Liz Hare

R is a language and environment for statistical computing.There are
several tools and approaches for interacting with R, but not all are
accessible with screen readers.This guide provides an overview of the
tools and techniques available to screen reader users across different
operating systems, with practical tips and resources to help them
navigate the R environment.This guide may not be complete, but I hope it
serves as a valuable starting point. We welcome suggestions from other
users to enhance it further.

## Where to start ?

The set of tool and resources in this section apply for all operating
systems.

[The R Project for Statistical Computing](https://www.r-project.org) is
the site where you can download R for Windows, Linux, and Mac.

When you install R, it has basic statistical functions.We call this
installation "base R."Users add functionality by writing packages in the
R language.Dr. Jonathan Godfrey has written a package called BrailleR
that produces statistical output in text or Braille format that are more
accessible than base R functions.[Dr. Godfrey's
website](https://r-resources.massey.ac.nz/BrailleR/) has information
about this package as well as general advice about using R as a Braille
or screen reader user.

The [Blind R Users mailing
list](https://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blindrug_nfbnet.org) is
another place you can go for answers about using R.

## How do you interact with R?

Possibilities include:

- Running R at the [command prompt in a
  terminal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terminal_emulator). This has
  the large disadvantage of not saving your commands and output.
- Using a text editor to write scripts (groups of R commands) and
  submitting them at the [command
  line](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Command-line_interface). This used
  to be the preferred approach for many blind users, but is less
  convenient than in interactive tool.
- Using R's GUI (graphical user interface). This might be accessible on
  Windows, but it is inaccessible on Mac.
- Using an accessible integrated development environment (IDE) for
  writing, editing, submitting, and reusing R code (see next section).

### IDEs and Operating Systems

An IDE is software that supports programmers in developing software
efficiently by providing a set of tools in the same environment. There
are several IDEs in the market.IDEs have several advantages over working
at the command prompt or in the R GUI:

- Specialized commands for running code and reviewing results.
- Help with editing by doing things like notifying the user of
  mismatched parentheses.
- Easily switch between editing code and reading output.
- Ease of saving your work and reusing it again later.

The popular RStudio IDE is not accessible for screen reader users on any
platform.It is very important for teachers to understand that blind
students won't have access to this environment and so won't be using its
buttons or shortcuts. The same applies to those who write documentation.

#### Windows

Many blind R users use the [Visual Studio Code (VS
Code)](https://code.visualstudio.com) IDE with screen readers.The [R
extension for VS
code](https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=REditorSupport.r)provides
additional functionality to make working in R more convenient.A second
option for working with R in Windows is to install [Windows Subsystem
for
Linux](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/about)(WSL).With
WSL, you can run a Linux command line environment on Windows.You can
access the Terminal using the NVDA or JAWS screen readers.An R session
in the terminal would be accessible, or you could read input and output
in the text editor of your choice from either the Windows or Linux
operating system.This would be a great option for people who are
experienced NVDA or JAWS users who want to learn about both R and Linux.

#### Mac and Linux

The software listed below works together to provide an environment for
working with R:

- [Emacs](https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/) is a powerful and
  customizable IDE thatcan be used with R, although there are many
  commands to learn at first.
- [Emacspeak](https://github.com/tvraman/emacspeak) is a screen reader
  designed specifically for use in a Linux (or Mac) terminal with
  Emacs.It works much better than VoiceOver, Apple's native screen
  reader, in the terminal.Emacspeak is powerful but also involves
  learning many keyboard commands.
- [Emacs Speaks Statistics (ESS)](https://ess.r-project.org) is a
  package you can add to Emacs that will allow you to edit and submit
  code and view your output in another text window.It customizes the
  emacs environment for R.
- Another useful emacs package is [Polymode](https://polymode.github.io)
  which facilitates using R Markdown to produce documents like reports
  and slides that are very accessible if you output them in HTML format.

The last time I tested VScode on a Mac, it was not fully accessible with
VoiceOver.

## Useful R Features

R Markdown and `quarto` are useful R tools.They allow you to make a
single text file containing both plain text and R code.The resulting
document can show both text explanation of your work and R output.These
tools produce several file types as output.The HTML output is easy to
navigate in similar ways to sighted colleagues.This accessibility makes
these tools ideal for reports, homework assignments, websites, and slide
presentations.

I haven't included documentation here because it's hard to find
documentation that doesn't assume the use of RStudio.

## Learning to Use R

It's important to practice reading and learning from R's documentation,
but it takes time to learn to understand it. There are lots of helpful
resources out there including:

- UCLA has great [learning modules and
  FAQs](https://stats.oarc.ucla.edu/r/) on R that are in simple text
  formats.
- Searching the Web for examples and tutorials (as long as they aren't
  videos) for the kind of analysis you want to do can help a lot. Avoid
  the commercial sites with lots of ads that interfere with screen
  reader navigation. I prefer the ones hosted on personal or academic
  sites.
- [Oscar Baruffa's website](https://www.bigbookofr.com) lists free,
  online books about R. Many of them are quite accessible except for the
  data visualizations. Also, many of them assume you're using RStudio,
  so you'll have to adapt your work to your own environment.
- [Bookshare](https://bookshare.org) is an electronic book repository
  for print disabled people in some countries. They have many books on
  R, but accessibility can vary, for example, sometimes the code
  snippets are missing. These books can be quite helpful, though.

## Summary

This guide has outlined several ways for screen reader users to work
with R across different operating systems, highlighting accessible tools
like BrailleR, VS Code, and Emacs. By exploring these options, users can
choose the tools that best fit their needs and preferences.


R is a language and environment for statistical computing.There are several tools and approaches for interacting with R, but not all are accessible with screen readers.This guide provides an overview of the tools and techniques available to screen reader users across different operating systems, with practical tips and resources to help them navigate the R environment.This guide may not be complete, but I hope it serves as a valuable starting

Publicaciones de Rogue Scholar

Resources For Using R With Screen Readers