Computers For The Blind
Published by: Codrut Nistor, in News
July21st2008
The fact that blind people can use computers is nothing new, but when you say "computers for the blind," it usually gets down to expensive screen-reader software, and so these people are somehow "tied up" to their home computers, since public PCs in hotels, libraries or Internet cafes don't have this kind of software installed. Well, that was true until a few days ago, when a free Web-based application for the blind was released, with the goal of making this world a better place for them. That's simply great, if you ask me, so let's find out more about it, shall we?
Developed by a computer science graduate student at the University of Washington, Jeffrey Bigham, WebAnywhere "requires no special software to be installed on the client machine and, therefore, enables blind people to access the web from any computer they happen to have access to that has a sound card."
The best part is that, according to its creator, this application is able to run on "on any machine, even heavily locked-down public terminals, regardless of what operating system it is running and regardless of what browsers are installed."
In the end, this program may be only the beginning, but I found it extremely handy that, with its help, virtually all computers connected to the Internet can be turned into computers for the blind, and since WebAnywhere is open source, everything looks great, don't you think?
For now, there are still some keystrokes required to move around Web pages, but Jeffrey Bigham made a big step for the blind with his application. All I can hope is that others will step in and give him a hand, since professor Richard Ladner, his faculty adviser, is hoping for a commercial search engine to use WebAnywhere as a module.
All in all, we may move from computers for the blind to "webpages for the blind," and I must repeat this is simply great, making information easier for everyone to find. After all, computers can do so much, but interaction with those with visual impairments is still far from being perfect just yet.
Developed by a computer science graduate student at the University of Washington, Jeffrey Bigham, WebAnywhere "requires no special software to be installed on the client machine and, therefore, enables blind people to access the web from any computer they happen to have access to that has a sound card."
The best part is that, according to its creator, this application is able to run on "on any machine, even heavily locked-down public terminals, regardless of what operating system it is running and regardless of what browsers are installed."
In the end, this program may be only the beginning, but I found it extremely handy that, with its help, virtually all computers connected to the Internet can be turned into computers for the blind, and since WebAnywhere is open source, everything looks great, don't you think?
For now, there are still some keystrokes required to move around Web pages, but Jeffrey Bigham made a big step for the blind with his application. All I can hope is that others will step in and give him a hand, since professor Richard Ladner, his faculty adviser, is hoping for a commercial search engine to use WebAnywhere as a module.
All in all, we may move from computers for the blind to "webpages for the blind," and I must repeat this is simply great, making information easier for everyone to find. After all, computers can do so much, but interaction with those with visual impairments is still far from being perfect just yet.
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4 Comments on Computers For The Blind
On 05/03/2009 at 11:43 pm cynthia said:
hi my name is Cynthia and me my daughter and mother all have eye problems we are legally blind in one eye and we were wondering if you new somewhere we could get a free computer to help us because we have a hard time with ours.
On 07/27/2010 at 11:33 pm Denise Euri c/o tommilou bates said:
Denise is a single blind person since birth but she can type and knows braile. She is educated and i feel she could help herself and others with a computer. She has checked into this some time ago and the cost is impossible because she is on a fixed income. Denise is musically talented and quite witty. she is 53. Please consider her for a free computer. Respectfully yours Tommilou Bates email; tommiloub@yahoo.com
On 08/20/2010 at 3:24 pm Dash said:
We are looking at ways to help the blinds in our country. We hope to know more of your product, please send us more information. We would like to know how much it cost and how we can get it to benefits the blind people.
My email address is dash@xonex.com.my
On 08/21/2010 at 10:53 am Matt Jones said:
Frostbite systems specialises in Computer Systems for the blind, the guy that runs the company is blind.
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