[Fsf-friends] Fwd: FW: Query on ICT tools for the blind

[Frederick Noronha]

Can someone help pls? FN

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: sajan venniyoor <s.venniyoor at unesco.org>
Date: 27-Mar-2007 17:57
Subject: FW: Query on ICT tools for the blind
To: frederick.noronha at gmail.com






Dear Rico,



Dipendra Manocha of the National Association for the Blind has raised
an important query concerning ICT tools for the blind (see below).
Since you have a considerable knowledge of the kind of ICT tools that
Manocha is referring to, could you kindly respond to his query? I
would really appreciate an early reply.



Warm regards,

Sajan




Sajan Venniyoor

Resource Person and Moderator

ICT for Development Community

UN Solution Exchange

UNESCO House

B-5/29, Safdarjung Enclave

New Delhi - 110 029

Ph: 91-11-26713000 Extn: 207





Query: ICT tools for Visually Impaired Persons-Examples.Reply by 2 April 2007



Dear Members,



Information Technology has the potential to revolutionize the way
blind people read and write, and make them totally independent for all
their reading and writing needs. ICT is a revolution for persons with
vision impairment. A computer becomes a basic reading and writing tool
for the blind or persons with low vision; thus it means much more to
them than it does for persons without vision impairment.


 For example, a computer can become a printed text reader for them if
we combine the scanner, OCR (optical character recognition) and TTS
(text-to-speech) engine technology. Unfortunately, all this is
currently available only in English and other European languages. The
TTS being made for Indian languages does not follow standards such as
SAPI (Speech Application Programming Interface), which means these
cannot be used "out of the box" with any existing applications.



Until these technologies are available for Indian languages, persons
with blindness in India will remain on the dark side of the digital
divide and will be forced to remain dependent on others for basic
tasks like writing and reading a letter, reading books or writing
examinations.



Most of the access technology tools built for people with blindness
and limited vision are built on the two basic building blocks of OCR
software and TTS engines, and any information on these would be
invaluable for people with vision impairment.



·         Is the community aware of any good OCR software available
for Indian languages?

·         Does anyone have information about text to speech engines
for any Indian language which is fully SAPI compliant?



I would be grateful if members of the ICTD community could provide
examples of such software.



Dipendra Manocha

National Association for the Blind - Delhi State Branch

New Delhi

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