ACCESSING THE MAINSTREAM THROUGH UNIVERSAL
CONNECTIVITY AND MOBILITY
Presenter(s)
Larry Lewis
Optelec US Inc.
Day Phone: (216) 381-8107
Email: LarryL@optelec.com
This session will illustrate via concrete examples how wireless
connectivity integrating Braille input and output leads to successful outcomes
in the classroom and workplace.
This session will begin by surveying the current state of Adaptive
Technology and will discuss trends indicative of current adaptive Braille and
speech solutions. To be sure, many of today's solutions are designed to serve
the various needs of persons who are blind in a variety of capacities through
access to, or compatibility with numerous desktop and Pocket applications. While
there is a great deal to appreciate about these current technologies, there are
many unfulfilled needs which an alternative approach to portable information
access can meet.
The author will provide to the audience demonstrations of three
revolutionary solutions for accessing these mainstream technologies. Access to
a mobile phone through synthesized speech and a means of wireless Braille
keyboard navigation and entry will manifest Optelec's commitment to take
advantage of the numerous mainstream strategies for portable information access
through an industry standard cellular phone solution. Two needs are fulfilled
by adopting this strategy. Firstly, the user now has at his disposal all of the
functionality of an accessible cellular phone at his fingertips. Secondly, by
incorporating portable Braille keyboards into this solution, the user may now
extract the off the shelf PDA functionality out of this phone into a
comfortable alternative that is familiar to him performing many of the tasks
relevant to success in the classroom and workplace.
Secondly, the author will demonstrate the latest in efficient access to
Pocket PC by utilizing a wireless Braille keyboard in conjunction with an
appropriate user interface designed to meet the needs of the blind student or
professional who requires portability throughout, and connectivity to his
environment using a standard, off the shelf pocket PC. Again, these keyboards
give to the end user a great deal of familiarity to an environment that has
been available to sighted individuals for years at a much lower price point
than the proprietary notetaking solutions familiar to blind students. Optelec has preserved much of the rich, Versa-Braille and
Braille n Speak aspects of the user interfaces to these devices, but now has
the privilege of leveraging this know-how off the mainstream technological wave
which immerses a predominately sighted society.
Thirdly, the author will unveil Optelec’s newest wireless refreshable
Braille product offering which provides direct access to, and control of a
desktop PC, Pocket PC, and a cellular phone. This solution provides
state-of-the-art refreshable Braille access to all of the above mentioned
devices allowing for one device to serve the end user in countless capacities. Examples
will be given as to how this solution might serve the blind student and
employee in a variety of educational and vocational settings bringing the
electronic, printed word to tactual life allowing for countless applications to
be incorporated into a student’s educational experience.
The author will conclude by looking to future considerations relating to
the implementation of refreshable Braille access to these and other
technologies which the Optelec Group will be unveiling in the coming months,
and challenging the audience to move beyond the traditional, often limiting
scope of current notetakers towards a paradigm shift whereby the customer
constructs an environment which is conducive for the student to flourish at a
price that his school district can afford.
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