Product and Technology

‘Wayfinder’ to help visually impaired people of Birmingham

Dynamic Resource Group reformats craft website for visually impaired people

Blind Eileen Scrivani, an avid knitter, expressed concern that Dynamic Resource Group’s (D.R.G), U.S.A, website ‘FreePatterns.com’ was inaccessible to visually impaired people. As a result, the company researched on accessibility and made the necessary technological changes. Now, all its free patterns are tagged to enable screen readers to translate them into audio format.

Computer technology allows for the conversion of information on a computer screen into either audio or Braille format.

Chase Bank installs a fully accessible, state-of-the-art ATM

Chicago based Chase Bank has installed a fully accessible, state-of-the-art A.T.M. at the Chicago Lighthouse, 1850 W. Roosevelt Rd.—the first A.T.M. at the site. Chase Bank and Chicago Lighthouse are partnering to train visually impaired people on using A.T.M's.

The bank has donated up to 300 sets of earphones, which the Chicago Lighthouse has been distributing. The earphones can be used at any accessible A.T.M.

New software helps colour-blind people

Like many colour-blind people who have adapted all their lives to a particular way of seeing things, Harry Rogers feels his inability to discern red and green hasn't caused him much trouble over the years. Even so, there is one particular difficulty, making sense of charts, graphs, weather maps and other colourful material on his computer screen.

Now, eyePilot, software will enable colour blind people such as Rogers to navigate the Internet.

Guidelines to make websites more accessible to disabled people

Disability Rights Commission (D.R.C.), U.K., has called upon disabled internet users to rise up against inaccessible website owners and help it take complaints with the force of law. The step from D.R.C. followed the launch of new guidelines to amend the limitations in Website Accessibility Initiative, set up by the World Wide Website Consortium. New guidelines on how to make websites user-friendly for disabled people have been developed by the British Standards Institution. The initiative was sponsored by the D.R.C. after an investigation in April 2004.

‘Visionary Design Awards’ felicitate accessible web sites

Wireless braille keyboard

Its compact, portable and ergonomic design makes it extremely user-friendly. The newly designed wireless Braille keyboard incorporates bluetooth technology along with infra-red wireless technology. It enables visually impaired people to use the communication interface with a number of current appliances and devices, such as personal computers, P.D.A.s, pocket P.C. or mobile cell phones.

The wireless Braille keyboard has been designed by ‘Robotiker-Tecnalia’ (Spain) for O.N.C.E. (the Spanish National Association for the Blind).

The device will be on sale shortly.