, design and development teams to design “with” them, not for them. Ensure usability testing is a key part of the end-to-end process, and talk to users with disabilities to design products and experiences that enhance their life, and meet them where they are, for a seamless integration."

“In public policy, we should "mandate the result, not the method. Federally-funded should include requirement for usability, not just bare-minimum accessibility.”

Creating influence to increase inclusion

“Change DEI to DEIA initiatives. Include “accessibility.”

“People with disabilities also have onus to provide feedback to developers on their experiences, ensuring that they are also included in design.”

“Present information that increasing accessibility will help the bottom line. Statistics show that including everyone will make them more money. Let them know that they can reach specific disability communities that are currently untapped by making their products and services accessible.

“Make it easier to communicate to the company to address issues / facilitate communication by having effective methods to encourage communication and feedback and then following up to ensure addressed. A company should not just delegate accessibility but have accessibility and usability as an active part of the operation and policy of the organization. Do not overlay accessibility and usability after the fact. It must be in the design.”

Next steps

“Disability needs to be in every conversation around Diversity and Inclusion. Strengthen the laws and enforcement with community involvement and awareness.”

“Encourage people with disabilities to disclose their disability so their needs can be included.”

“Centralize budgets in workplace, only procure accessible products in our workplace, create safe spaces for people to ask questions and learn — share vulnerabilities across teams so people with disabilities also feel safe in sharing their needs, educate ourselves; create centralized accommodation function.”

“Build in ways to gather customer feedback to improved products in terms of usability and accessibility.”

“Highlight wins in the industry, create policies, awards, and white papers that leverage data to show the positive impact.”

Summary and next steps

Disability and accessibility were discussed in context of Diversity and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives, with several individuals noting that disability and accessibility need to be represented in every DEI conversation and initiative. Understanding the difference between usability and accessibility is critical to ensuring true inclusion of people who are blind in the design of technology and the products/services that help someone live their daily life. There is a significant difference between accessibility and the ability to efficiently and effectively use a product, technology, website, or appliance. There was agreement that accessibility and usability work best when it is considered at the design stage. Individuals who are blind also need to have an accessible way to provide feedback to their peers and employers. Finally, product testing by consumers will help ensure that products and technologies are not only accessible, but also usable-which will result in a true return on investment for companies as they will build a loyal customer base.

This article is made possible in part by generous funding from the James H. and Alice Teubert Charitable Trust, Huntington, West Virginia.

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Jamie Pauls

My wife of almost 23 years is a photographer. She owns the biggest, baddest iPhone they make and has taken over 60,000 photos and videos since 2014 which, amazingly enough, always transfer to her newest phone via iCloud every time she upgrades. I, on the other hand, love all things audio. I enjoy making music, listening to high quality audio, and even editing that audio to make it sound as good as I possibly can. Over the years, I’ve played with various pieces of software that work to varying degrees with my screen reading software. Some audio editing programs have been relatively inexpensive, while some have been quite pricey. Over the past five or six years, I have increasingly come to appreciate a particular piece of audio editing software called Reaper.

Reaper is open-source software which means that people are able to make contributions that shape the direction of the program. Because of this, blind people, in close collaboration with Cockos, the developers of Reaper, have been able to write a plugin called Osara that adds a number of keyboard actions to Reaper as well as making the product speak in ways it might not otherwise. Reaper runs on both Windows and Mac, and is equally accessible on both platforms.

Although it is possible to use Reaper free forever with just a few reminders to pay for the product, the $60 U.S. is well worth the money for anyone who truly makes use of the product. Whether you are a professional musician, a singer, or someone editing podcasts for others, the sky is pretty much the limit for anyone using Reaper.

Reaper is a nondestructive editor, which means that pretty much any edit you make to a piece of audio can be undone. Once you get a piece of audio the way you like it, you can then “render” your Reaper project as a file that can be played by anyone. Examples of files to which a project might be rendered include MP3 and FLAC, just to name a couple.

Reaper is also a multitrack editor, which means that you can add many layers of sound to a project whether it be birds, rain, wind, and water, or many instruments playing your original composition. You can add effects such as reverb to your project, and manipulate it in a seemingly endless number of ways.

The downside of using Reaper is that with power comes complexity. Until you play with the program a lot, it is easy to forget what you have learned. You will most certainly make some mistakes, and probably some really ugly edits, until you get the hang of things. Fortunately, you don’t have to learn to use Reaper on your own, and you don’t have to learn from YouTube videos that feature presenters who have no idea what a screen reader is, let alone how to explain concepts in a way that a blind person can make sense of.

The Internet radio Station The Global Voice has recently launched a series of audio training modules called Reaper Made Easy. Although free to all, anyone is welcome to contribute monetarily if they are able and would like to help expand the content that is currently on the site. The training modules are produced by experienced Reaper users in the blind community who are able to explain concepts from the definition of a DAW—digital audio workstation –to how to install Reaper and get it up and running. Instructions are provided for both Mac and Windows users.

In addition to the Reaper Made Easy site, you can also visit the Reaper Accessibility Website. This site is a Wiki, which means that the site receives regular contributions from experienced users. This is a great resource for starting from the ground floor as far as learning to use Reaper is concerned. Once you become comfortable with the basics, you can move on to more advanced articles of interest to you depending on how you intend to use Reaper, regardless of your operating system of choice. Many people use Reaper on both Windows and Mac, transferring projects from one computer to another for convenient editing.

Another great resource is the Reapers Without Peepers email list. This is a very high-traffic list, but it is well moderated. Although the list owner keeps subjects on topic, Reaper is such a powerful piece of software that many areas of discussion are permitted.

Finally, Brian Hartgen has produced a training course entitled Reaping the Benefits! Using Reaper Audio Workstation, OSARA and JAWS for Windows. The course costs $112 U.S. and consists of nine lessons. Brian’s course does not discuss Reaper using a Mac, nor does it talk about the use of Reaper with the NVDA Windows screen reader. Finally, Brian’s course does not discuss using Reaper for music production, but only audio editing. If you are someone who is not interested in music production, primarily works in Windows and uses JAWS as your screen reader of choice, this course might do the job for you. Brian will present all information in one place without the need for you to do any looking around on your own, but keep in mind that the other resources mentioned above are free. The Reapers Without Peepers community can provide personal paid training if someone requests it.

The Reapers Without Peepers (RWP) moderator can also provide you with access to a shared Dropbox folder that contains a ton of great content from tutorials to examples of audio and music produced with Reaper as well as information about virtual instruments and audio interfaces that work with Reaper.

The Bottom Line

For anyone who is serious about producing high-quality audio using software whose developers are truly interested in making their product accessible to the blind, Reaper is a great program to consider. Making Reaper even more appealing, there are a number of high-quality training resources, both free and paid, that can help you learn Reaper as a blind person. At $60, Reaper is affordably priced for most, and provides a 60-day trial period before you are asked to purchase the software. It runs on Windows and Mac, and works with VoiceOver, JAWS for Windows, and NVDA.

Product Information

Reaper is developed by Cockos, Incorporated. There is a 60-day evaluation period, after which time the program costs $60 for versions 6.0 through 7.99. At the time of this writing, Reaper is at version 6.60.

This article is made possible in part by generous funding from the James H. and Alice Teubert Charitable Trust, Huntington, West Virginia.

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