Braille print was one of the earliest and most sophisticated 'assistive technology' output options for blind people and still remains important. The newer technologies have opened up parallel alternatives.

Visually impaired pupils have the assistance of a Department of Education and Science Visiting Teacher service that should advise on any provision for pupils. Teachers should realise that what may appear a simple solution to a 'lay' person, such as dramatically increasing text size, may not be in the best interest of the pupil in the long-term.

The keyboard will be the main input device for visually impaired pupils. A larger than normal keyboard with high contrast letters may help, and coloured stickers for standard keys are available. Blind pupils can input to a computer or Braille printer, and accurate keyboard skills should be taught and re-inforced. Software such as Touch Type is available.

Output options for the visually impaired may include

	Visual display, through monitor or magnifier screen
	Speech from a computer
	Printed material (hard copy)
	Tactile material - Braille

CCTV (closed circuit television) allows print to be enlarged and comes in a variety of formats, from a desk mounted device to a miniature head-mounted CCTV, with monitor output similar to reading glasses.

The standard computer monitor may be easier to read than handwriting if variations of background and font-colours are tried (Control Panel > Display). Good contrast and high quality resolution will help.

Software, such as ZoomText, allows portions of the monitor to be enlarged to varying degrees of magnification.

Screen-reading software with speech synthesisers is readily available, and will provide supplementary speech support to standard software applications. TextHelp and Write: OutLoud are examples. Headphones will be necessary with these in the classroom. For more severely impaired pupils, specialised screen-reading software, such as Jaws or Hal, will be necessary. Users of these technologies use tab and arrow controls to navigate through menus, buttons, icons, text areas and other elements on the monitor. This requires a lot of learning and becomes more challenging as software increases in complexity.

Standard school texts or other documents can be scanned13 and transferred to disk to be stored or read by speech output.

Web access for people with visual impairment has become more difficult as the development of screen-readers tries to keep pace with the growing complexity of web-page design. The increasing use of graphics compounds this.

There is now a standard for accessible web-pages - the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) has produced guidelines for the development of accessible web-sites. Users can check web-site accessibility through Bobby, a free, graphical, web-based program. The program will find HML design problems that prevent a web page from being displayed correctly on different web browsers, without having to individually test the page on each browser.

User-friendly web-pages have graphics kept to a minimum and include alternative explanations or headings.

Software to make Internet browsers more readable is becoming available. Examples are BETSIE and Webspeak.

When preparing hard copies of documents from a computer for visually impaired pupils, always use a font size of at least 12 point. Sans serif fonts (i.e. fonts whose letters do not have end extensions) are easier to read on screen - examples include Ariel and Verdana. On the other hand serif fonts such as Times New Roman are easier to read in print. Bold type is not recommended, because the letters have smaller centres and may appear blurred to low vision readers.

Always provide a sharp contrast between the typeface and the background. Upper and lower case type is easier to read than type set in all capital letters - although a few capitalised words will, generally, not present a problem. Extra spaces between lines is very helpful to low vision readers, as is the practice of avoiding right-justified margins.

Screen-reading software can also reproduce the information in a refreshable Braille display, or in printed Braille form.

Blind pupils will become increasingly dependent on computers. For their efficient use in mainstream settings, the following condition are necessary:

	A high standard of keyboard skills
	Training in the specialised software
	Familiarity with the operating system, and an efficient filing and retrieval system
	On-going training and re-inforcement in the above
	Technical support

Standard computer operating systems, such as Windows, offer a variety of options that can assist pupils with visual impairments.

Specialised screen-reading software for blind pupils requires considerable training and support.