Miss-Delectable
New Member
- Joined
- Apr 18, 2004
- Messages
- 17,160
- Reaction score
- 7
Software promises access for the blind and the deaf | TECHNOLOGY News
Microsoft has teamed up with New Zealand technology company Intergen to develop a computer tool allowing greater accessibility for the hearing and sight impaired.
The software is a free add-on to Microsoft's Office software.
It includes subtitles added to Powerpoint presentations, for those with hearing difficulties, and the option for saving files as a Braille-reading format for those who are blind.
Rachel Turney, Microsoft New Zealand Marketing Manager, told TV ONE 's Breakfast that the development focuses on accessibility.
"The idea behind it is accessibility, so that everyone can have access to Microsoft technology. It's something that the company has been working on for 20 years."
Neil Jarvis of the Royal Foundation for the Blind told Breakfast that the technology is hugely significant.
"What we have now is a solution to a problem that we've had for many years, which is the ability for people to easily access electronic information."
The Foundation for the Blind is part of the Daisy consortium, which has promoted the standard which Microsoft and Intergen have helped them develop.
"This product means that anyone who can use Microsoft Word can now create a Daisy file which is of use to anybody who can access Daisy technology.
"This is a huge step forward for blind people in New Zealand and around the world."
Jarvis says that there with the pace of technology development there is a risk that the blind are left behind.
"Thanks to technology there's never been a better time to be blind, but also, there's never been a more dangerous time to be blind, because technology can either liberate us or it can lock us out.
"It's what you do with the technology that determines whether you're liberated or locked out," said Jarvis.
Microsoft has teamed up with New Zealand technology company Intergen to develop a computer tool allowing greater accessibility for the hearing and sight impaired.
The software is a free add-on to Microsoft's Office software.
It includes subtitles added to Powerpoint presentations, for those with hearing difficulties, and the option for saving files as a Braille-reading format for those who are blind.
Rachel Turney, Microsoft New Zealand Marketing Manager, told TV ONE 's Breakfast that the development focuses on accessibility.
"The idea behind it is accessibility, so that everyone can have access to Microsoft technology. It's something that the company has been working on for 20 years."
Neil Jarvis of the Royal Foundation for the Blind told Breakfast that the technology is hugely significant.
"What we have now is a solution to a problem that we've had for many years, which is the ability for people to easily access electronic information."
The Foundation for the Blind is part of the Daisy consortium, which has promoted the standard which Microsoft and Intergen have helped them develop.
"This product means that anyone who can use Microsoft Word can now create a Daisy file which is of use to anybody who can access Daisy technology.
"This is a huge step forward for blind people in New Zealand and around the world."
Jarvis says that there with the pace of technology development there is a risk that the blind are left behind.
"Thanks to technology there's never been a better time to be blind, but also, there's never been a more dangerous time to be blind, because technology can either liberate us or it can lock us out.
"It's what you do with the technology that determines whether you're liberated or locked out," said Jarvis.