Sibelius for the visually impaired

We have always tried to make Sibelius as accessible as possible for users with disabilities or impairments. Mostly this has been achieved through trying to follow the guidelines set by Microsoft and Apple for how applications should interact with the accessibility technologies built in to the operating system.

Blind and visually impaired users have been quite well served with after-market solutions to assist with the use of Sibelius on Windows. There are now two solutions available, both of which interact with the screen-reading software, JAWS. The oldest solution is Sibelius Speaking, but unfortunately this doesn’t work with versions of Sibelius later than Sibelius 3.

Fortunately, somebody else has taken up the challenge, and user Dan Rugman, himself blind, has created a suite of JAWS scripts and ManuScript plug-ins that make it possible for blind and visually impaired users to use Sibelius 5. Dan calls his suite of scripts Sibelius Access, and has made it available for free, though he very much appreciates donations.

Thank you, Dan, for all your hard work at continuing to make Sibelius available to musicians with visual impairments!