There are some areas of computing where blind people have made enormous progress. We can write documents, manage email, browse the web, edit audio, communicate across social media, use artificial intelligence, manage complex information and work with many professional applications more independently than ever before.
But presentations have always been different.
A presentation is not simply a document broken into short pieces. It is a visual object. A slide has space. It has balance. It has pictures, tables, colours, fonts, reading order, speaker notes, and sometimes sound or video. A good presentation is not only about the words it contains, but about how those words, images and other elements are arranged so that an audience can follow the message.
For a blind person, that presents a very real problem. You may know exactly what you want to say. You may be an excellent speaker. You may understand your subject completely. But when you are working in PowerPoint, it can still be difficult to answer questions which sighted people can often answer in seconds.
- Is the picture on the left or the right?
- Does the text fit on the slide?
- Is one object covering another?
- Are the colours sufficiently distinct?
- Will a screen reader read the items in the order I intend?
- Does the slide look crowded?
- Have I supplied descriptions for the pictures and tables?
- Can I work with a presentation sent to me by a sighted colleague and properly understand what is there?
For many years, blind people have found ways of doing the job. We have asked colleagues to check slides. We have used templates. We have kept presentations deliberately simple. We have learned a few PowerPoint techniques and hoped for the best. Some people have become extremely skilled at this. But even then, the process has often involved more uncertainty, more assistance and more stress than it should.
PresentAble has been created to change that.
PresentAble is a new product from Hartgen Consultancy, produced in collaboration with Jonathan Simeone. It is designed for JAWS for Windows users who need to create, edit, review and understand PowerPoint presentations in a way which is structured, keyboard-driven and accessible.
This is one of those occasions where the phrase "game-changer" is not being used lightly. PresentAble does not merely provide a few keyboard shortcuts for PowerPoint. It gives blind people a different way into the presentation process. It allows you to build slides using familiar Windows controls, to choose from structured layouts, to add and organise content, to include pictures, tables, audio and video, to check accessibility, to review formatting, and to export the result as a PowerPoint file.
Just as importantly, it helps you understand presentations. That matters enormously. Blind people do not only need to create slides from scratch. They also receive presentations from colleagues, employers, teachers, students, clients and organisations. Those presentations may have been designed visually, with little thought given to how they will be read by a screen reader. PresentAble gives you a more practical way of exploring that content, making sense of it, improving it and, where necessary, preparing it for your own use.
This is about independence. It is about confidence. It is about taking a form of communication which has often been difficult for blind people to control, and making it possible to work with it in a more informed and professional way.
The Personal Story Behind PresentAble.
PresentAble also has a story behind it, and it is a story worth telling.
Jonathan Simeone was born blind. He is a lawyer by trade, and much of his professional work has focused on compliance with Titles II and III of the Americans with Disabilities Act. In other words, he understands accessibility not only as a technology user, but as someone who has worked seriously in the field of disability rights and equal access.
Jonathan lives in Oregon with his wife and the youngest two of his three stepdaughters. His interests include sports, reading, writing, learning, and, more recently, what has become known as vibe coding.
He has created dozens of PowerPoint presentations and delivered them to thousands of people. He enjoys creating presentations. He enjoys delivering them. But he hates using PowerPoint.
That distinction is important.
Many blind people do not dislike presentations. They dislike the tools they are expected to use in order to create them. They dislike the uncertainty. They dislike having to wonder whether a slide looks acceptable. They dislike being dependent on someone else to check something which should be part of their own professional workflow.
Jonathan had wanted an accessible way to create PowerPoint presentations as independently as possible for more than a decade. Then, one morning, while drinking coffee and reading more about vibe coding on social media, he began exploring what might be possible. Six weeks later, he had an application which he believed could revolutionise the way he personally created, edited and viewed presentations.
He wanted to share it with other blind and low vision people who needed to create, edit and view PowerPoint presentations. He had long admired and used software produced by Brian Hartgen and sold by Hartgen Consultancy. When he realised he was building something that could allow him to create accessible presentations in an accessible way, he posted about it on Mastodon. One of the reasons he did so was that he hoped Brian might become interested in testing the app.
Brian did more than test it. He liked the app, saw its potential, and was willing to work with Jonathan to help bring it to market.
That collaboration has led to PresentAble.
Why Presentations Have Been So Difficult.
To understand why PresentAble matters, it is worth thinking about the nature of a presentation.
A Word document is usually read from top to bottom. It may have headings, paragraphs, tables and lists, but in most cases there is a clear linear order. A spreadsheet is more complex, but it is still organised into rows, columns and cells. Even a web page, although it can be complicated, usually has a structure which a screen reader can expose through headings, links, form fields and other elements.
A slide is different.
It is a visual surface. A title might be at the top. Bullet points might appear on the left. A picture might appear on the right. A table might fill most of the slide. A video might sit below a short piece of text. A decorative image might be present but not intended to be spoken. The visual order and the screen reader reading order may not be the same. Something might be placed on the slide but not obvious to the person using speech. A picture might be too small, too large or cropped in an unhelpful way. Text might run beyond the space available. Two items might overlap.
This is why the problem cannot be solved simply by saying, "Use PowerPoint with a screen reader." Screen readers can provide access to many parts of PowerPoint, and PowerPoint itself includes accessibility features. But blind users still need a way to make decisions about layout, appearance and structure without being forced into a drag-and-drop visual process.
PresentAble approaches the problem differently.
It gives you a structured editing environment. Instead of needing to visually drag items around a slide, you work with lists, edit fields, buttons and other controls. You choose what you want the slide to contain. You choose the layout. PresentAble places the content according to that layout. You can then review, check, edit and export.
For example, if you want text on the left and an image on the right, you choose a layout which does that. If you want a title and bullet points, you choose that. If you want an image-only slide, a table slide, a video layout or a slide with more than one image or table, there are ways of doing that too. The point is that you are not expected to position objects visually by hand. You make meaningful choices through accessible controls.
Building Presentations from the Keyboard.
PresentAble has been designed around the way blind people work.
When you create a presentation, you are not dropped into a blank visual canvas and expected to find your way around. You begin with a structured environment. You can create a new presentation, continue an existing one, add slides, name slides, choose layouts, add content items and review what you have created.
A content item might be a bullet point or a paragraph. Each item can be edited, moved, removed or copied. If a slide is becoming too crowded, you can split content so that it is divided more sensibly. Speaker notes can be added so you have reminders for what you want to say when delivering the presentation.
This may sound simple, but it is powerful. It means you can think about the message first. What is this slide for? What should the audience take from it? Does it need a picture? Would a table be clearer? Should this be two slides rather than one? PresentAble gives you tools for making those decisions without requiring you to fight the visual interface at every step.
The program also includes guided speech. When you move to a control and pause briefly, PresentAble can speak a short explanation of what that control does or give you a useful command. This is especially helpful when learning the product, because you are not expected to memorise everything before you begin. Help is close to the place where you need it.
Braille has not been forgotten either. PresentAble sends guidance to Braille through JAWS. With a connected Braille display, you can review the control name, type, shortcut and hint. That is very significant for people who prefer to learn, check and work through Braille rather than speech alone.
Creating from Scratch, or Starting with Existing Material.
PresentAble does not assume that every presentation begins from a blank slide.
Sometimes you will want to start with a completely new presentation. You may be preparing a talk, a lesson, a sales demonstration, a conference session, a training course or a community presentation. In that situation, you can build the slides directly inside PresentAble.
But there are many occasions where you already have content. You may have written notes in a Word document. You may have a Markdown file containing headings and bullet points. You may have an existing PowerPoint presentation which needs to be understood, improved or reused.
PresentAble can help with these situations too.
You can create slides from typed Markdown, import a saved Markdown file, import a Word document or import an existing PowerPoint presentation. This means you can begin in the format which is most comfortable for you, then move the material into PresentAble for slide creation, editing, checking and export.
For many blind people, this will be a very natural way to work. You might draft your ideas as headings and bullet points, import them, then refine the presentation inside PresentAble. You might receive a Word document from someone else and turn it into slides. You might take an existing PowerPoint file, bring it into PresentAble, and work through it in a more accessible environment.
That last point is especially important. PresentAble is not only about authoring. It is also about comprehension. If someone sends you a presentation, you need to know what is in it. You need to know the slide titles, the text, the tables, the pictures, the notes and the structure. You may need to adjust it before delivering it yourself. PresentAble gives you a way to work with that material in a form that is far more suited to keyboard and screen reader access.
Pictures, Descriptions and Visual Understanding.
Pictures are often central to presentations. They may illustrate an idea, show a product, display a chart, convey a mood or make a slide more engaging. For blind presenters, pictures have often been a difficult area.
PresentAble lets you add images from your computer and supply alternative text. You can decide whether an image should be described or treated as decorative. You can edit an existing image entry, replace the image file, save a copy of an image, add accessible details and remove an image when it is no longer needed.
It also helps you think about how the picture fits into the slide. Cropping and image quality are not minor details. A picture may technically be present, but still not work well if it is cropped badly, positioned awkwardly or visually unsuitable for the space. PresentAble includes tools for reviewing image fit and quality. You can work with options such as fit, top, centre, bottom, left, right and custom cropping.
Optional OpenAI features can help further. If you choose to use them, PresentAble can ask OpenAI to propose alternative text for an image, suggest a crop, create an image from a written description, or review the visual appearance of a rendered slide. These features are optional and require an OpenAI API key. The main editing, checking and exporting functions do not depend on OpenAI.
This distinction matters. PresentAble is not an AI product with a presentation feature attached. It is a presentation product which can optionally use AI to help with specific tasks. You remain in control. Each paid OpenAI request is reviewed before it is sent. You decide whether to approve it. You can use PresentAble to create, edit, check spelling, add images, write your own descriptions, run local checks and export PowerPoint files without an API key.
Tables, Sound, Video and Speaker Notes.
A serious presentation often needs more than text and pictures.
PresentAble includes support for tables. You can build and edit table slides, work with headers, rows and columns, and provide descriptions. This is useful for schedules, comparisons, results, statistics, plans and other structured information.
The product also supports sound and video. You may want to include an audio example, a short recording, background sound for a particular slide, a demonstration clip or a video sequence. PresentAble provides a structured way to add media, adjust its properties, preview it, read information about it, and check how it will behave when exported.
Speaker notes are also supported. These are the notes intended for you rather than the audience. They may remind you to explain a concept, pause for questions, mention a story, describe an image verbally or introduce the next section. For many presenters, speaker notes are an essential part of delivering a confident talk. PresentAble makes them part of the accessible workflow.
Checking Before You Share.
Creating a presentation is one thing. Trusting it is another.
PresentAble includes checking features designed to help you review your work before sharing it. These checks can identify issues such as missing descriptions, potential structural problems, crowded content and other matters which may affect the quality or accessibility of the presentation.
There is a Results page where issues can be reviewed. Results have severity levels, and you can move from a result to the relevant item. This is important because a check is only useful if it leads you somewhere practical. PresentAble is not merely saying, "There may be a problem." It is helping you locate and repair that problem.
With Microsoft PowerPoint installed, PresentAble can go further by analysing exported slides. This can report measurable issues such as text extending beyond its allotted space or objects overlapping. Those are exactly the kinds of problems which blind people may otherwise not discover until someone else tells them.
Again, this is not about pretending that software can replace every visual judgement. It is about giving blind users far more information than they have traditionally had. It is about moving from guesswork to evidence. It is about being able to say, "I have checked this presentation, I understand its structure, and I know where the likely problems are."
Reading Order and Accessibility for Others.
A presentation may be visually attractive and still be difficult for a screen reader user to understand. One reason is reading order.
The reading order determines the sequence in which screen reader users encounter the items on a slide. If the title is read after the body text, or if a picture description appears in the wrong place, the experience can become confusing. This matters when you are sharing presentations with other blind people, students, colleagues or customers.
PresentAble allows you to review and set reading order. It also helps you supply descriptions for pictures and tables. This means the product is not only about making PowerPoint easier for you to use. It is also about helping you produce presentations which are more accessible to others.
That is a very important point. Blind people should not have to choose between independence and accessibility. PresentAble is designed to help with both.
Working with PowerPoint, Not Against It.
PresentAble exports PowerPoint files. That is essential.
PowerPoint remains the format used by countless organisations, schools, universities, businesses, charities and public bodies. If you create a presentation, there is a very good chance that someone will expect a PowerPoint file at the end of the process.
PresentAble recognises that reality. You can save your PresentAble project as your working copy, then export a PowerPoint file when you are ready to share or deliver it. The project file keeps your slides, notes, pictures and settings together so you can continue working later. The PowerPoint file is the version you give to others or use for presentation.
This separation is useful. It means you can keep editing in the environment designed for you, while still producing a file in the format other people expect.
It is also worth noting that the main editing, checking and exporting functions work without Microsoft PowerPoint installed. However, PowerPoint is required for some additional analysis functions, such as measuring exported slides, and for OpenAI review of a rendered slide. So, if you have PowerPoint, PresentAble can make use of it for deeper checking. If you do not, you can still do the core work of creating and exporting presentations.
Designed for Learning.
PresentAble is a substantial product, but it has been designed to be learned gradually.
The user guide begins with simple examples. You can create a small presentation, add an opening slide, add a slide with bullet points, edit a bullet, add a final slide, add a reminder for yourself, review the slides, save the project, run checks and export a PowerPoint file. That is exactly the right approach. You should not have to understand every advanced feature before creating something useful.
From there, you can explore more. You can create slides from Markdown, import Word documents, import PowerPoint files, manage slides, work with content items, choose layouts, add pictures, crop images, build tables, add sound and video, change formatting, set reading order, run checks, analyse exports, manage backups, compare projects and use optional OpenAI features.
There is also a Command Centre, keyboard help, guided speech and context help. These are not decorative features. They matter because they reduce the fear of getting lost. They mean you can discover commands, learn as you go and build confidence over time.
Who Is PresentAble For?
PresentAble is for blind people who need to create or work with presentations and who use JAWS for Windows.
It may be useful if you are a trainer, teacher, student, lawyer, advocate, consultant, manager, public speaker, broadcaster, technology instructor, volunteer, accessibility specialist, campaigner or anyone else who needs to communicate ideas through slides.
It may be especially useful if you have avoided creating presentations because PowerPoint felt too visual, too unpredictable or too dependent on sighted help.
It may also be useful if you already create presentations, but want more independence, better checking, better structure and a clearer understanding of what you are sharing.
And it may be valuable if you regularly receive presentations from sighted colleagues and need a better way to understand and adapt them.
Release Date, Introductory Price and Availability.
PresentAble is scheduled for release on 23 November 2026.
Hartgen Consultancy will shortly publish a dedicated product page explaining how to pre-order PresentAble.
Until the end of 2026, PresentAble will be available at the introductory price of £80 UK, approximately $107 US. This introductory offer is partly in recognition of the Thanksgiving and Christmas period. After the introductory period, the price will rise to £100 UK, approximately $133 US.
PresentAble works with JAWS for Windows. It can be installed into JAWS versions 2022 through to 2027.
There will also be a demonstration mode, allowing people to try the product before deciding whether it is right for them.
Why This Matters.
There are products which add convenience. There are products which save time. There are products which make a familiar task a little smoother.
PresentAble feels different.
For years, blind people have been told, directly or indirectly, that presentations are visual and therefore awkward. We have adapted. We have found workarounds. We have asked for help. We have created simpler slides than we might otherwise have wanted. We have sometimes delivered excellent talks while quietly worrying about what the slides looked like.
PresentAble challenges that assumption.
It says that blind people should be able to create presentations with structure, style and confidence. It says that we should be able to understand the content of slides designed by others. It says that pictures, tables, media, notes, formatting, reading order and accessibility should be part of our workflow too. It says that exporting to PowerPoint should not require surrendering control over the creative process.
That is why this product is exciting.
It has come from lived experience. It has come from someone who is blind, who has created and delivered presentations for years, who understands the frustration, and who decided that the situation could be better. It has then been developed in collaboration with Hartgen Consultancy, with the aim of making it available to the people who need it.
PresentAble is not just about making slides.
It is about making blind people more present in the presentation process.
It is about being able to create, review, refine and share your ideas with greater independence.
It is about making PowerPoint presentations feel less like something you survive, and more like something you can genuinely own.
We believe PresentAble is going to start a lot of conversations. More importantly, we believe it is going to help many blind people create and understand presentations in a way they have wanted for a very long time.
PresentAble is coming on 23 November 2026.
This should be obvious to anyone reading the above paragraphs and is in line with Hartgen Consultancy's other products. However, to be clear, this product requires JAWS for Windows to function. When PresentAble is launched, the full documentation will be available to read online.
And for anyone who has ever thought, "I know what I want to say, but I wish I could control the slides myself," this may be the product you have been waiting for.