ATU793 – Speaking Access Updates with Christopher Mutch

Hello, my name is Christopher and I’m with Speaking Access and this is your Assistive Technology Update.

Hello and welcome to Your Assistive Technology Update, a weekly dose of information that keeps you up to date on the latest developments in the field of technology designed to assist individuals with disabilities and special needs. I’m your host, Josh Anderson with the INDATA Project at Easterseals Crossroads in beautiful Indianapolis, Indiana. Welcome to episode 793 of Assistive Technology Update. It is scheduled to be released on August 7th, 2026. On our first show here in August, we are excited to welcome Chris Mulch back to the show. Chris is here to talk all about Speaking Access and all of the amazing updates and changes that have happened to the program since we last had him on back in 2021. We are also joined once again by Ale Gonzalez with BridgingApps with an app worth mentioning.

Don’t forget listeners, if you ever have a question, comment, something else you want to chime in on or maybe somebody you have that we could have as a guest on the show, something you want to learn more about, please do not hesitate to reach out. You can always send us an email at tech@eastersealscrossroads.org or give us a call on our listener line at 317-721-7124. As always, folks, we can’t wait to hear from you. Thank you for listening. Let’s go ahead and get on with the show. Listeners, as you may know here at INDATA, we do full day trainings all throughout the year and I’m very excited to announce that our next full day training is coming up on August 26th, 2026, and it is over wearable assistive technology.

This training will be in person here at Easterseals Crossroads in Indianapolis, Indiana, but we will be streaming it. So if you are not able to make it here to our office, well, I’d say try to find a way, but if you’re not able to make it here to the office, you can log in online. You do have to register beforehand and I will put a link down in the show notes so that you can easily get over and register. With that link, you can also get into the archive of our previous full day training. So if there’s something you want to learn more about or maybe a training that you attended that you want to watch again, you can always find them in there. But as far as our wearable AT training coming up on August 26th, this training will be over all kinds of different wearable assistive technology for health and wellness, for control, to help with vision, community access, work, and a whole myriad of other needs.

If you’re here in person, you’ll get to try out some of these amazing accommodations. And if you’re online, we’ll make sure to try to keep you as involved as possible. If you happen to need continuing education units for certifications or other needs, you can get CEUs by attending our trainings. So whether you’re new to Assistive Technology and Old Pro or just looking to learn a little bit more, please do attend our INDATA Full Day training coming up on August 26th, 2026 over wearable assistive technology. The training will be from 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM Eastern Time. And again, it will be in person here at Easterseals Crossroads and also online streamed via Zoom. You do have to register in order to attend the training and I will put a link down in the show notes to go and get to the registration. All of us here INDATA look forward to seeing you there either in person or remotely on August 26th for wearable assistive technology full day training. Listeners, next up on the show we’re very excited to welcome back Ale Gonzalez from BridgingApps with an app worth mentioning.

This is Ale Gonzalez with BridgingApps, and this is an app worth mentioning. This week’s featured app is called ReBokeh. ReBokeh is an accessibility app designed for people with low vision. The app uses a smartphone’s camera to enhance what users see in real time, offering tools such as magnification, contrast adjustments, filter and focus controls to make everyday tasks like reading, shopping and navigating more accessible. Our favorite features were the customizable viewing options and simple interface. Users can quickly adjust settings to meet their individual vision needs, making it easier to view text, objects and their surroundings with greater confidence and independence. ReBokeh is available for iOS devices and we are especially excited that the app is now available on Android. For more information on this app and others like it, visit www.bridgingapps.org.

Today, listeners, I am excited to welcome Christopher back to the show. Now, he was here back in April of 2021 to tell us about Speaking Access and I really enjoyed learning more about this amazing voice access tool. Well, he’s been nice enough to take the time to come back on Assistive Technology Update and tell us about the exciting updates to the software and how it can assist individuals with accessing their computer through voice even when using a screen reader. Christopher, welcome back to the show.

Thanks for having me, Josh.

Yeah, I’m excited to get into talking about the tech, but for the folks who haven’t heard you on here before, could you tell us a little bit about yourself?

Yeah. I would love to share with your listeners. My story’s a little different. I’m a little bit older and I have been… There’s only one way to say this. I was a professional chainsaw carver for 30 years.

Nice.

And the only reason I mentioned that is that most people go, huh? Assistive technology? Chainsaw carving? That doesn’t really make a lot of sense. Well, for me it does because when I was a carver, you learn to get into a lot of challenges. I’ve done a 6,000 pound bar that had to get into a building and make it flat. I’ve done a big totem pole. The point is is that when you’re an artist and when you’re being creative, especially when you have customers paying you to get the product done, you get creative. You find solutions to problems and you think outside the box. And that’s why I think it’s relative to Speaking Access is because when I encountered the software, when I encountered the technology, I think someone needed… It’s great technology. It was awesome and it still is. But it could be adapted to. I mean, a car can always go faster.

No, that’s true. And I always love hearing how people get to where they are. Yeah, being a chainsaw artist, a totally normal path to get there. I used to be an indoor skydiving instructor. So it’s amazing-

Really?

… the different ways you end up finding. Yeah. I had a lot of jobs before I found my way over here. But we could take up a whole show probably talking about those and bore the people half to death hearing about all the different things. But we’ve got you on here to talk about Speaking Access. So I guess start with big picture, Christopher, what is Speaking Access?

Speaking Access is designed out of the idea when I was… About six years ago, I was dealing with a customer, one of my chainsaw carving customers, and he was blind from birth and he had his computer with no screen. And with his permission, obviously he was moving around just doing some stuff on the computer. I’d never seen or I’d never heard a screen reader before. And of course he was an expert, so he had it work turned right up and it was going crazy all over the place. But once I got over that and understood what was going on, I was fascinated by the technology. And I went home, I downloaded NVDA, which is a open source, not open source, but it’s donationware so you can get it and it’s a $10 donation.

It’s a great program. Downloaded it, started trying it, and I found it extremely difficult, more than likely from being cited my whole life. But with that said and done, I was sitting there after this was just a thing of fancy for me just to try it out as an experiment. And then it dawned on me, wow, there’s a lot of people that lose their sight later in life. And how dramatic would this be? I don’t know if you know this, Josh, but there’s 300 plus shortcut keys. Yeah. So if you’re a professional and you’re losing, especially an accountant or something like that, not only is it dramatic, but now you also have to try to figure out how to adapt to the computer. Anyways, so I just thought I would try to come up with something and that’s what Speaking Access is.

Yeah. No, I do believe you with the 300 different keystrokes. I don’t do direct service as much, but I used to train people on how to use kind of jaws and NVDA. And I can still remember, they’d be like, “Well, after training, will I be as good as you?” I was like, “God, I hope you’re better. You’re going to use this all the time.” I still stare at the screen or occasionally try to touch the mouse or things. You don’t get to do that. So you’ve got to learn all these kinds of things. And I also love that you brought up turning the voice up just because I know whenever I’d work with folks who’ve been blind for a very long time, used to using screen readers, I’d help them with maybe installation, some setup. Then they’d turn that voice up so fast that I was like, “Well, I guess demonstrate you can do a few things and we’ll call it good because I have no idea what it’s saying anymore.”

Yeah. And you don’t have to worry about me stealing your information because I can’t hear it.

Yeah. He could be saying your social security number. I got no idea. Well, so Christopher, how does Speaking Access allow for kind of easier access to be able to get around having to learn all those different keystrokes?

Well, Josh, we didn’t mention it before, but could I just show you? Can we do that?

Oh, most certainly.

Okay. So I’ll just share the screen then.

Screen sharing meeting controls window. Stereo. High fidelity. Check alert.

Can you hear that okay, Josh?

Yep. It’s coming through perfect.

Okay. So I think the best thing to do is to get into the point that it’s shortcut keys. So browser, tab three. Access time.

7:11 AM.

Navigate programs.

Task view window. Running applications.

Write key two times.

New volume D. Column. New volume D.

Anyways, that was a bad example in the sense that what it allows you to do is it allows you to navigate the computer with your voice. So it allows you to so you can control the browser. Right now, sometimes Zoom interferes with the system just a little bit, just the more sensitive keys. So 300 shortcut keys, they’re hard to remember, especially the ones… I mean, obviously control copy, ones like that most people understand. But a lot of, especially if you have ones you don’t use very often, like show notifications. I know that one of the most irritating things is show notifications. Like you know how the notifications bar will go ding.

Oh, yes.

And you’re sitting there and you’re going, what the heck is that bloody-

Where is it?

Yep. Where is it? Yeah. Yeah. Well, my program, all you have to do is say desktop commands.

Presently in desktop commands. Six items in list. One desktop notifications.

Desktop notifications.

Closing menu.

Quick settings window.

Escape key. Okay. So what that is, I just went through the menu really quick because we go on… So what it is it’s a searchable menu. You can access it two ways. You can start by saying access menu and then it’ll go through start out. And what it does is it opens up. Speaking Access is a program that’s not like many other. The window changes shape so everything stays withinside the program and it’s an audio only program. So it’s meant to stay in the background. Right now I have it up at the front, but normally it’s meant to be in the background so that the browser’s showing and it’s not on the screen.

It’s not in focus. So what the menu does is it drops down and then it’ll say what list you’re in and how many items are in that list and start reading it out loud. And as soon as you hear the item like you heard with desktop commands, you just say desktop notifications once you hear it. And then it’ll pause for a second. It’ll shut the menu down and then it’ll go execute the program. That was a really big request of a building.

Nice. Nice. And Christopher, while you’re on that, like I said, it’s been, oh gosh, over five years since we had you on. What are some of the updates and the new pieces to Speaking Access that have been added in the last five years?

Well, in the last five years I actually went to market when we were talking. I though I was going to be going to market in the next six months and then I realized that Microsoft Store got in the way. Nothing against Microsoft Store at all. But I didn’t realize it would take three years to get all that combined. But the other thing that I wanted to get done was the update was it’s a completely new kind of… I mean, I love it and it’s natural, but like so many things, until you learn to walk, it’s not natural. So even that, like when we’re older, walking is very natural, but until you get there, you got to learn it. So what I really wanted was I didn’t want to replace instructors because you can never replace that one-on-one. But when you go away, the instructor can lose ground. So what I wanted was a, there’s 10 lessons that are included with Speaking Access that’ll show you how to dictate text, how to use the menu, how to move around documents, the browser and all that information.

Nice. Nice.

And they’re real time. They have videos and it’ll actually work with it. So in other words, it’ll ask you for commands. Actually in real time, walk you through a lesson.

Oh, that’s awesome. Yeah. Because like you said, sometimes it’s hard to know how to really use it or anything like that and it’s a completely different access method from what people are used to.

Yeah. Oh, before I get it, can I say two things?

Yeah.

Okay. So it requires no activation. In other words, it’s always listening. And I forgot the second thing.

That’s fine. I’m sure it’ll come to you or maybe I’ll even be able to ask the right question and get that out of you here very, very soon. Christopher, so I can think about it, because I work in assistive technology and this all the time, but who would benefit from using Speaking Access?

Okay. So the way the Speaking Access was developed, the first generation was audio only. Absolutely no visual interface whatsoever. And that was working really well. And then we started realizing that this could help a lot of other users, particularly ones that use a screen. And so spent another three years adapting it so that it was a visual product as well. And so that did two things. One, it opened up to visually impaired, dyslexics and the more, not more, but the other exciting part, people that have pain using the keyboard. Because you don’t have to use the keyboard. I could literally unplug my keyboard right now. And the other thing is it has commands for like… Well, obviously you can go copy selection, paste selection. But one of the things it does is you can do multiple tab keys. You know how with the screen reader, you sometimes have to tab like eight times?

Yes.

Yeah. Yeah. So with Speaking Access, all you have to do is say next key eight times.

Oh, nice.

Enter key five times. Up key eight times. So there are multiple key functions that you can do with that. And the other thing that it did is because I can broaden the market and there’s a lot more customers, I can bring down the price from what was suggested of $200 US down to $30 US.

And Christopher, I don’t always talk about price on here just because I’m always afraid someone’s going to listen to this 25 years in the future and the price will be different. But since you brought that up, the $30, is that a one-time fee? Is that yearly, monthly? How does that work?

That’s a one-time thing. Believe it or in this day and age, yeah, you’re going to own it for 30 bucks. Until you buy a new computer, it breaks. Your computer.

But you’re still not locked into a subscription for something you rely on.

Yeah. No. Isn’t that wild? No, you are not.

Awesome. And I love that you brought up, just going back to what you said just before, just opening it up to so many more users because yeah, there’s so many different needs that I may not need a screen reader because I may not even be low vision or blind, but I can still use a different access method to get in there. So I love that you’re getting to those folks too. And being able to give them, I almost said Speaking Access, but giving them Speaking Access by giving them access to Speaking Access. It’s probably too many of the same words there.

Well, access is a pretty popular word for accessibility products.

True, true. Christopher, you probably get a ton of these, but can you tell us a story about maybe a user that you’ve heard from or worked with and just their experience with Speaking Access?

Yeah. I was dealing with one customer and he ended up getting the program and he found it that he really liked it because he lost his vision later in life and he found it very helpful. He found it solid. And what did one customer say? I opened it up and it just worked. And I mean, I’d hate to say it, but in this day and age of software stuff, sometimes that’s just a good enough statement.

No, you’re right. And I don’t always wonder and sometimes it’s necessary, but I’m like, with the technology advances and everything else, it’s like nothing should be hard anymore. You shouldn’t have to be a computer programmer or have went to college for 10 years just to be able to access the things that you’re trying to use. So I love that it just works out of the box and just makes it accessible to a lot more folks because they’re actually able to use it.

Perfect. Yeah. I want to show you one more thing I’m excited about.

Yeah, most definitely.

That I know that your users would like. It’s uniquely, it’s called post mode. It’s dictation for audio users. This is meant to completely be for audio users. So whenever you’re ready, I’ll just go into it.

Go right ahead, Christopher.

Open post mode.

Post mode is now ready.

Hello Josh comma new line.

Hello or Josh symbol comma command new line.

Hello Josh comma new line.

Hello Josh symbol comma command new line.

Proofread word box.

Uppercase hello uppercase Josh symbol comma command new line.

Access word to.

Word numeral to Josh symbol comma command new line.

Access letters.

Capital J-O-S-H symbol comma.

Okay. How are you doing today period.

How are you doing today symbol period.

Okay. I hope that your listeners are enjoying the show period.

I hope that your listeners are enjoying the show symbol period.

Okay. Read paste box.

Repace docs.

Read paste box.

Read a pace box.

Proofread paste box.

Paste box reads. Uppercase hello uppercase josh symbol comma command new line. Uppercase how are you doing today symbol period. Uppercase I hope that your listeners are enjoying the show symbol period.

Close post mode.

Main task area. Ready.

So did that make sense what was happening there?

No, it totally did. And it was conversational isn’t the right word, but I mean it was conversational on it. Also, I have to give you just kudos. I will not demonstrate anything dictation based in public ever again because it is the number one thing that will just make me look silly in front of folks. And you were able to actually do it there and it came through really well. And that was actually going to be one of my questions because I know with other programs that maybe rely on dictation, a lot of times when you need to edit or make sure that you’re writing it correctly, a lot of folks have challenges, but you showed me it’s pretty simple to get down to the letter, to get down to what is it saying? How is it actually putting it? And I like that it’s telling you where the capitals are, where the symbols are, and actually allowing you to not visually have to access it in order to get all that input.

Yes. And you nailed it. You picked right up on it. And it’s not meant to be an editor. What it’s meant to do is just put the text together. And then what you do is you take it over to Notepad or what used to be WordPad, but that’s not on Windows 11 anymore. But say Notepad, you go there. All you do is you say the program isn’t, like I said, the program’s not in focus. It’s in the background. So Notepad will come up. All the texts you’ve… So long as the screen is in focus, the cursor is in focus, pardon me. All you have to do is say access post and it’ll take the text from the program and then paste it into notepad. And then you use the commands from access to you can go say like Windows Find and then say that you wanted to go capitalize letter.

You just say print the word that you want and then enter key. That’s what you say. And it’ll go find the word for you. So all those commands are in there. So Speaking Access is to put all the knit and grit together and then it carries over and allows you to work with the workstation. The other thing that I forgot that you did help me remember, it’s always listening. It doesn’t have a wake-up call. And anywhere you go, there’s three different areas in the program. If you say access help, it’ll always give you a walkthrough on how to get out of trouble.

That’s always the best part because yeah, that’s always a fear, especially for folks with new things. It’s like, oh gosh, I don’t know where I am. I’m down the rabbit hole of doing stuff and I can’t remember where I started and all that. So I love that you can actually be able to get to that. Christopher, if our listeners want to find out more or try out Speaking Access for themselves, what’s a good way for them to do that?

Well, if you want to, you can go to speakingaccess.com. That’s the best place to reach us. And there you can get all the particulars. And the other thing that’s fascinating is I’ve been talking this whole time with Speaking Access wide open and it hasn’t given us any feedback, has it?

No, none whatsoever. I was wondering again, I told you my biggest fear is anything speech-based in public. So I was just waiting for your computer to start yelling at you or saying the wrong thing. And no, besides when you’re actually talking to it, I haven’t heard it say a word.

Yeah, no I just wanted to point that out because I’m just gloating. Because as you know, most of the time it can go… Yeah, I took a lot of work to do that.

Yeah, most definitely. And listeners, I can tell you, I did not go back in and edit out all the mishaps and things like that. So I don’t know if you spent all morning making it do what we’re supposed to do, but yeah, very, very impressive, Christopher. Well, Christopher, we’ll put links down to speakingaccess.com down in the show notes so that folks can easily find it and easily try it out for themselves and everything else. And thank you so much for coming back on the show, for telling us all the updates. And yeah, I’d forgotten that we were still in the whole beta phase last time we had you on. So I’m glad that it’s out there and available to the folks that it’s able to help.

Thank you very much, Josh, and thank you to your listeners and you have a wonderful day.

Do you have a question about assistive technology? Do you have a suggestion for someone we should interview on assistive technology update? If so, call our listener line at 317-721-7124. Send us an email at tech@eastersealscrossroads.org or shoot us a note on Twitter @INDATAproject. Our captions and transcripts for the show are sponsored by the Indiana Telephone Relay Access Corporation or INTRAC. You can find out more about INTRAC at relayindiana.com. A special thanks to Nicole Prieto for scheduling our amazing guests and making a mess of my schedule. Today’s show was produced, edited, hosted, and fraught over by yours truly. The opinions expressed by our guest are their own and may or may not reflect those of the INDATA Project, Easterseals Crossroads, our supporting partners or this host. This was your assistive technology update, and I’m Josh Anderson with the INDATA Project at Easterseals Crossroads in beautiful Indianapolis, Indiana. We look forward to seeing you next time. Bye-bye.