Using R with screenreading software - R-help

Mon, May 10, 2010 1:07 PM #
Hi,

I use R with a screen reader to do statistical and financial analysis. 

There are a couple of things that your student can do.

R was created on Linux, and then ported to Windows. So she can use R under Linux where the CLI is perfectly accessible.
There are 2 main screen readers for Linux: Speakup for the text console and Orca for the Gnome Desktop.
Also, ESS, an extension to Emacs can be used as well.

On Windows, the accessibility of R console can vary from screen reader to screen reader.
I mainly work on the R terminal found in C:\Program Files\R\R-2.10.0\bin. You could create a desktop shortcut for the Rterm.exe file.
If she is not comfortable typing directly on the R console, then a text editor can be used for the R code.
Any text editor can do, though I use Tinn-R, which is fairly accessible.
Tinn-R can be found here.
http://www.sciviews.org/Tinn-R/

The code can either be pasted in R or can be run directly by using the source function.
 source("C:/Test.r")
See ?source

R output can be sent to a text file using sink()

 # Open the connection
 sink("sink-Test.txt")

 # Enter something
 x <- c(1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
 mean(x)

 # End the connection
 sink()

More helpful would be ?sink and ?capture.output

Depending on what she has to do, R can also be used through Excel which is again accessible.

Regards
Roopakshi from India
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