Absolutely! Printed material can be accessed primarily via two ways:

• Electronically, via the internet or email;
• By scanning it into your computer and reading it using?screen reading or magnification programs.?

With the rapid expansion of the internet, you can now access?a large amount of digital material on the internet, including most newspapers and magazines and a growing number of electronic books, such as eBooks. Many newspapers offer free access to much of their content, while others charge subscription fees and/or offer different levels of access based on requested content.

Scanners and OCR Software

Relatively inexpensive scanners and OCR (optical character recognition) software can translate any page of printed material into spoken text on your computer. OCR packages designed to be used by people who are blind or have low vision?can range?from $200 to $1,000, depending upon the number of features you request.?For everyday use,?the OCR packages from[all links open in new windows]?Premier Technologies can certainly do the job for under $200. Other popular OCR programs include OpenBook (from Freedom Scientific) and Kurzweil 1000 (from Kurzweil Educational Systems). Such fully-featured programs cost quite a bit more, in the neighborhood of $1,000.

Through your local rehabilitation agency, you may want to seek the services of an Assistive Technology Specialist who can help you decide on the best product for you, and provide you with resources to master your chosen option.