Lou’s story: Screen-reading for greater independence

Louise Braybon has served on the Enhanced Lifestyles Board for eleven years and counting, and through her passionate advocacy and governance, she’s left an indelible mark on our association. So, when Lou told us she couldn’t easily read our Lifestyle News, we really wanted to find a way to make our content accessible for her and other customers that face the same challenges.

For context, our newsletters are sent out via email and can be opened in your email app, the internet browser or PDF reader on the recipient’s device.

Lou was frustrated about not being able to read the newsletters – and it wasn’t just about missing out on content. One of Lou’s key values is independence; those who have met Lou (and even those who only know her through her bio page on our website or through her story) will know that she’s passionate about being self-sufficient.

When Lou let us know about this, her feedback raised a bigger issue that didn’t sit right with us. As an association founded by people living with disability, our philosophy has always been to keep customers at the fore of everything we do. We pride ourselves on fostering independence, not making it harder. Needless to say, we were eager to rectify the issue and provide a solution so that Louise could access the newsletters without help.

Assistive technology was an obvious route. Software that assists with reading text out loud is available, but it’s usually very expensive and can be difficult to acquire. Having found plenty of options that were somewhat inaccessible for one reason or another, our marketing team used their creativity to find some lesser-known solutions that don’t cost the earth (the first one is free!).

Without further ado, here are two great options with text-to-speech functionality:

1. Microsoft Edge

The first method we’ll cover is Microsoft Edge, a free internet browser that is available on any device. Many devices (such as those with Microsoft operating systems) will already have Edge installed. However, if you use a different type of device, such as an Apple or Android, you’ll likely need to install it yourself.

Below is Microsoft Edge in the Apple store (left) and Microsoft Edge in the Galaxy Store (right).

There are a couple of ways to use Edge for screen reading. The first way is to open it from your home screen, where its icon will look like this:

Now, in Edge, navigate to the website you want to read and hit the button circled here:

Edge will take you to a different screen, where the webpage’s content is optimized for reading purposes. To hear the page read out loud, select the button circled here.

If you want to use Microsoft Edge all the time so that you can easily access its screen reading feature, you can make it your default browser.

Whether you’re using an Apple or an Android device, open your settings and find the settings for Edge. You can do this by searching for Edge or scrolling through the list of apps until you see it. Once you find Edge’s settings, here’s how to make it your default browser.

Edge on Apple devices

Select ‘Default browser app’; Safari is usually Apple’s default browser.
Select ‘Edge’ from the list of options.

Edge on Android devices

Select ‘Browser app’; Samsung Internet is usually Samsung’s default browser.
Select ‘Edge’ from the list of options.

Voila! Now, whenever you receive a file or email that you want read out loud, you can choose to open it in your browser, which will always be Edge.

2. Speechify

If you don’t want to download and get used to a different browser, we’ve got good news: Speechify is an app that plugs straight into your existing browser (or you can use the in-app functions) to read webpages, PDF files, Microsoft Word documents, and more out loud.

However, Speechify does have a cost in the form of monthly or yearly subscriptions if you want the premium features. The exact cost will depend on the preferences you select, but you can try it for free for three days before paying anything. This independent review says it’s worth paying for if you intend to use it regularly – Speechify’s text-to-speech converter is pretty accurate, so it’s useful for reading many different forms of text out loud.

Speechify on Apple devices

Here’s how to get and set up Speechify on Apple, as well as how to activate the Safari plug in:

Download Speechify from the App store. It will look like this:

Once you download and open Speechify, you’ll be prompted to set your preferences such as choosing a narrator and reading speed. This is also where they present you with an option to subscribe or try Speechify for free for three days. After you’ve completed this process, you’re in.
You can now check out Speechify tutorials to learn how to maximise your subscription, or get started with adding content for reading!

If you want to use Speechify in Safari (the default Apple browser), you can easily activate the Speechify plugin. First, open your device settings and find Safari in your list of apps (or search for it). Select ‘Extensions’.

Now, select ‘Speechify’

In Speechify’s settings, select the slider to turn it on.

Now, return to Safari and follow the prompts to set Speechify up in-browser. It will ask you for permission to access websites, and you can safely grant this permission if you are happy to.

Speechify on Android devices

Here’s how to get and set up Speechify on Android (Speechify does not plug in to Android browsers but you can still use the app).

Download Speechify from the Play Store. It will look like this:

Once you download and open Speechify, you’ll be prompted to set your preferences such as choosing a narrator and reading speed. This is also where they present you with an option to subscribe or try Speechify for free for three days. After you’ve completed this process, you’re in.
You can now check out Speechify tutorials to learn how to maximise your subscription, or get started with adding content for reading. You’ll notice there’s no option to install the plugin for your Samsung browser – at this stage, Speechify does not offer this feature. However, by following the simple tutorials, you can easily get any book, website, or file read out loud to you.

Speechify for Google Chrome

In the Chrome store, find the Speechify app by searching for ‘Speechify’.
This is the page that will come up. Select ‘Add to Chrome’

On the pop-up that appears, select ‘Add extension’.

Select the jigsaw piece icon near your browser search bar and select the pin icon next to ‘Speechify’.

Once we found these solutions, we were quick to give Lou a call and talk her through her options. In the end, she opted for Speechify and now she can listen to our newsletters, Enhanced Lifestyles Board papers (and papers from the other Board she serves on) easily through text-to-speech. We hope that, by sharing these how-to’s, we can help someone else navigate the complicated (and sometimes expensive) world of screen reading!

If you have any suggestions for other screen reading options, feel free to send them through to marketing@el.org.au and we may just add it to this article for other people to enjoy.

Please note: this post is not sponsored by any of the companies mentioned within. We’re just sharing what works!