JAWS Convenient OCR and the PEARL® Camera: Reading Print, Images, and Inaccessible Content on Screen (Assistive Technology Webinar)

Are you a JAWS user who wants access to printed text in a fast, convenient way? Far too many JAWS users don't realize that capability is built right into their current version, powered by OCR. Optical character recognition gives people who are blind or visually impaired the ability to capture printed text and images of text, then have it spoken in synthetic speech or saved to a file. During this webinar, we will cover the Convenient OCR feature in JAWS, including a capability many users overlook: OCR can be run on a PDF file, an application window, or the entire screen, which makes it a practical fallback for the inaccessible content people hit every day on the web — image-only PDFs, scanned forms posted online, graphics with text baked in, and dialogs that assistive technology cannot otherwise read. To extend that same convenience to printed material and to give you a solution on the go, we will also highlight the PEARL® Camera. Join Ian Ramos and Marisa Church from Access Ingenuity and Joe McDaniel from Vispero as they explain this amazing JAWS feature along with a portable capture device that brings even more speed to your workflow. Note that everybody is welcome and can benefit from this presentation. Teachers of the visually impaired (TVI) can earn ACVREP continuing education credit by attending this approved presentation.

• Explain how JAWS Convenient OCR works and apply the commands to read a PDF file, an application window, or the full screen.
• Identify common inaccessible content encountered on the web and in documents where OCR serves as a practical workaround.
• Set up and position the PEARL® camera for optimal capture across mail, forms, books, and other printed material.
• Apply practical strategies for improving OCR accuracy with both JAWS and the PEARL® camera.
• Troubleshoot common issues that arise when using OCR in real-world reading situations.