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On 8/14/12, faiz hussain <[email protected]> wrote: > On 2/23/12, Wahid Raza <[email protected]> wrote: >> Hi all, >> Folks: >> hope all are doing fine >> pasting below a intrusting article, which get from another list. >> Regards >> Wahid >> >> ---------- Forwarded message ---------- >> >> Braille comes unbound from the book: how technology can stop >> a literary crisis >> >> Apple is at the vanguard of a push behind technology that's >> helping old-fashioned Braille replace text-to-speech audio >> for the blind - and it couldn't have come at a more critical >> time >> >> By Saabira Chaudhuri >> guardian.co.uk >> 14 February 2012 >> >> http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/feb/14/technology-brings-braille-back >> -apple >> >> On a lazy Sunday afternoon, Chancey Fleet reads the menu of >> Bombay Garden to four friends gathered at the back of the >> Chelsea-based Indian restaurant in New York City. >> >> Although she is reading aloud, there are no menus on the >> table. They aren't necessary, because Fleet is blind. >> >> Instead, she reads using a Braille display that sits >> unobtrusively on her lap and connects to her iPhone via >> Bluetooth, electronically converting the onscreen text into >> different combinations of pins. She reads by gently but >> firmly running her fingers over the pins with her left hand >> while navigating the phone with her right. >> >> "The iPhone is the official phone of blindness," she told the >> Guardian. >> >> Until recently, technology, especially that which converts >> text to audio, has been hastening the demise of Braille, >> which educators say is a bad thing. Students who can read >> Braille tend on average to acquire higher literacy rates and >> fare better professionally later on. But Apple's push into >> the field - coupled with increasingly affordable Braille >> displays - has the potential to bring Braille back in a big >> way. >> >> Fleet's iPhone has a built-in screen reader called VoiceOver >> that works with all native applications. It tells Fleet what >> her finger is touching, allowing her to download the >> restaurant menu and read it, access her email, and do >> anything else she needs to with the phone, either by >> converting text into Braille on the separate display or by >> reading out loud to her. (Here's a video of the process at >> work.) >> >> Fleet also uses her display to type, rather than navigate >> with her iPhone or computer keyboard. It has a spacebar and >> with eight thumb-sized keys - one that works as a backspace >> key, another as an enter key, and the remainder that function >> as the six dot positions that comprise a Braille character. >> >> When Apple released the first accessible iPhone in 2009, "it >> took the blind community by storm," said Fleet. "We didn't >> know, nobody knew, that Apple was planning an accessible >> device. The device went from being an infuriating brick to a >> fluid, usable, opportunity-levelling device in one >> iteration." >> >> Apple has shown that "devices aren't inaccessible because >> they have to be, but because companies made them with a lack >> of imagination," said Fleet. "Apple proved that a blind >> person could use an interface that didn't have physical >> buttons." >> >> Anne Taylor, director of access technology for the National >> Federation of the Blind, agrees. >> >> "Apple has set the bar very high," she said. "No other mobile >> OS provider, such as Google or Microsoft, has made Braille >> available on their mobile platform." >> >> Apple's iPad, iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, and third generation iPod >> Touch already support more than 30 Bluetooth wireless Braille >> displays. And the company's recent push into digital >> textbooks could greatly reduce the time it takes for Braille >> textbooks to be available to students, not to mention reduce >> their cost and size: a single print textbook must be >> transformed into several volumes of Braille. >> >> "Ebooks can be a game changer if they're properly designed >> because it would allow us to get access to the same books at >> the same time at the same price as everyone else," said >> Christopher Danielsen, spokesman for the NFB. "Publishers and >> manufacturers have to ensure they are designed to be >> accessible to work with braille displays. That's what Apple >> has done. Apple is not perfect but they're way, way ahead of >> everybody else in this area." >> >> The benefits of Braille Apple's accessibility efforts come at >> a pivotal time. For decades now, the number of Braille users >> has been on the decline. Data from the American Printing >> House for the Blind's annual registry of legally blind >> students shows that in 1963, 51% of legally blind children in >> public and residential schools used Braille as their primary >> reading medium. In 2007 this number fell to just 10%, while >> in 2011 it stood at under 9%. >> >> While there are many reasons for the decline of Braille, >> technology that converts text to speech has been identified >> as a major factor. In a nationwide sample of 1,663 teachers >> of visually impaired and blind students conducted in the >> early 1990s, 40% chose reliance on technology as a reason >> behind Braille's decline. >> >> "When we experienced the tech boom in the nineties, I was led >> to believe speech was the way forward, that Braille was >> becoming obsolete," said William O'Donnell, a Manhattan-based >> student who has been blind since birth. >> >> But learning or reading using Braille - rather than audio - >> has distinct advantages, say educators. >> >> "There's this tremendous importance to seeing the way print >> looks on a page, what punctuation does and looks like in a >> sentence," said Catherine Mendez, who works as a kindergarten >> teacher at Public School 69 in the Bronx. "Braille in the >> context of early literacy is huge. If we can get these >> devices into the hands of kids early we can bolster their >> understanding in a way speech can't do." >> >> There are professional benefits to learning Braille too. A >> survey conducted by Louisiana Tech University's Professional >> Development and Research Institute on Blindness found that >> people with sight disabilities who learn to read through >> Braille have a much higher chance of finding a job, even more >> than those who read large print. >> >> And once you get that job Braille might help you keep it. "In >> business meetings it's more unobtrusive to use Braille. If I >> want to multitask, headphones are rude, but Braille is >> acceptable," said Fleet. She uses Braille when writing formal >> letters or papers, or preparing notes for a public speech or >> presentation. >> >> A 'literacy crisis' Still, for now Braille displays can only >> show one line of Braille at a time and can cost between >> $3,000 and $15,000 - depending on the number of characters >> they display at a time - which is prohibitively expensive for >> some. "For me it was not practical to continue to use >> Braille," said Mendez, who does not own a Braille display. >> >> How the cost will come down is a problem that scientists are >> working to solve. Dr Peichun Yung, a postdoctoral research >> associate at the electrical and computer engineering >> department of North Carolina State University, who lost his >> own eyesight in an accident, has been working on a device >> that would raise dots that by using a hydraulic and latching >> mechanism made of an electroactive polymer, which is both >> cheaper and more resilient than the prevailing technology. >> >> "There is a Braille literacy crisis right now," said Yung. >> "Literacy is the foundation for having a job and living an >> independent life. For reading every day, you cannot just rely >> on speech." Nihal Erkan. For those who own both an iPhone or >> laptop and a Braille display, having to choose between audio >> and Braille isn't necessary. Nowadays, the two go hand in >> hand - literally. Many of the technologies that convert text >> to speech also convert it into a form that can be read on a >> refreshable Braille display, making Braille far more >> accessible for those who own both devices. >> >> "Braille has a versatility and a fluidity that it has never >> had before," said Fleet. While she recalls owning a pocket >> dictionary in seventh grade that took up "eight huge >> volumes," now "Braille has come unbound from the book". >> >> "Braille is portable, searchable, downloadable. You can >> convert print to Braille yourself," she said. "You can go to >> a library or use Bookshare, which is free for students, and >> if you harness it, Braille is better than it's >> >> ___________________________________________ >> >> >> Search for old postings at: >> http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ >> >> To unsubscribe send a message to >> [email protected] >> with the subject unsubscribe. >> >> To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, >> please >> visit the list home page at >> http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in >> >> > > > Search for old postings at: > http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ > > To unsubscribe send a message to > [email protected] > with the subject unsubscribe. > > To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please > visit the list home page at > http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in > > Search for old postings at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ To unsubscribe send a message to [email protected] with the subject unsubscribe. 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