Can someone help pls? FN

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