Handwriting and OCR and NVDA

[David Grossoehme]

Good Afternoon:  Can NVDA read a document that has been written in
handwriting only?  I am in the fight with a n IT department of a large
corporation that feels,that this is possible.  To my knowledge, no
screen reader can even make it into readable text even using OCR, do I
have the wrong idea here?  This has been a long battle with them so I'm
asking on both NVDA list.  I'm looking for an answer to give back as
soon as possible to this corporation, which is my medical carrier and
their portal has no accessibility at all.  They don't even have an edit
field to send a message to them.  Please advise.

Dave

[azhar...@gmail.com]

Hi,
I do not think screen readers can read hand writing, but hand written text can be converted into digital format and then it can be read by screen readers.

Best,

Azhar

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[Richard Turner]

Be My Eyes for Windows could likely do it.
Both Be My Eyes and Seeing AI on an iPhone do a good job.
I believe Envision AI also can read handwriting.
Seeing AI was the first app to have done it.



Richard, USA,
The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance."
-- Alan Watts (1915-1973)

My web site: https://www.turner42.com

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[David Grossoehme]

thanks Richard:  for a simple document I can see this working. However,
I'm trying to give feedback to a medical corporation who is suppose to
be making their Medical Portal Accessible.  In this case I'm at the
point of giving feedback to them, where they think that OCR will place
the text into readable formati for any screen reader and they cover
hospitals and medical clinics in 3 corporations in 7 different states as
well as a medical school. Then we are looking at the change that is
facing us in May, however, they feel that they don't need to make
changes for accessibility.  This is where I'm setting at, and don't feel
in giving any feedback until I have solid information.  In which case
what is the best advice to fly to give back to them.

Dave


On 8/14/2026 3:12 PM, 'Richard Turner' via NVDA Screen Reader Discussion
wrote:

[David Grossoehme]

That is on a phone, but what will work on a computer?

Dave


On 8/14/2026 3:12 PM, 'Richard Turner' via NVDA Screen Reader Discussion
wrote:

[azhar...@gmail.com]

You can use Be My Eyes desktop or workplace.

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[Richard Turner]

Yes, Be My Eyes has a Windows version and they do have one for employers called Be My Eyes Workplace, which I suspect costs some money, but I don't know.
The one for the blind users is free.
But if you are talking handwritten medical charts, all bets are off.
Modern medical charts are dictated into text and then you just have to deal with the nightmare of allowing screen reader access, which opens another can of worms.
I know of some situations involving Jaws where special scripting was done, but that is not a clear option with NVDA.
This may end up requiring Accessibility lawyers to get involved.

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[David Grossoehme]

Richard as poor as the handwriting of a doctor is, will that work?  My
past wife was a RN for 50 years, and with the normal eye she still could
not read their request and notes.

Dave


On 8/14/2026 3:44 PM, 'Richard Turner' via NVDA Screen Reader Discussion

[Richard Turner]

I dount any OCR could unscramble some doctors writing.
I would have no clue how that could be solved other than the idiots in Medical Records hiring someone to transcribe it.

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[David Grossoehme]

thanks Richard, that is how I felt.  My own sons have handwriting like a
doctors.  My daughter who has no sight problems told me earlier today. 
When I told her what the response was she just started laughting.

Dave


On 8/14/2026 6:13 PM, 'Richard Turner' via NVDA Screen Reader Discussion

[Heather]

I'm with those who say that hand-witten documents should be transcribed by a buman before being put on a portal. Unless someone can mimic printed text when writing by hand, and most people cannot, hand writing is inaccessible to ocr so far as I know.
Note that this is just me putting my thoughts down. I have no experience with medical hand writing whatsoever. The only other option would be to have clinicians type all documents, which would be very tedious when they're in a busy practice or testing situation, like someone who reads x-rays for example.

Heather On Aug 14, 2026 3:22 PM, David Grossoehme <da...@grossoehme.com> wrote:
>
> thanks Richard:  for a simple document I can see this working. However,
> I'm trying to give feedback to a medical corporation who is suppose to
> be making their Medical Portal Accessible.  In this case I'm at the
> point of giving feedback to them, where they think that OCR will place
> the text into readable formati for any screen reader and they cover
> hospitals and medical clinics in 3 corporations in 7 different states as
> well as a medical school. Then we are looking at the change that is
> facing us in May, however, they feel that they don't need to make
> changes for accessibility.  This is where I'm setting at, and don't feel
> in giving any feedback until I have solid information.  In which case
> what is the best advice to fly to give back to them.
>

> To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/a/nvaccess.org/d/msgid/nvda-users/09b261fc-7cf1-4171-8aa2-5ce21c9f852c%40grossoehme.com.

[Antonio Cezar Antunes Ribeiro]

Hello. The only one that practically does not have any hallucinations is Seeing AI, when used only for PDF files, because with image files it also makes interpretations and can hallucinate in the same way, with the peculiarity that it only works on Apple or Android phones... Thank you.

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