Overview of Technology for People Who Are Blind or Visually Impaired
(Slide 1 – Title Slide)
Overview of Technology for People Who Are Blind or Visually Impaired
Ike Presley
American Foundation for the Blind
100 Peachtree St., Suite 2145
Atlanta, GA 30303
404-525-2303
(Slide 2)
What can technology do?
It provides tools for
Accessing printed information
Accessing electronic information
Communicating through writing
Producing materials in alternate formats
(Slide 3) Tools for Accessing Print - Visually
Large Print Publications
Slide Graphic
Photograph of large print books from LRS
Photograph of large print book
Photograph of a small 6 x 4 inches spiral bound large print address booklet with bold lines to carry 40 most important addresses in purse or pocket.
Photograph of a large print address book
Photograph of a large print calendar. Each month has its own tab with an introductory area showing the previous, current and future months and space for Notes/Appointments
Photograph of a large print calendar opened to see the entire month, with a large box for each date
(Slide 4) Tools for Accessing Print – Visually
Enlarging Photo-copying Machines
11 x 17 paper
135-150% enlargement
Poor quality at higher degrees of enlargement
Slide Graphic
Photograph of a woman standing at a photo copying machine
(Slide 5) Tools for Accessing Print - Visually
Non-optical Devices
Lighting
Acetate overlay
Slide Graphic
Photograph of Verilux-Happy Eyes Natural White Light Desk Lamp (Ivory)
Photograph of Luxo 100 Watt Incandescent Task Light - Table Base
Photograph of a floor lamp sitting beside a chair with an open book in the chair
(Slide 6) Tools for Accessing Print - Visually
Non-optical Devices
Reading/Book Stands
Slide Grphic
Photograph of the Shafer Reading Stand
Photograph of the GrandStand reading stand
Photograph of Adjustable Table used as a book stand
(Slide 7) Tools for Accessing Print - Visually
Optical Devices
Spectacles
Contact lens
Slide Graphic
Photograph of fashionable, unisex reading glasses with aspheric lensesPhotograph of COIL Prismatic Half Eye Spectacle 10D, Small
Photograph of COIL Prismatic Half Eye Spectacle 4D
Photograph of COIL Spectacle Binocular Clear (Near View)
Photograph of a person holding a contact lens in front of their eye as if they are getting ready to insert it into their eye
(Slide 8) Tools for Accessing Print Visually
Optical Devices
Hand held magnifiers
Slide Graphic
Photograph of 4X Round Acrylic Illuminated Magnifier
Photograph of 10X ECOLUX LED Illuminated Pocket Magnifier
Photograph of Bausch & Lomb Folding Pocket Magnifier
Photograph of 2X Bausch and Lomb Double Height Bar Magnifier
Photograph of 5X Round Acrylic Illuminated Magnifier
(Slide 9) Tools for Accessing Print Visually
Optical Devices
Stand magnifiers
Slide Graphic
Photograph of 2X Giant Size Foldable
Photograph of 1 1/2 bar magnifier
Photograph of a 3X round modular illuminated magnifier by Schweizer
Photograph of 1.7X Coil Globe Magnifier
(Slide 10) Tools for Accessing Print Visually
Optical Devices
Clip-on or spectacle mounted
Slide Graphic
Photograph of 1.75X Clip-On Magnifier Lens
Photograph of clip-on magnifier, just clip to glasses to increase prescription
Photograph of 2.5X Near Vision Glasses
(Slide 11) Tools for Accessing Print Visually
Optical Devices
Telescopes
Hand-held
Spectacle mounted
Slide Graphic
Photograph of 5 different sizes of Specwell hand-held telescopes
Photograph of a Bandit 8x25 mm Monocular
Photograph of a 2.8X Clip-On telescope
Photograph of a 2.8X spectacle mounted telescope
(Slide 12) Tools for Accessing Print Visually
Electronic Devices
Desktop video magnifiers
Slide Graphic
Photograph of the Select Vidoe Magnification system from Vision Technology, Inc. (VTI). This system has the LCD monitor and the camera mounted separately on an arm over the X/Y table
Photograph of the Magnisight Auto Focus 20"
Photograph of the SmartView video magnifier from HumanWare
(Slide 13) Tools for Accessing Print Visually
Electronic Devices
Desktop video magnifiers that fold for transport
Slide Graphic
Photograph of the Eclipse from Freedom Vision in the opened position
Photograph of the Eclipse from Freedom Vision simulating its ability to be folded up for transport
Photograph of the Andromeda from Freedom Vision in the opened position
Photograph of the Andromeda from Freedom Vision in a simulation of it being folded for transport
Photograph of the View from Vision Technology, Inc. (VTI) showing a young woman using it in a classroom setting to view information on a black board that is being pointed to by an instructorPhotograph of the VIEW with woman writing a check
(Slide 14) Tools for Accessing Print Visually
Electronic Devices
Flex-arm camera models
Slide Graphic
Photograph of the FlipperPort flex-arm video magnifier
Photograph of the OPti Verso from Freedom Vision with camera base under a laptop computer and the camera on a stand pointing toward a map on the wall. The map is displayed on the laptop monitorPhotograph of OVAC Flex-Eye Autofocus Color Flexarm video magnifier.
Photograph of the Clarity PCMate flex-arm video magnifier
Photograph of the MLS Student Edition video magnifier from Low Vision International with the camera mounted on a stand that fits under a laptop and pointing at a page of text. The text is displayed on the laptop monitor.
(Slide 15) Tools for Accessing Print Visually
Electronic Devices
Flex-arm camera models
Slide Graphic
Photograph of the OPti Verso from Freedom Vision with camera base under a laptop computer and the camera on a stand pointing down at a a page of text. The text is displayed on the laptop monitor.
Photograph of the MLS Student Edition video magnifier from Low Vision International with the camera mounted on a stand that fits under a laptop and pointing at a map in the distance. The map is displayed on the laptop monitor.
Photograph of the ClearNote from Optelec Camera is mounted on a stand and displays on a laptop or stand alone monitor
Photograph of the Carrymate from Clarity with camera and monitor in one package
Photograph of Prisma Magnification System
(Slide 16) Tools for Accessing Print Visually
Electronic Devices
Portable models – handheld camera
Slide Graphic
Photograph of the Liberty portable video magnifier
Photograph of the TVI Zoom portable video magnifier
Photograph of the Max Digital Handheld portable video magnifier
Photograph of the Assist Vision Slider - Portable Video Reader Magnification System w/ Extendable Camera Wand
(Slide 17) Tools for Accessing Print Visually
Electronic Devices
Portable models – handheld camera
Slide Graphic
Photograph of a full color hand-held video camera that displays enlarged (13X or 24X) on your own TV
Photograph of a full color and positive black and white viewing. Magnifies from 14X to 49X on a 20
Photograph of the Liberty Solo 7
Photograph of the Videomatic Lupo CCTV
Photograph of the TVi Zoom Handheld Video Magnifier from Freedom Vision
Photograph of the Max camera connected to a TV
Photograph of the Max camera and accessories. These portable magnifiers will magnify from 16X to 28X on a 20 inch TVPhotograph of the Tracking Device For Max video magnifier
Photograph of the Primer camera connected to a TV
(Slide 18) Tools for Accessing Print Visually
Electronic Devices
Portable models
Slide Graphic
Photograph of the Fusion portable video magnifier from Freedom Vision in configuration with camera used separately like a mouse
Photograph of the Fusion portable video magnifier from Freedom Vision in the "single-unit" configuration with camera secured to unit
Photograph of the Traveller+ in the reading mode
Photograph of the Traveller+ in the writing mode
Photograph of a woman using the Traveler to read text
(Slide 19) Tools for Accessing Print Visually
Electronic Devices
Electronic pocket magnifiers
Slide Graphic
Photograph of the Quicklook portable electronic magnifier
Photograph of the Amigo from Enhanced Vision (EVS)
Photograph of the Clarity PocktMate portable electronic magnifier
Photograph of the Compact video magnifier from Optalec
Photograph of the Miniviewer And Carrying Case
(Slide 20) Tools for Accessing Print Visually
Electronic Devices
Electronic pocket magnifiers
Slide Graphic
Photograph of the PVO magnifier from Low Vision International
Photograph of the Pocket Viewer portable electronic magnifier
Photograph of the smaller portable CCTV that magnifies from 4X to 22.5X
Photograph of the Olympus portable electronic magnifier that offers built-in magnification from 4.3X up to 26X on its own 7 inch screen
(Slide 21) Tools for Accessing Print Visually
Electronic Devices
Head mounted display models
Slide Graphic
Photograph of the Jordy
Photograph of a man wearing the JORDY
Photograph of a man wearing the Enhanced Vision MaxPort head mounted display video magnifier
Photograph of the MaxPort
Photograph of the FlipperPort
Photograph of woman wearing the Enhanced Vision FlipperPort head mounted display video magnifier
(Slide 22) Tools for Accessing Print Visually
Electronic Devices
Digital imaging - myReader
Prompter - Column mode
Tickertape - Row mode
Single word - Word mode
Slide Graphic
Photograph of the myReader video magnifier from HumanWarePhoto of the myReader display in column mode
Photo of the myReader display in row mode
Photo of the myReader display in the word mode
(Slide 23) Tools for Accessing Print Visually
Electronic Devices
Digital imaging – Zoom-Ex
Lightweight camera & stand
Works with laptop PC
Prompter mode
Slide Graphic
Photograph of the Zoom-Ex video magnifier from ABISee connected to a laptop computer with the camera mounted on its stand and pointing down at a page of text. The text is being displayed on a laptop computer
(Slide 24) Tools for Accessing Print Visually
Specialized Scanning Systems
Kurzweil
OpenBook
Slide Graphic
Photograph of Kurzweil 1000 software package
Photograph of OpenBook software package
Photograph of male and female student looking at computer screen with highlighted text
(Slide 25) Tools for Accessing Print Tactually
Braille
Tactile Graphics
Thermal fusor
Slide Graphic
Photograph of braille book, magazine, flyer
Photograph of various tactile graphics
Photograph of the Tactile Image Enhancer from Reprotronics
Photograph of the PIAF - Tactile graphics creator from HumanWare
(Slide 26) Tools for Accessing Print Auditorally
Books on Tape – Talking Books
Digital Talking Books
Slide Graphic
Photograph of APH Handicassette II and APH desktop tape player/recorder
Photograph of Digital Talking Book software, portable player, and desktop player
(Slide 27) Tools for Accessing Print Auditorally
Digital Players
Book Courier
BookPort
Slide Graphic
Photograph of the Book Courier
Photograph of the BookPort form APH
(Slide 28) Tools for Accessing Print Auditorally
Specialized Scanning Systems
Reading machines
Slide Graphic
Photograph of the Extreme Reader, a stand-alone scanning and reading system
Photograph of a preschool student preparing to scan a page on the VERA
Photograph of the Galileo Scanning and Reading Machine
Photograph of entrepreneur Ray Kurzweil and Dr. Kenneth Jernigan testing out the original Kurzweil Reading Machine in 1977
(Slide 29) Tools for Accessing Print Auditorally
Specialized Scanning Systems
Kurzweil
Text Cloner Pro
OpenBook
Slide Graphic
Photograph of Kurzweil 1000 software package
Photograph of Text Cloner Pro software package
Photograph of OpenBook software package
(Slide 30) Tools for Accessing Print Auditorally
Specialized Scanning Systems
KNFB Reader
ID Mate
Slide Graphic
Photograph of the KNFB Reader
Photograph of the KNFB Reader being held in someone's hands to give the viewer an idea of its size
Photograph of the ID Mate
(Slide 31) Tools for Accessing Print Auditorally
Talking Calculators
Talking Money Identifier
Talking Dictionaries
Slide Graphic
Photograph of various talking calculators and an abacus
Photograph of the Note Teller Money Identifier
Photograph of the Franklins Language Master Special Edition talking dictionary and the Children's talking dictionary
(Slide 32) Tools for Accessing Electronic Information Visually
Large Monitors
Hardware Screen Magnifiers
Flex-arm Monitor Stands
Slide Graphic
Photograph of 23" LCD monitorPhotograph of Computer Screen Enlarger for 14-17
Photograph of flex-arm monitor stand for LCD monitor
(Slide 33) Tools for Accessing Electronic Information Visually
Screen Magnification Software
Slide Graphic
Photograph of ZoomText screen magnification package
Photograph of MAGic screen magnification package
Photograph of Lunar screen magnification software package
(Slide 34) Tools for Accessing Electronic Information Tactually
Refreshable Braille Displays
Slide Graphic
Photograph of the ALVA 584 Satellite Pro braille display
Photograph of a person using a refreshable braille display
Photograph of the ALVA ABT 320 braille display
(Slide 35) Tools for Accessing Electronic Information Tactually
Accessible Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs)
Slide Graphic
Photograph of BrailleNote 32 accessible PDA
Photograph of the Alva MPO 5500 accessible PDA
Photograph of the BrailleNote QT accessible PDA
Photograph of the PAC Mate BX440 accessible PDA
(Slide 36) Tools for Accessing Electronic Information Tactually
Accessible Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs)
Slide Graphic
Photograph of the Easy Link connected to a standard PDA
Photograph of the EasyLink 12 from Optalec
Photograph of the Braille Sense accessible PDA from GW Micro
(Slide 37) Tools for Accessing Electronic Information Tactually
Wayfinding with an accessible PDA
Slide Graphic
Photograph of the BrailleNote and its Global Positioning System (GPS)
(Slide 38) Tools for Accessing Electronic Information Auditorally
Screen Reading Software
Slide Graphic
Photograph of the JAWS software package from Freedom Scientific
Photograph of a man working with a computer using screen reading software and a refreshable braille display
Composite photograph of people using the Hal screen reading program from Dolphin
Drawing of a man using the Window Eyes screen reading program from GW Micro
(Slide 39) Tools for Accessing Electronic Information Auditorally
Accessible Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs)
Slide Graphic
Photograph of the Type 'n Speak accessible PDA
Photograph of the APH Braille 'n Speak Scholar accessible PDA
Photograph of the VoiceNote QT accessible PDA
Photograph of the PAC Mate BNS accessible PDA
(Slide 40) Tools for Accessing Electronic Information Auditorally
Wayfinding with an accessible PDA
Slide Graphic
Photograph of the TrekkerGPS system
(Slide 41) Tools for Communicating Through Writing - Visually
Handwriting Tools
`Bold & Raised line paper
Slide Graphic
Photograph of several styles of bold and raised line paper
Photograph of bold line paper
Photograph of bold lined note pad measures 5 1/2 inches with bold marker lying on it
Photograph of yellow bold line writing paper with bold black lines
(Slide 42) Tools for Communicating Through Writing - Visually
Handwriting Tools
Bold markers
Writing guides
Slide Graphic
Photograph of the bold, black Sharpie Pens
Photograph of colored markers
Photograph of a 20/20 pen
Photograph of the Writing Guide Kit (#292110) -- plastic writing guides, a 20/20 pen, Bold Line Writing Paper -- this kit also includes a dozen assorted bump-ons, and a pocket Amsler Grid card
Photograph of a 20/20 pen, Bold Line Writing Paper, and letter writing, signature, check writing, and envelope writing guides
(Slide 42) Tools for Communicating Through Writing - Visually
Electronic Tools
Dedicated word processors
Accessible computer with word processor
Slide Graphic
Photograph of the Neo dedicated word processor by AlphSmart
Photograph of the Dana dedicated word processor by AlphaSmart
Clip art drawing of a woman working on a computer
(Slide 44) Tools for Communicating Through Writing - Tactually
Manual Tools
Slate & stylus
Braille writer
Slide Graphic
Photograph of someone's hands using a slate & stylus
Photograph of a tiny 4 line, 15 cell plastic slate and stylus kit fits easily into a purse, backpack or brief case
Photograph of the Janus interpoint slate
Photograph of a slate & stylus
Photograph of a saddle stylus
Photograph of a small 6 line slate and stylus
Photograph of a Perkins braille writer
Photograph of the Jot-a-Dot braille writer from Qunatum Technology
(Slide 45) Tools for Communicating Through Writing - Tactually
Electronic Tools
Accessible computer based word processor
Accessible PDAs
Slide Graphic
Photograph of the ALVA ABT 320 braille display connected to a computer
Photograph of the BrailleNote 32 accessible PDA
Photograph of the PAC Mate BX440 accessible PDA
(Slide 46) Tools for Communicating Through Writing - Tactually
Electronic Tools
Mountbatten Brailler
Slide Graphic
Photograph of the Mountbatten Brailler from Quantum Technology
(Slide 47) Tools for Communicating Through Writing - Auditorally
Electronic Tools
Accessible computer based word processor
Accessible PDAs
Slide Graphic
Clip art drawing of a woman working on a computer
Photograph of the VoiceNote QT accessible PDA
Photograph of the APH Braille 'n Speak Scholar accessible PDA
Photograph of the PAC Mate BNS accessible PDA
(Slide 48) Tools for Communicating Through Writing - Auditorally
Electronic Tools
Digital Recorders
Parrot – Voicemate
Portable digital recorders
Slide Graphic
Photograph of the Parrot VoiceMate
Photograph of a portable digital recorder
Photograph of a portable digital recorder
(Slide 49) Tools for Producing Materials in Alternate Formats
General and Specialized Scanning Systems
Slide Graphic
Photograph of the HP Scanjet 5590 scanner
Photograph of Epson Perfection 2480 Photo scanner
Photograph of the OmniPage Professional 15 Upgrade scanning software package
Photograph of Kurzweil 1000 and OpenBook specialized scanning software packages
(Slide 50) Tools for Producing Materials in Alternate Formats
Producing Large Print
Computer based word processor
Font and point size
APHont, Arial, Verdana, Tahoma
Proofread and check formatting
Columns, tabbed info, hanging indents
Print with laser printer
(Slide 51) Tools for Producing Materials in Alternate Formats
Producing Braille
Braille translation software
Formatting is big issue
Braille embossers
Slide Graphic
Picture of the logos of Duxbury and MegaDots braille translation software packages
Photograph of a man demonstrates the use of the Juliet braille embosser
Photograph of the Braille Blazier braille embosser
Photograph of Tiger braille embosser
(Slide 52) Thanks for Coming
For additional information see the Technology section of the American Foundation for the Blind web site at