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February 23, 2010
Experience Zone at Techshare India 2010
Filed under: Accessibility, Assistive Technologies, Techshare India — Mamta Tandel @ 9:53 amStill remember my first involvement in the Experience Zone at Techshare India 2008. A lot has changed since then in our lives but the experienced remained the same in fact more fabulous. Scores of people dropping in at the Experience Zone, some to find a suitable product for themselves, or worried parents to find products which would make their child lead a better life.
This time around we at BarrierBreak Technologies wanted to make different products and software relate to day-to-day lives of people with disabilities. As a result, products were displayed and categories with a backdrop of living room, bedroom and office areas.
Techshare India 2010 Experience Zone also included small items like Nail Clipper with a magnifier, liquid level indicator for the visually impaired, Flashing door bell and plug-in amplifier for hearing impaired. Along with these, GoTalk product range from Attainment Company rocked for the learning disabled, where parents took manuals and price list for making purchases. Optelec’s Clearview also was a hit in the Office area for low-vision on-lookers.
Adaptive keyboard and mouse, Trackball, Color identifier from Caretec, Screen readers such as Supernova, colorful keys of Clevy keyboard (attracted children), QualiWorld software, tactile sheets that visually impaired users could use to learn computers, bendable cutlery items such as spoon and forks were some of the other products that created an impact for all people visiting the Experience Zone.
My best experience however was a gentleman who had completely lost his eyesight visiting the Experience zone and looking for products for hearing impaired, especially got excited when I showed him the Flashing door bell. On enquiry and much to my amazement, he said his wife was hearing impaired and that Flashing door bell and Telephone plug-in amplifier would be an ideal product for her!
We were also happy to see people attending other conferences within the premises of India Habitat Center were keen and happy to visit the Experience Zone and gained knowledge about the different products available for people with disabilities.
Overall, a fabulous experience being at Techshare India 2010! Hope to see you all there next time with more fabulous products that make a difference in the lives of all people including those with disabilities.
Regards,
Mamta Tandel
No CommentsDecember 3, 2009
Its World Disability Day Again!
Filed under: Assistive Technologies, Elderly, Hearing, Learning, Mobility, Techshare India, Uncategorized, Visual — Shilpi Kapoor @ 2:41 pmWhere does education and the use of technology stand? A perspective on World Disability Day!
Its World Disability Day again, and where do we stand with regards to education and the use of technology? Though we have seen progress with the education of persons with disabled, we haven’t seen assistive technology play a role in their progress.
My perspective is that we have a long way to go.
I have met people with cerebral palsy who might benefit with a communication device or then struggles to use a mouse, but won’t adapt to a switch.
I have met people with low vision who can manage with magnification support but are forced into using a screen reader because no one would guide them and evaluate their needs.
I have met hearing impaired whose are so weak in their communication skills that they could use word prediction software to better their communication skills. So where does the gap lie?
Often the statements I hear are that I don’t want to use assistive technology or adaptive technology because:
- I don’t want to be different from “others”
- I didn’t know this product could help me
- I don’t know where to buy this from or it is too expensive
Let me break some of these myths today.
A person using spectacles and another wearing contact lenses are different from each other. The question I ask is so what if you are different?As long as you can be effective as any other person why should you worry about “so called tags”. If using an assistive technology gives you speed and efficiency, use it!
Educationist, government, assistive technology companies, need to come together to create awareness about assistive technology products and independent living aids.We need to not only have this information available, but we need to work on evaluation methodologies to choose the best assistive aid for the person.
We need to work with government and assistive technology companies to understand the needs of the Indian disabled population and the price points that will make things affordable and thereby accessible to all.
We need to work with the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment and to evaluate the ADIP scheme. In addition, we need to work with the Ministry of Human Resource Development to ensure that there are evaluation and implementation processes in place to assist the persons with disability to move forward!Visit the Exhibition at Techshare India 2010 on February 15-16th, 2010 to see a lot of assistive technology that can empower the disabled people!This article has been provided by Shilpi Kapoor, Managing Director, BarrierBreak TechnologiesDisclaimer:The views expressed herein are solely those of the author as an individual with interest in accessibility and assistive technology and do not claim to represent those of Techshare India, BarrierBreak Technologies or Net Systems Informatics. No Comments
December 2, 2009
Register Today – Techshare India 2010 Announces Early Bird Registrations
Filed under: Accessibility, Techshare India — Shilpi Kapoor @ 6:08 pmTechshare India 2010 – Registrations Now Open!
On the eve of World Disability Day, Techshare India opens registrations for its latest event Techshare India 2010 to be held in New Delhi on 15th and 16th February 2010.
- Register Today – Early bird discount available upto 25th December 2009
- Special offers for NGO’s and Persons with Disabilities
- Get your entire team for Techshare India 2010 and avail group discounts
Techshare India 2010 Conference Early Bird Registration Fees
- Corporate / Government / Education Institutes -
Rs. 5460* - NGO’s / Persons with Disabilities -Rs. 2730*
* Fees inclusive of service tax.
For registrations visit: http://techshare.barrierbreak.com/confreg.php
The 2-day conference will consist of a number of accessibility presentations and workshops, under the tracks:
- Strategies for inclusive growth
- Empowerment for all
- Unlocking the potential of technology
We received a record of large number of abstract submissions covering a variety of disabilities. Examples of presentations that will be delivered are:
- Shravan – Array of solutions for Hearing Impaired
- Looking beyond screen readers
- National Policy on Electronic Accessibility and case study on implementing accessibility on Indian Government
- Multimedia Accessibility: captioning, audio description and more
- Introduction to DAISY and DAISY book libraries in India
Who Should Attend?
- Usability / Accessibility Experts
- Government Officials
- CEOs / CIOs
- NGOs / Disability Organizations
- CSR Heads
- People with Disabilities
- HR Heads / HR Managers
- Special Education Providers
Techshare India 2010 will also host a range of exhibits featuring the best in cutting-edge developments in assistive technology across India and beyond.We want to bring together a bouquet of products from switches, track balls, adaptive keyboards, sip-n-puff, screen readers, DAISY players, AAC devices, software for learning disabled to independent living products.
Exhibitors will include our main sponsors and Dolphin Computer Access, Optelec, AbleNet and PRI Liberator.
To exhibit at Techshare India 2010 write to us at exhibitor_techshare@barrierbreak.com
Look forward to see you at Techshare India 2010!!!
No CommentsNovember 26, 2009
Accessibility Knowledge Series III – Mobile Accessibility
Filed under: Accessibility, Accessibility Knowledge Series, Assistive Technologies, Developing Technologies, Hearing, Techshare India, Visual — Shilpi Kapoor @ 7:01 pm
Mobile Accessibility
With the advent of technology Mobile Phones are becoming more and more powerful and feature rich devices and are great temptation to have one with us. The visually impaired users are no exception to this.
Apart from making and receiving call and to sending SMS a phone is a gadget full of features including variety of communication options, navigation aid, reading appliance, internet device and yes, great asset of entertainment with the option to play and record multimedia content.
Thus the mobile technology is growing at a rate out of imagination but for Person with disability, it is not that easy to opt for high tech solutions that are made available to their non disabled counterpart.
Hold on, you will be happy to know that there are companies like Code Factory working to Make Mobile Phone Accessible to visually impaired and hearing impaired.
The Screen Reader and Magnifier are available for High-tech Phones running Either Windows Mobile or Symbian Series 60 or Blackberry (Orator). The software is capable of rendering Text in Audio or in Braille on a Braille Display. Thus making most of the things accessible out of the box such as personal information management, browsing internet, etc.
There are few interesting advantages of using a high-tech Mobile Phones with accessibility products.
- For instance using Mobile Geo can give the sense of independence in navigation and is very helpful in determining Point of Interest while navigating on a unfamiliar vicinity.
- The tools like color recognizer can help you to identify colors of different objects giving sense of independence over color choices.
- On account of learning, Daisy Books can also be played on a mobile Device thus evading the need to carry a separate device to read books. The Daisy player provides all the option available on any other hardware / software Daisy player.
Thus technology is changing lives of every one with no exception of Disabled people.
Reference:
Follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/codefactory and on our blog at http://codefactoryblog.wordpress.com/
Website: http://www.codefactory.es
This Accessibility Knowledge Series has been provided by Caroline Ragot, Marketing Director, Code Factory, S.L
Disclaimer:The views expressed herein are solely those of the author as an individual with interest in accessibility and assistive technology and do not claim to represent those of Techshare India, BarrierBreak Technologies or Net Systems Informatics.
Contribute
Got an idea/product that would bring a change for persons with disabilities? Send it across to techshare@barrierbreak.com
November 12, 2009
Accessibility Knowledge Series I – Audio-Visual Content Accessible to All!
Filed under: Accessibility, Accessibility Knowledge Series, Assistive Technologies, Hearing, Techshare India — Shilpi Kapoor @ 8:30 pmAudio-Visual Content Accessible to All!
Whenever I talk of accessibility, one of the first reactions is that accessibility is for the visually impaired. Since we don’t visually see any problems with the deaf and hearing impaired, people are of the opinion that deaf or hard of hearing DO NOT face any accessibility issues.
It’s time to break this myth, especially in a day an age where content is available in audio-visual formats, the deaf or hard of hearing are at a major disadvantage.
Often you and I have problems in communicating with the deaf or hard of hearing since we might not know sign language, we often resort to gestures and to writing out what we are trying to explain to them. In the case of the web or on television or in movies where audio-visual is being used, the deaf or hard of hearing are surely impacted.
So whats the solution for them? It’s very simple, “Captioning“. I have often noticed that persons having no disability are watching captioned movies. People who don’t understand the accent often use captioning, senior citizens also can benefit from captioning. So it isn’t only the deaf and hard of hearing!
Shouldn’t we be captioning audio-visual files? Find out a lot more at Techshare India 2010.
Reference:
This Accessibility Knowledge Series has been provided by Shilpi Kapoor, Managing Director, BarrierBreak Technologies
Disclaimer:The views expressed herein are solely those of the author as an individual with interest in accessibility and assistive technology and do not claim to represent those of Techshare India, BarrierBreak Technologies or Net Systems Informatics.
Contribute
Got an idea that would bring a change for persons with disabilities? Send it across to techshare@barrierbreak.com
No CommentsNovember 5, 2009
Accessibility Knowledge Series – Bridging the Barriers
Filed under: Accessibility, Accessibility Knowledge Series, General, Techshare India — Shilpi Kapoor @ 1:11 pmUntil now the word “access” in India largely meant built environment atleast as far as the disability sector goes. When we organized Techshare India 2008, most of the time people would ask us what we meant by “accessibility” or “assistive technology”.Now that Techshare India 2010 is scheduled to be held on 15th and 16th February 2010, we thought as a build up to the conference and exhibition, let us start an educational series that will help us introduce people to accessibility and assistive technology.
Over the next few months, through this Accessibility Knowledge Series, we will address how to bridge the barriers that persons with disabilities face.
In the area of accessibility, there are a few key things are that have happened in India since Techshare India 2008:
- National Informatics Centre has developed Web Guidelines for India Government Websites
- Reserve Bank of India issued a notification to ensure that ATM’s are accessible to persons with disabilities
- Ministry of Information Technology is working on the National Policy on Electronic
- Setting up of Accessibility Labs by various government bodies and corporates
- Provisions of Assistive Technology for Children with Disabilities for inculcating the computer literacy, enhancing the skills and providing job oriented training to the disabled children in IT. A project by Government of India.
- Ministry of Human Resource & Development has passed the education bill whereby free and compulsory education for childrens within the age group of 6-14, which also includes childrens with disabilities.
- Prime time News on India’s National Television channel Doordarshan are sub-titled to make it accessible for the hearing impaired.
So let us understand the impact of this and how can we ensure that as the disability sector, the IT sector and the government we can ensure that benefit the persons with disabilities!
Wear your Accessibility hats!
It is time that the Disability Sector sees beyond the ramps and look at how they can use technology to empower the persons with disabilities.
It is time that the IT Companies understand how softwares and solutions that they design and develop can and must cater to the needs of the disabled also.
It is time that the Government sees beyond the limbs and the canes and looks at how to ensure that persons with disabilities have access to technology.
Got an idea that would bring a change for persons with disabilities? Send it across to techshare@barrierbreak.com
Want to participate in Techshare India 2010, write to us techshare@barrierbreak.com
Web: techshare.barrierbreak.com
Tel: +91-22-26860485/86
No CommentsOctober 1, 2009
Techshare India 2010 Call for Papers Now Open!
Filed under: Accessibility, Assistive Technologies, Techshare India — Shilpi Kapoor @ 5:01 pmTechshare India is a pan-disability, where technology professionals meet to share experiences, products and research in the field of digital assistive technology. Techshare India 2010 announced with the theme of “Bridging the Barriers” – in continuation to Techshare India 2008 theme of “Breaking the Barriers”.
The call for papers to present at Techshare 2010 is now open and we are looking for presentations that contribute to the conference content covering a variety of disabilities. To know about hot topics, submission instructions, format guidelines and the paper submission form visit: http://techshare.barrierbreak.com/callforpapers2010.php
Call for papers closes on 30th October 2009! So hurry up!!!
Keep checking this space for more updates!
Thanks & Regards
Techshare India Team | Pooja Nahata | Strategic Account Manager
India: +91 (22) 2686 0485/86 Cell: +91-98207 25102
Techshare India 2010 [15th -16th February, India Habitat Center, New Delhi]
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