iListen running on Panther question

[Christos Hux]

							Hi out there 
to any iListen users using system 10.3 Panther or anyone from 
macspeech thats on this list. A important access question to ask of 
you. If you go into the speech settings under system preferences & 
turn on the text-to-speech options to get the mac to talk back to you 
will iListen allow for speech feedback from the mac when issuing a 
iListen cursor movement command? I am asking because I am a longtime 
mac user who is totally blind. Have been using system 9 which now 
thanks to Apple is dead & the screen reader program called: Outspoken 
which now since the end of last year is also a dead product. I am a 
frustrated mac user beeing forced to goto osx however no screen 
reader access program has been written yet. As I discovered with the 
help of a sighted friend the text-to-speech ability that is in 
Panther is limited in meeting my needs. Its main problem of use is 
that you have to be able to move the mouse to get speech feedback 
which I am not able to do on my own not having any sight. I had the 
brain storm idea of maybe the iListen type application would provide 
for me a short term access solution to my problem that would allow me 
to start using Panther to learn its interface. You can get the mac to 
read back to you a email message, or a text file, or a web page since 
there is speech support within the mail app, text edit app, & Safari 
or Icab but you first have to be able to move to the application & 
select it then do a select all of the text you want spoken back & 
then select the start speech menu option thats inside the programs 
menu options. any useful feedback or answers to this wild idea is 
appreciated very much.