Speech help

[Linux for blind general discussion]

Hi,

My dad has lost his central vision and I'm looking to see if
some speech utilities on his debian system could make it
usable for him.

At minimum I'd like to have synthesized speech to help him
login at power on, use a mail client, and have audible feedback
for each keystroke. A speech-friendly menu to select a program
to run or system shutdown would also help. 

Can you suggest which software I should use? Will a text
mail client like mutt be easier than a gui client like
sylpheed, that he was using before?

Thanks for any pointers.

Joel


-- 
Joel Roth