Assistive technologies: Accessibility for People with Visual Impairment René ANDREESC( Polytechnic School Bucharest Association)

Assistive technologies: Accessibility for People with

Visual Impairment René ANDREESC( Polytechnic School

Bucharest Association)

INTERNET for Blind

People who are visually impaired, can to find ways to accomplish routine daily tasks and could be able to:

1. Live independently and productively2. Read and write3. Raise a family4. Have a social life5. Travel6. Maintain a career—or launch a new one7. Enjoy recreational sports and games8. In short, lead a normal life

BUCHAREST_ROMANIA Austrului Street_ Pilot Project

VISIO CENTER VISIO Virtual Environment (VVE)

The system is developed jointly by: « Polytechnic School of Bucharest

Association » - ROMANIA and

“R&D Media” - Switzerland

BUCHAREST_ROMANIA Austrului Street_ Pilot Project

ICT for peoples with disabilities

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The school in Bucharest with 350 students from grade 1 to 8, which more than 50 students completely blind benefited from a donation and the equipment is available in the school lab.

It consists of the following items :1. one computer 2. Internet access3. one Braille keyboard4. one specialized software JAWS with voice synthesizer and 36

languages capabilities.

The equipment and software was purchase from Polytechnic School of Bucharest Association - Romania and R&D Media - Switzerland

BUCHAREST_ROMANIA Austrului Street_ Pilot Project

INTERNET for Blind

BUCHAREST_ROMANIA Austrului Street_ Pilot Project

The Bucharest School for the Blind has begun to use specialized software and equipment that can speak aloud text on a computer screen, or translate it onto a Braille display that the user can read. Thanks to the technology, students with visual impairments can complete homework, read books or send e-mail in a similar way to sighted children.

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BUCHAREST_ROMANIA Austrului Street_ Pilot Project

A visually impaired student can write a text in Braille using the keyboard, which the JAWS software then transforms into normal characters that appear on the computer screen.It can also perform the task in reverse, changing text on the computer screen into Braille output that the student reads by touching the keyboard. Alternatively (but less popular with the students), JAWS can be used with the voice synthesizer to read aloud on-screen text.

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BUCHAREST_ROMANIA Austrului Street_ Pilot Project

The system makes 36 languages available, and it allows blind and partially sighted children to read content on the Internet and to exchange e-mail with people from far and wide. Significant results have been achieved after only one year of operation. Students are not only able to receive a wider education, their parents are happy that their children feel more connected to the world at large.

INTERNET for Blind

BUCHAREST_ROMANIA Austrului Street_ Pilot Project

INTERNET for Blind

BUCHAREST_ROMANIA Austrului Street_ Pilot Project

INTERNET for Blind

BUCHAREST_ROMANIA Austrului Street_ Pilot Project

INTERNET for Blind Empowering persons with disabilities

BUCHAREST_ROMANIA Austrului Street_ Pilot Project

Empowering persons with disabilities

BUCHAREST_ROMANIA Austrului Street_ Pilot Project

Empowering persons with disabilities

BUCHAREST_ROMANIA Austrului Street_ Pilot Project

Petra Pintelei, a student in her final year at the school, described how she learned to use the new equipment. "It is very interesting, because there are different nationalities of blind people who need a thing like this," she commented, pointing out that many different languages can be translated into Braille or a synthesized voice.However, only one unit is not enough for the whole school. If we could have more of these, we would be so glad because then we could communicate and become better integrated into society,"

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BUCHAREST_ROMANIA Austrului Street_ Pilot Project

Roxana Dunnette is the second to Mr. Sami Al Basheer Al Morshid

Director of ITU Telecommunication Development Bureau

INTERNET for Blind

BUCHAREST_ROMANIA Austrului Street_ Pilot Project

INTERNET for Blind

BUCHAREST_ROMANIA Austrului Street_ Pilot Project

INTERNET for Blind

BUCHAREST_ROMANIA Austrului Street_ Pilot Project

INTERNET for Blind

NEXT STEP?????

VISIO Virtual Environment (VVE)

Implement a 30 workstation system, divided in two groups, and a VISIO Virtual Environment, a set of online tools, systems and processes interoperating to facilitate or enhance the learning process for

eye disabilities persons

BUCHAREST_ROMANIA Austrului Street_ Pilot Project

INTERNET for Blind

NEXT STEP?????The purpose of VISIO Virtual Environment (VVE) is to provide teachers and students with the tools and services they need to do learning process of any type as efficiently and effectively as possible. This means VVEs will help individual teachers and students manage the increasingly complex range of tasks involved in doing learning. In addition they will facilitate collaboration among communities of eye disabilities, often

across disciplinary and national boundaries

BUCHAREST_ROMANIA Austrului Street_ Pilot Project

VISIO- CENTER• While CENTERs are not an entirely new idea, the strong emphasis on this

new policy option offers an intriguing and encouraging approach to overcoming the wide disparities of access in the Information Age, and opportunities for disadvantaged young students to participate in the newly emerging social and economic orders.

• VISIO- CENTERs address two major concerns with respect to telecommunications and information access for eye disabilities persons:

• First, VISIO CENTERs integrated as a part of ICT lab, in primary schools, high schools and colleges will provide access to the newest ICT technologies to the eye disabilities persons, as a transitional guarantee to all students for equal access to the full range of programs and ICT resources;

• Second, VISIO CENTERs can also provide a myriad of ICT services, and act as a focal point in order to permit the access to e-learning, build-up electronic VISIO libraries, and to electronic commerce applications, and to many other public information services.

• The VISIO CENTER models reviewed in this paper offer numerous economic and social development opportunities for the communities they will serve.

VISIO- CENTER• Elements of a VISIO CENTER: Supply and Demand• We define CENTERs based on a supply and demand model. That is, a

CENTER depends upon both those technologies and services that it is capable of providing to the eye disabilities persons, and the demand for applications that will meet the needs of the specific community or it targets.

• • The Supply Side • The supply side of the VISIO CENTER refers to what the CENTERs can

offer, both in terms of infrastructure as well as services. The VISIO CENTER infrastructure also reflects the technological capacity available, which is a main determinant of the types of services and applications that can be offered. The key supply elements of VISIO CENTERs include:

• Hardware or physical infrastructure, including telecommunications access and backbone connectivity; electrical power; and specific technical equipment;

• Software infrastructure, including available services and applications for users (interfaces, programs, as well as training materials), and also management methods and materials for the VISIO CENTER managers;

• Human resource infrastructure, meaning the personnel who operate the VISIO CENTER, their degree of skills and resources, and the roles that they play in managing the VISIO CENTER, providing service to users, and contributing to training

VISIO CENTER

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