Yahoo screen reader to open new vistas for visually
impaired
Reema Jose
How popular can Internet be with the visually
impaired? A lot, it appeared,
as the visually challenged users in Bangalore
navigated through the web with
the help of a screen reader.
Victor Tsaran, the accessibility guru at Yahoo, made a
profound introduction
as he prepared to demonstrate the companys new
mailing version for the
blind. If any of you cannot see my desktop from where
you are sitting, it
is okay. Then you will understand how your students
feel, to be unable to
see the screen while using the Internet. I suggest you
work on the computer
with your screen switched off for a few minutes every
day, so that you will
know how painful it is, to not see, he said.
Himself completely blind and a hand behind the
accessible version, Tsaran
was perhaps best placed to put the teachers at Mitra
Jyothi, a charitable
institute for the blind, in their students shoes for
a while. He would hold
the keyboard in his lap, and remind the trainers that
for their students,
the mouse was a vain instrument. But there was good
news: The Screen Reader
(software that reads out items on the screen) can do
everything on the
keyboard.
Interestingly, the few visually impaired among the
audience were not lost at
Tsarans usage of computer jargons. Questions were
asked on the download
speeds, the accessibility of graphic content and other
navigation-related
details of the service. Justin Philip, the tech wizard
who worked as a
part-time medical transcriptionist, wanted to know if
the new
user-verifications on the mail were audio-enabled.
Tsaran said the email
verification process, as well as other products of the
company such as
search and messenger would be made accessible for the
disabled.
Hailing from Ukraine where he was a student in
philosophy, Tsaran later
moved to the US to study computers. Technology has
made people more
independent, it has opened jobs for people; but
society also has to change,
he said. Back in the US, he would continue to work on
improving the
possibilities of the Internet for those who cannot
see, he said. I do not
believe in a perfect world. Technology keeps changing.
We have to fight and
find solutions (to accessibility issues), he said.
The new version, Yahoo! Mail Classic is aimed at
making its blind users more independent while using
the Internet. Users should choose the Classic
version
on Yahoos home page, and navigate as different items
on the screen including Inbox, subjects, date and
sender details are read out.
5, 50, 500, 5000 - Store N number of mails in your inbox. Go to
http://help.yahoo.com/l/in/yahoo/mail/yahoomail/tools/tools-08.html
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