Blog
December 26, 2008
Browse our Assistive Technology Products that help people with disabilities
Filed under: Assistive Technologies, General — Shilpi Kapoor @ 5:46 pmGreetings for the New Year 2009!
Assistive Technologies plays an important role in the career development of people with disabilities. In the last decade, there has been a rapid development in the area of assistive technologies. However, the biggest challenge for India is affordability.
It’s a dream for BarrierBreak Technologies that every person with disability in India should take maximum advantage of assistive technologies and lead an independent life. BarrierBreak Technologies is working with International organizations to think of India and provide best of the products at an affordable price.
Some of the products that we deal with includes Dolphin Supernova – a powerful screen reader, magnifier with Braille support including RealSpeak Lekha, Optelec Compact + a portable magnifier etc. Browse our products section to know more of range of assistive technologies. In addition, if you would like demo CDs you can write to us at sales@barrierbreak.com.
For any queries and to schedule a demo at your organization / company, please contact our Sales Team at sales@barrierbreak.com or call us at +91 22 26860485 / 86 / +91 9177 383855.
No CommentsDecember 22, 2008
Banking for the disabled! Why aren’t banks taking the initiative to make services accessible?
Filed under: General — Shilpi Kapoor @ 3:01 pmBanking has moved from conventional banking to accessing the ATM or internet or phone banking. For Banks, this move is beneficial since it helps them lower cost and use automation to better the experience for their customers.
The same experience can be extended to the disabled customer. Banks can look at making their ATMs accessible to the disabled. Where the disabled might have problems accessing the banks or the bank statements or making payments, online banking can make this possible for them.
If banks started to adher to the Web Content Accessibility Guideline (WCAG) and invested in making online banking accessible, they would be able to satisfy this customer and in addition, win the loyalty of the customer and its family.
Why is it that Banks internationally are working on accessibility but we don’t see Banks in India following suit. What is missing? Why not accessible banking in India?
No CommentsDecember 17, 2008
Do people with disabilities need access to libraries? How can we support them with assistive technology?
Filed under: Alternate Formats, Assistive Technologies, Elderly, Hearing, Learning, Mobility, Visual — Shilpi Kapoor @ 1:48 pmPeople with disabilities have an equal right to education and accessing information is a key to education. Libraries are an integral part of education institutes whether schools, colleges and universities.
So what is the type of support that people with disabilities need beyond accessible infrastructure. Let me list some of my thoughts down.
For students with low vision, who can see if with magnification, it would be good to have desktop magnifiers for patrons to access the books and newspapers. This would give people the option to magnify the text and read the documents easily. Check out Optelec ClearView + .
The Optelec ClearView + would be great in public libraries where even senior citizens visit the library.
For people with who can’t read with magnification, alteast having one computer, with scanning support and a screen reader support would be an advantage. Check out a combination of Cicero and Supernova.
To provide access to the books in alternate formats like braille, large print and daisy (digital talking book) format it would be essential to have a software that would do this. Check out EasyConverter
Providing books in alternate format will also help print disabled and students with learning disabilties.
It would be a good start to see this available for persons with disabilities in Indian libraries.
No CommentsDecember 16, 2008
Assistive Technology for people with low vision and elderly!
Filed under: Assistive Technologies, Elderly, Visual — Shilpi Kapoor @ 4:42 pmCan assistive technology that is developed for people with low vision help the elderly? The answer is in the affirmative.
With age, we often start to lose sight. We start to need a slightly larger print. Initially, just using a handheld magnifier can help.
If the sight loss increases, should one suddenly feel the void, that one can’t any longer read the news paper, or read the medicine packaging.
If technology can make a difference, why shouldn’t it be used?
Today technology provides different ways that things can be magnified. I’ll talk of an everyday tool and then a technology equivalent for the same.
- Handheld Magnifiers – the kind that we used in school or in laboratories are available with different magnification levels can be tried
- Portable Magnifiers (Technology based) – This is the size of a PDA and can not only magnify 10 times but can also give you Full Color, Black and White, Blue and Yellow, Black and Yellow and Reverse Mode. You can look up Compact + by Optelec. This is great for individual use, since due to its size, it is easy to carry even to the grocery shop.
These are some of the products that I think elderly people can take benefit from.
No CommentsDecember 12, 2008
Dolphin Supernova 10.0 screen reader and screen magnifier now available in Hindi!!
Filed under: Assistive Technologies, Elderly, Learning, Visual — Priti Rohra @ 1:20 pmDolphin Computer Access in partnership with BarrierBreak Technologies has developed world’s first combined Hindi screen reader and screen magnifier with an integrated Braille display support. Supernova 10 comes with natural sound synthesizer for Hindi as well as Indian English to meet the needs of people with visual disabilities in India.
Supernova comes with Nuance RealSpeak synthesizer for Hindi ‘Lekha’ and RealSpeak Indian English ‘Sangeeta’. Supernova 10 is available on CD, portable USB pen edition or a 30 day trial version. Hindi support is included not only in Supernova but for other Dolphin’s products, such as Hal screen reader, Lunar screen magnifier and Lunar plus enhance screen magnifier.
Read the full press release of Supernova 10.0 in Hindi at:
http://barrierbreak.com/supernova.php
Download a 30-day trial run of Supernova 10.0 from:
http://www.yourdolphin.com/tryit.asp?id=1
December 3, 2008
Shilpi Kapoor Recipient of the 10th NCPEDP – Shell Helen Keller Award
Filed under: General — Priti Rohra @ 2:59 pm
Shilpi Kapoor, Managing Director of BarrierBreak Technologies, leading Accessibility consultancy firm of India received the Shell Helen Keller 2008 award on the eve of World Disability Day. She received the award for the Role Model category (non-disabled role model supporter of increased employment opportunities for disable people).
Shilpi started her journey way back in 1995 teaching computers to visually impaired students at her residence. Since then she has not looked back and has made remarkable contributions for the disabled community in India. Along with Bill Gates Foundation she set up the first Computer Training Centre for the visually challenged in Mumbai at Indian Association for the Visually Handicapped (IAVH).
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