Recent Products from Apple Computer provide a screen-reading technology called VoiceOver. With iPhone 3GS released in June 2009, in particular, Japanese speech output can be activated by simple adjustments to the setting. Mac OS X also provides VoiceOver since its version 10.4 (Tiger) released in 2004, and installing additional Japanese speech synthesizer enables VoiceOver to handle Japanese.

Although number of Apple products users with visual disability seems to be increasing in North America and Europe, as VoiceOver, if used in English, provides sufficient functionality to serve the needs of visually impaired users in their daily use, there are not as many users in Japan. While more and more information about VoiceOver is becoming available in English, very little information in Japanese is available at present.

So, I decided to launch a Wiki site to share information on Apple products with VoiceOver after purchasing iPhone myself recently. This site is for those with visual disability who are considering buying Apple products, as well as those with or without any disability who are interested in accessibility. I am hoping to have as much information as possible on the Wiki, so please take a look and contribute, if you read and write Japanese.

Site Info

Site Name

VOA (VoiceOver of Apple products)

URL

http://voa.trashpot.org/