Freeware & Shareware
Cost free programs available from the Internet
Text to Speech Programs Programs that will voice or speak text back to the user
www.readplease.com
Read Please 2003 text-to-speech software with 8 other language/voices
www.naturalreaders.com
Natural Voice software is intuitive and very easy to use
www.nextuptech.com /textaloud
TextAloud is shareware. Text to speech software (save in WAV or MP3 file format)
www.wordtalk.org.uk
WordTalk is a set of very useful tools with text-to-speech and some literacy supports, including spell checker & thesaurus
fullmeasure.co.uk/powertalk
PowerTalk software voices text and word art in any MS PowerPoint file
www.bytecool.com
Coolspeech text to speech player (Shareware)
www.etriloquist.com
E-triloquist program
www.dyslexia.com/helpread.htm
Older voices and technology but has some useful features
www.2ndspeechcenter.com
2nd Speech Centre - text to speech with sound converter features (Shareware)
www.premier-programming.com /products.htm
Text to Audio – sound conversion utility (Shareware)
www.bytecool.com
Text Sound V2.0 with some useful features
www.sharewareconnection.com /aloud4ie.htm
Aloud4ie adds text-to-speech capabilities to MS Internet Explorer
emacspeak.sourceforge.net
A speech reader for Internet sites using Linux operating system
www.filetransit.com /view.php?id=21174
Machine Reading -Talking Web Browser 1.1 – reads web sites
www.text-reader.com /pagereaderbar/index.html
IE Page-Reader Bar is an Internet Explorer tool Bar, that reads Web pages
www.sayit.com.au
SayIt is software technology to assist anyone who is losing or who has lost the power of speech, and who is losing or who has lost fine motor skills and muscle coordination in fingers and hands. (Note: Commercial software – a 31-day trial version is available)
www.text-reader.com
Bookshelf takes plain text (TXT) files and displays the contents as if they were printed in a book.
www.text-to-speech-software.com
Text to Speech software has a free trial download. It has numerous features.
www.text-to-speech-software.com
Speech Pro is an application with text to speech and other features. Free 30-day trial
www.gusinc.com/speechpro.html
‘Speech Pro’ is an application with text to speech and other features. Free 30-day trial
Web Browser and Email Programs
www.browsealoud.com
Browsealoud converts text to speech on websites including PDF documents. It reads web pages aloud for people who find it difficult to read online. Reading large amounts of text on screen can be difficult for those with literacy problems or visual impairments. It can also assist people who have English as a second language.
www.econointl.com/sw
The Simply Web 2000 package includes a software based speech synthesizer and can be used in standalone mode as a talking Web Browser
www.elr.com.au/wordcue
WordCue provides assistance in reading words, links and phrases on web pages.
www.text-reader.com/
Text Reader is an add-on to the Internet Explorer. It converts the browser into: Speaking dictionary. You can see the explanation of a word in the pop-up hint, and hear and read the pronunciation ofthe word. Also has three vocabulary efficiency drills
mozbraille.mozdev.org
MozBraille is an extension to transform Mozilla or Firefox to a stand alone accessible Internet browser designed for blind or partially sighted users. MozBraille offers its users three displays or outputs: a Braille output on a braille terminal, a text to speech output, or big characters view.
Literacy Support Programs - Software that assists with literacy needs
www.wordweb.co.uk
WordWeb V4.5 is a free thesaurus and word meanings
http://www.theabsolute.net/sware/
The Thinking Man’s Thesaurus is another very useful thesaurus and works well along with Wordweb.
www.microsoft.com/downloads
Photo Story 3 - a program that incorporates photos with text, transitions and music
www.simpleocr.com
Free OCR (Optical Character Recognition) software. (Note: It requires an OCR capable scanner).
http://www.tinyspell.m6.net/
tinySpell V1.5 is a small utility that allows you to easily and quickly check the spelling of words in any Windows application. tinySpell can watch your typing on the fly and alert you whenever it detects a misspelled word. It can also check the spelling of text that you copy to the clipboard. tinySpell installs itself in the system tray for easy access. It comes with an American-English dictionary containing more than 110,000 words
Onscreen Keyboard & Keyboard Utility Software
www.lakefolks.org/cnt
Click-N-Type is an on-screen virtual keyboard designed for anyone with a disability that prevents him or her from typing on a physical computer keyboard
www.theabsolute.net/sware
‘ClipText’ stores bits of text that you commonly need (such as addresses) and pastes them directly into whatever application you are using at the text cursor position.
jinglekeys.com/talkingkeys
Talking keyboard voices the key that has been pressed. Using the controls on its main window, users can attach built-in or user-defined WAV sounds to specific keyboard events. It is shareware with a free downloadable trial version
www.flashpeak.com/
IntelliComplete – 30-day free trial. Has auto complete word or phrase and auto-expand shorthand in any applications on MS Windows.
www.intelliedit.en.softonic.com
IntelliEdit – Freeware. IntelliEdit is a rich text editor and can auto complete words and phrases, auto-expand short hand.
www.microsoft.com/downloads
‘On-Screen Keyboard V 2.0’ - (this is part of the MS Windows Operating System)
Graphics and Drawing Tools
www.irfanview.com
Irfanview V3.99 s a free, full working copy of a useful graphics editor/utility
www.gimp.org
A freely distributed piece of software for such tasks as photo retouching, image composition and image authoring. It works on many operating systems, in many languages.
www.photo-freeware.net /deep-paint.php
Deep Paint integrates stroke-by-stroke artistic photo cloning, fully editable brush and canvas settings, and paint functionality for realistic and stunning paint effects. Freeware
perso.wanadoo.fr/pierre.g /xnview/endownloadwin32.html
XNView is very versatile as it can read and display nearly 400 types of graphic files and convert any of these to over 50 formats.
www.faststone.org
Fast Stone Image Viewer is a very fast in displaying images
http://picasa.google.com/
Picassa V2.0 is a free software download from Google that helps you locate and organise all the photos on your computer. Users can edit and add effects to photos with a few simple clicks. Users can share photos with others through email, prints and via the web. It’s fast, easy and at no cost to the user.
www.jansfreeware.com
Diagrams V1.1 is a diagram creation and manipulation tool that provides different shapes that can be dragged into a work area. Shapes include action, data, decision, terminal, document and input. Sideline, textblock, linejoin, polygon, arc and bezier line tools are also available. It has sticky shape connectors with custom shape data and predefined figures.
www.thebest3d.com/dogwaffle/free/index.html
Dog Waffle V1.2 is a paint program, not just a photo editing program or an imaging/conversion tool. Even though it can serve many of these markets too, with various enhancement and conversion filters, special effects and color adjustments, the primary reason for Dogwaffle is for users to paint - without the mess. Much of Dogwaffle's functionality is accessible through plugins. They are highly optimized for speed, and many of them operate in real-time.
www.thinkersoftware.com/photo-to-sketch/index2.htm
‘Photo to Sketch V3.5’ converts any image or photo to an outline or “sketch”. This is a very small application in size (i.e. only 850 Kilobytes as a download) and once installed it takes up only 2.5 MB, but has a great deal to offer. It launches into a window that is resizable. Users can covert any photo or image into a line drawing of variable thickness.
www.fototagger.com
With FotoTagger V2.4, users can annotate pictures. It is a powerful way to label a map, or add text to an image or schematic drawing. Users can label photographs and pictures and add explanatory notes to onscreen graphics or describe with them critical comments and quickly add comments or sentences to inform direct or instruct.
Vision Utilities and Screen/Cursor Magnifiers
magnifier.sourceforge.net
Virtual Magnifying Glass: a free magnifying tool for MS Windows
www.b-zone.de/software/lens.htm
Another Lens displays a magnified view of the area of the mouse cursor
www.elr.com.au/downloads.htm
Black Window: Enhances visibility and reduce distractibility of other programs. Fills the screen with a black background that remains underneath other programs.
www.issist.com
I-Zoom - A useful and powerful free screen magnifier/reader
www.theabsolute.net/sware/#smagnify
Super Magnifier, magnifies portions of your screen up to 15 times.
www3.sympatico.ca /paulscott/zoom.htm
Zoom screen magnifier. It displays a floating window that shows an enlarged view of the area around the cursor.
www.digitalmantra.com/fatbits/
This is a free magnifying tool. Fatbits includes features such as magnification levels (from 1x to 20x), a resizable lens area, you can change the width and height of the “lens”, add a crosshatch effect (white, black or invert colour), set hot keys, add the utility to the Startup Folder so as to launch with MS Windows and can be used in English, Portuguese or Spanish languages.
www.ace-centre.org.uk
A selection of large colourful cursors that can be used as your pointer. You access them via the mouse control panel.
Calculators and Math Tools
www.spacetimemobile.com
My Calculator – handy large print simple or scientific calculator with multiple memories
www.pointsoftware.net /sw/easycalcsetup.zip
Easy Calculator - a 16-digit calculator with up to 6 digits of precision also has a currency converter plus scientific functions plus formula evaluator for arithmetic operators.
www.readingmadeeasy.ca/
Talking Calculator V3 - This full functioning "talking calculator" can be used with or without a screen reader. Every button and edit area talks. It is easy to use with large keys and contrasting colors.
www.graphcalc.com
‘GraphCalc V4.0.1’. GraphCalc can be a student’s sole calculator in mathematics. GraphCalc can cope with everything from everyday arithmetic to statistical analysis, from betas to Booleans, from cubes to calculus, decimals to derivatives.
www.metalogicsw.com
Metalogic Calculator is a calculator. Users can enter the whole equation, as a student would normally write it on a piece of paper. Also if you choose View->Steps, students can see how the equation was solved step by step.
Organisers and Reminders
atnotes.free.fr/news.html
AT Notes – has many features, alarms and reminders
www.greeneclipsesoftware.com /stickypad.html
Stickypad - configurable alarms, resizable windows, variable fonts other useful features.
www.zhornsoftware.co.uk/stickies
Stickies – configurable alarms, resizable windows, variable fonts, other useful features.
www.download.cnet.com/Post-it-Software-Notes-Lite-Classic/3000-2351_4-10508740.html
Post-It Notes Lite V3.1.1 - create your own notes with pictures and hyperlinks, stick notes on your computer desktop and add alarms to your notes as reminders.
http://cmap.ihmc.us/
The IHMC CmapTools program empowers users to construct, navigate, share and criticize knowledge models represented as concept maps. It allows users to, among many other features, construct their Cmaps in their personal computer, share them on servers (CmapServers) anywhere on the Internet, link their Cmaps to other Cmaps on servers, automatically create web pages of their concept maps on servers, edit their maps synchronously (at the same time) with other users on the Internet, and search the web for information relevant to a concept map.
www.evernote.com
Evernote is an intuitive note management application that provides users with a single place for the easy input, organization and quick retrieval of all types of notes and content clippings. With EverNote users can conveniently capture and quickly find typed or handwritten memos; excerpts from Web pages, emails, documents; passwords, phone messages, To-Do's, brainstorms, sketches and snapshots. EverNote even allows users to find words in handwritten notes and images.
eBook Web Sites
www.gutenberg.org
Free e-books. All copyright free with text, HTML and some MP3s
www.bibliomania.com
Free e-texts and free texts
www.e-book.com.au/freebooks.htm
Free eBooks. LibriVox volunteers record chapters of books in the public domain and release the audio files back onto the net. Their goal is to make all public domain books available as free audio books.
Literacy Support – Online Resources Online resources that assist with literacy needs
www.wikipedia.org
Free online encyclopedia: Download pictures and graphics
www.ipl.org
Independent public library (public domain literature)
www.dictitionary.com
Online dictionary
www.thesaurus.com
Online thesaurus
www.webster.com
Merriam-Webster online dictionary, thesaurus and word find resource
General Studies – Online Resources
www.nationalgeographic.com /maps
National Geographic atlases, order maps, get country facts, print maps
www.maps.com
Maps.com
www.multimap.com
Maps and online geography resources
www.eduplace.com/ss/maps
Educational Outline Maps
www.worldatlas.com /aatlas/world.htm
Atlas and maps of the world/countries
www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/index.html
CIA World Fact Book
www.auslig.gov.au /mapping/names/natgaz.htm
Australian Maps
geography.about.com /library/cia/blcaustralia.htm
Useful site for geography, maps and general research
General Freeware/Shareware Sites - Sites devoted to programs – freeware, shareware, open source and trialware
www.tucows.com
Useful site for any freeware, trial ware or shareware programs
www.tudogs.com
Comprehensive range of freeware, open source, shareware and trial ware
www.freewarehome.com
Comprehensive range of freeware, open source, shareware and trial ware
www.download.com
Another useful site for obtaining freeware and shareware
www.sharewareconnection.com
An extensive library of Shareware programs
shareware.cnet.com
Search for shareware and free software
www.filetransit.com
Useful website for locating software
www.totalshareware.com
Useful website for locating software
www.freebstuff.com
Has some useful programs listed
www.bumpersoft.com
Useful website for locating software
www.photo-freeware.net /deep-paint.php
Editing software for photo enhancement
www.oocr.info
Lists sites for Optical Character Recognition software
www.vnunet.com/downloads
Links to some handy sites and freeware
www.freefunfiles.com
Well designed and easy to use freeware site
Useful links to web pages that provide a range of other Assistive Technology solutions for MS Windows, Linux and MAC OS operating systems
trace.wisc.edu/world/computer _access/win95/win95sha.html
Trace Centre AT resources page – extremely comprehensive
www.microsoft.com/enable
Accessibility settings that are in versions of MS products, making MS Windows easier to see, hear, and use.
www.closingthegap.com
Assistive Technology Resources and AT newspaper.
www.dyslexic.com
For people with dyslexia IT needs
http://trace.wisc.edu/resources/
Research to make everyday technologies accessible and usable. “The
http://www.apple.com/education/special-education/
Universal Access information - Apple provides technology tools to support the best learning environment for all students regardless of their learning differences. These tools can engage all students, enhance their achievement, and inspire them to work harder.
http://www.apple.com/macosx/
Built into Mac OS X are many features designed to provide students with multiple and flexible ways to access content for learning. Known collectively as Universal Access, this technology provides access for students with learning differences
www.abledata.com/
ABLEDATA provides objective information about assistive technology products and rehabilitation equipment available from domestic and international sources.” Although ABLEDATA does not sell any products, they assist users in locating the companies that do.
http://ca.geocites.com/janethopkinsbc/resources.html
Assistive technology links in
www.adaptech.dawsoncollege.qc.ca/en/goals
An updated library of free and inexpensive adaptive and "adaptable" software titles. “The Adaptech Research Network consists of a team of academics, students and consumers. They conduct research on the use of computer, information, and adaptive technologies by Canadian college and university students with disabilities. They are based at
http://larswiki.atrc.utoronto.ca/wiki/Overview
The ‘Linux’ Operating System has become more popular on servers and desktop systems mostly due to the reason that it is open-source, and it can run on many different platforms. It offers an inexpensive and efficient solution for the disabled community and Linux tools are often freely downloadable.
http://www.oatsoft.org/
“OATSoft is dedicated to improving Assistive Technology and computer accessibility through the power of Open Source development techniques. OATSoft makes the best Open Source Assistive Technology Software (OATS) easy to find. Users and developers meet at OATSoft to create better software. Users find useful software and discuss and work with developers to get the features that others want. Developers, work with users and other projects to develop new features and shared re-usable components.”
This project is funded by the Australian Government Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations under the National Disability Coordination Officer Program. The views expressed in these materials are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the Australian Government Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations.