Devices help the blind cross tech divide
From: CNET News - 10/05/2005
By: Michael Singer

Jerry Swerdlick runs a 15-employee company that resells computers and devices
that aid people with visual, hearing, learning and other physical
disabilities.  

Business is really booming these days, Swerdlick said, as more and more
manufacturers are building so-called assistive technology gadgets to address
a wide range of special needs groups.  

And while he takes bigger and bigger orders from his clients, the mere fact
that he is able to spend many hours on the computer is a testament to how far
assistive technology designs have come in recent years. 

That's because Swerdlick is legally blind.  

"I can't see out of one eye and I've got 20/2400 vision in the other. When
the doctor asks me to read the chart on the wall, I tell him, "I can't even
see the wall much less the chart,'" Swerdlick joked. 

He started his company, Electronic Vision Access Solutions (EVAS), in
Westerly, RI, 26 years ago. In the early days, he went door to door with his
wife selling a camera that when hooked up to a speech synthesizer could read
aloud what appeared in print. EVAS has gone on to improve its speech
synthesizers and contribute bits to things like software that makes print
appear larger.  

In July, EVAS started work on what will be the first of four one-year
contracts with Dell to provide technology for disabled veterans through the
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. About 1,000 veterans participating in
rehabilitation programs for the blind will receive customized Dell OptiPlex
computers, monitors, printers and scanners. The PCs are shipped with both
large print and Braille guides for quick, easy setup and outfitted with
software and peripherals.  

Swerdlick's EVAS is part of a $5.4 billion assistive technology industry,
according to the Smithsonian Institution. That's nearly double market
estimates six years ago. 

The market itself is broad. Some of the devices that are becoming
increasingly common include Braille-based handheld devices with
text-to-speech technology, tactile keyboards with oversize characters, and
pointing devices that control PCs with a movement of an eyebrow.  

An aging population in industrialized countries combined with a government
effort to satisfy more special needs groups is lighting a fire under this
industry, which adds 10 to 20 new companies every year, Assistive Technology
Industry Association (ATIA) executive director David Dikter said. The
Chicago-based nonprofit advocacy group advises companies and government
agencies. 

"I think what is happening in the handheld market is pretty dynamic with its
huge focus on the blind, visually and hearing-impaired," Dikter said. "A
person who has been diagnosed with Parkinson's or even had a stroke can find
technologies that allow them to have speech output. That is powerful, if you
think about it. If you are 50 years old and your disability caused you not to
be able to speak, this technology creates an independence that lets them go
into a bank." 

There's a huge need for these products. The World Health Organization
estimates that between 750 million and 1 billion of the world's 6 billion
people deal with some form of speech, vision, mobility, hearing or cognitive
impairment.  

In the United States alone, more than 54 million people have some sort of
disability, according to census figures released in 2002. That's likely to go
up as the 76 million baby boomers born between 1946 and 1964 get ready to
retire. 

Microsoft, for one, has been taking a hard look at the issue. In addition to
numerous studies, the software giant recently released a royalty-free
software license called the Microsoft Windows User Interface Automation,
which helps modify Microsoft Word, Excel, or third-party applications with
screen readers, screen enlargers and other alternative inputs. 

Besides Microsoft, other well-known tech companies are also working on
assistive technology. Apple Computer, Adobe and IBM have been working on
speech recognition and screen enlargement software for their various
applications. Apple, IBM, Hewlett-Packard and Dell have offered technical
support to third-party companies working on assistive technology hardware.
The computer makers have also adapted their PCs, laptops and PDAs to include
large, recognizable keys and plug-and-play USB ports that support various
peripherals.  

Smaller companies such as Freedom Scientific, HumanWare AgentSheets, WizCom
Tecnologies, Digital Lifestyle Outfitters and DynaVox are also among the
hundreds of assistive technology companies that the ATIA endorses. 

"In some ways the mainstream movement of assistive devices is similar to the
convergence of computers and consumer electronics devices," Dikter said. "For
someone who is blind, there is adaptive software that can let the cell phone
talk. Previously, they would have had to carry a couple of devices with
them." 

Some recent product examples include: 

    Refreshable Braille displays such as ones made by Blazie Engineering, of
    Middlesex, England, provide tactile displays of information represented
    on the computer screen. A Braille "cell" is composed of a series of dots.
    The pattern of the dots and various combinations of the cells are used in
    place of letters. Refreshable Braille displays mechanically lift small
    rounded plastic or metal pins as needed to form Braille characters. The
    user reads the Braille letters with his or her fingers, and then, after a
    line is read, can refresh the display to read the next line. The
    technology is finding its way into handheld devices such as the PC Mate,
    which has a $2,022 starting price. 

    HumanWare, in Quebec, Canada, has created the Trekker, a lightweight
    travel tool for the blind that uses an HP iPaq digital music player as a
    platform to provide the user with a talking personal guide. Weighing 1.3
    pounds and equipped with an onboard microphone and a Braille touch
    screen, Trekker is the first global positioning system-based portable
    product offering digital maps for the visually impaired. It keeps pace
    with the user, announcing street names, intersections, addresses, stores,
    restaurants and area attractions as they come. Pressing a "Where am I?"
    key pinpoints the user's location. The units are available through
    distributors and cost $1,595 for the hardware, with local maps starting
    at $55. 

    AgentSheets, in Boulder, Colo., is a software company that uses the iPaq
    handheld as the basis for a device that helps people with disabilities
    use public transit systems. The system tracks GPS-equipped buses, alerts
    the passenger when the correct bus approaches, helps the passenger on
    board through audio and visual cues, and reminds the passenger when the
    bus reaches the right stop. 

    Eatoni, based in New York City, has developed a system that allows people
    with vision problems to read e-mail on their cell phones. The Eatoni
    software is based on Binary Runtime Environment for Wireless (BREW)
    technology, which was developed by Qualcomm. The software reduces the
    number of keystrokes used to type text on a telephone keypad. It also can
    increase the font size of words appearing on a phone's screen. 

    Enkidu Research, a subsidiary of DynaVox Technologies, has developed the
    Palmtop Impact. The portable communication device is designed to help
    people who are unable to speak. A user can touch letters, words, phrases
    or even picture symbols on a handheld touch screen, which are then
    converted into loud, clear speech. It costs $3,295. 

Government intervention has certainly helped this industry grow, and that's
where Swerdlick said his company comes in. He said 90 percent of his business
comes from federal and state government customers, including New York,
Maryland, Hawaii and Alabama. The remainder is split equally between
corporate clients and individual purchases. 

Like some of his customers, Swerdlick is hopeful that another generation of
technologies can do more--perhaps something as seemingly obvious as making
speech recognition and voice reproduction technologies sound like real people. 

"We see, but we see in different ways," Swerdlick said of people with
disabilities. "We hear, but we hear in different ways."  

Read the article online at:
http://sympatico-msn-ca.com.com/Devices+help+the+blind+cross+tech+divide/2173-1041_3-5888810.html

Links:
Targeting disabilities with tech
http://sympatico-msn-ca.com.com/Targeting+disabilities+with+tech/2100-1008_3-5464690.html

Electronic Vision Access Solutions
http://www.evas.com/cgi-bin/start.exe/Main.htm

Assistive Technology Industry Association (ATIA)
http://www.atia.org/

New tech brings basketball to the blind 
http://sympatico-msn-ca.com.com/New+tech+brings+basketball+to+the+blind/2100-1041_3-5728348.html

Microsoft's New Accessibility Model To Be Offered as Cross-Platform Solution for Industry
http://www.microsoft.com/enable/at/uia.aspx

Contributed by Alan Cantor
