robertj@tekgen.bv.tek.com (Robert Jaquiss) (05/13/91)
Index Number: 15528
VISUALLY IMPAIRED AIDED BY TECHNOLOGY
Dale Kean often spends his entire working day with
headphones on, and his boss doesn't care. Everyone at his office
knows he isn't listening to the radio, or the latest Madonna
tape. He's listening to the very metallic voice which reads his
computer screen out loud to him.
At the Center for Information Resources (CIR), this is not
unusual. For fifteen years CIR has run what is often called the
finest computer-training program of its kind in the Delaware
Valley, dedicated to facilitating employment opportunities for
persons with physical or sensory disabilities. Graduates of the
program are practically guaranteed a job. (Placement statistics
are close to 95-percent.)
CIR also operates the TECenter (standing for technology and
employment), which houses a demonstration center; provides
consultation services; delivers training; and sells and installs
computers. (IBM computers are sold at a discount to persons with
disabilities.)
One of the most important services of the TECenter, however,
is putting together the components of technological hardware that
make the perfect individual work station.
Kean, a graduate of CIR, works doing customer service and
secondary research for the organization. Kean, who is blind, is
able to take loose-leaf pages of names and organizations and feed
them through the scanner on his desk. The scanner does just that
-- scans. It transfers what it "reads" to Kean's computer's
memory bank. When Kean opens the computer file containing the
scanned information he reads through it with the arrow keys, and
each word he targets is spoken to him electronically through the
headphones he wears while working.
Although the actual voice output, when operated at a fast
speed, sounds a bit like a robotic Alvin the Chipmunk, Kean is so
used to it he can understand it on the fastest speed. And since
all the departments in the office are linked on an electronic
network, he has no problem communicating the results of his
research. Naturally, Kean knows the keyboard and is a very
accurate typist. There is no aspect of his job he is not able to
do independently.
The ability to put together a system like Kean's is
something CIR has learned through experience. Students at CIR
have often needed to have things changed around. Larger,
smaller, higher or lower -- that's easy. Naturally it gets more
involved when the task is finding and adapting a computer screen
with voice output devices for the visually impaired -- or a
keyboard that transposes what's on the screen into braille.
Such a device recently made its way through the TECenter
testing laboratory, to be fitted into a system for a client who
felt more comfortable with braille than with voice output.
This braille computer keyboard has the ability to read a computer
screen and translate it instantaneously into braille.
It has all the trappings of an old-fashioned player piano --
keys that move up and down, all by themselves, communicating
quickly and accurately.
With the right hand on the arrow key, the person at the
terminal scrolls down, one line at a time. As a line is
identified by the cursor, a set of braille characters pops up and
can be read by the left hand. The process will go just as
quickly as the operator wants it to.
These are just two examples of the special ways which have
been found to adapt technology to suit the individual needs of
persons with sensory disabilities in the work place.
The Center was founded in 1976 by a unique consortium made
up of IBM, the University of Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania
Office of Vocational Rehabilitation.
The mission of the Center for Information Resources is to
promote independence and personal growth for persons with
physical or sensory disabilities by providing training, custom-
designed equipment and job placement services for professional
positions related to information systems.
For more information about classes at CIR and the services
of its TECenter call (215) 898-8108.