Computer Aids for the Blind
From: Baltimore Sun - 10/24/2002
By: Stacey Hirsh

Although several products debuting today aim to provide visually impaired
persons with the means to use computer technology more efficiently, advocates
claim that the technological chasm blind people face is widening. National
Federation of the Blind director Curtis Chong notes that visually handicapped
job seekers must make sure that the companies they are applying to use
software that is interoperable with technology for the blind, even if they
are not looking for a technical position. Blind employees who cannot
interface with graphics displayed on computer screens, for instance, are at a
significant disadvantage, and have even been denied advancement in some
cases. Microsoft, in conjunction with Freedom Scientific, will launch the PAC
Mate, a handheld PC that will enable the blind to send email to desktops.
However, Hewlett-Packard reports on its Web site that the PAC Mate is far
more costly than the iPAQ pocket PC. Meanwhile, the National Institute of
Standards and Technology will introduce a computer-connected device that
allows the blind to feel graphics such as maps or pictures. Microsoft's
Madelyn Bryant McIntire feels that this decade will witness many
technological advances that will positively impact people with disabilities,
but Susie Stanzel of the US Department of Agriculture says that the rate of
technological development is outpacing that of accessibility tools.
Proponents say that solving accessibility problems for blind people will
involve considering those problems during the design process rather than
after.  

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