Sara machine, a document reader for visually-challenged people
Times of India: 21-year-old Basavraj Santhikar has a non-negotiable agenda every morning. “I go through as many newspapers as possible,” he says. “After all, the UPSC is not an easy exam to crack.”
Not an unusual ambition, except for the fact that Basavraj is visually-challenged. But unlike an older generation, he does not have to limit himself to basket making, weaving or stitching. What makes it possible for Basavraj aim so high, is the advent of technology in this case a sophisticated document reader called the Sara machine’ that allows him to read as much as he wants. “It even comes with a user-friendly monitor which can be attached and used as an aid for students with low vision as it magnifies the scanned copy,” he says. And if he doesn’t understand the spelling or pronunciation, the machine will repeat the word letter-by-letter.
Even as technology opens up hitherto unexplored vistas for the visually-challenged by changing the way they read, comprehend and communicate, activists stress on the need to make it more affordable, with considerable help from the government.
“The Braille Embosser changed my students’ lives and mine,” says Meena Badve, founder of the Niwant Mukta Andha Vikasalay, a support group that aids and promotes the cause of higher education for the visually-challenged, apart from focusing on holistic personality development and eventually, socio-economic independence.
The machine accepts a scanned copy of a regular text and comes up with as many Braille prints as you need. “It is nothing short of a blessing,” says Badve. “The number of hours that have been saved in dictating and taking down notes can not be quantified. And it’s not just academic books, but also non-academic ones that can be made available to the students through the Embosser, which is vital for their growth.”
Ganesh Patil, a teacher at the Poona School and Home for the Blind, a partially-government-aided residential school at Koregaon Park for children in the age group of 5 to 18 years, agrees with Badve. “The entire process of providing notes to so many children in the class has become a lot easier since the Embosser was introduced,” he says.
Twenty-one-year-old Shivaji Londhe, who is studying English and German to become a linguist, says the new technology has broadened his horizons considerably. “To be able to teach and translate, I need to be well-read. And this is now possible thanks to both the Sara machine and the Braille Embosser, and not to forget the Braille Mitra.”
Braille Mitra is a refreshable Braille slate. It makes printing Braille on paper unnecessary and saves on printing cost which helps in providing more literature, in the curricular and extra-curricular, to the students at no added cost. The student can read both English and Marathi books on the Braille Mitra.
“As the touch pins which sense finger impressions are made of nylon, they remain intact and without damage even after prolonged use,” says Londhe.
Similarly, the JAWS (job access with speech) software that reads out books line-by-line has made it possible for the Snehankit Computer Training Institute and the National Association for the Welfare of the Physically-Challenged to start a library for the visually-challenged. “We have completed the first phase of the library, which consists of about 250 books. The purpose of this library is to make good literature that is beyond the academic curricula available to students,” says Deshmukh.
But all this convenience comes at a cost. While a single CD of the JAWS software would cost over Rs 57,000, Braille Mitra comes at Rs 90,000, while the Braille Embosser is priced at Rs 1.90 lakh.
“And that’s only the simple Braille Embosser, which scans text formats,” says Patil. “There is another advanced Embosser which would enable us to emboss multiple copies of maps, science and maths diagrams, but it is prohibitively priced at Rs 16 lakh. The government should intervene and subsidise this technology. It will benefit many students,” Londhe adds.
“It’s just not possible for individuals to afford these softwares, unless they hail from a privileged socio-economic class,” says Rahul Deshmukh, founder of the Snehankit computer training institute. “The funds for our library have been donated by the Rotary club. But the government has a role to play in making various technologies cheaper for the masses,” adds Deshmukh.
In his M. Phil thesis on the role of the Snehankit computer education institute in empowering the visually-challenged, Deshmukh suggests that the government must grant subsidies to the companies that make these assistive technologies.
Raising another important point, Badve suggests that technology could also help the government. “For instance, the National Association for the Blind, which runs short of Braille textbooks, could consider making available soft copies of the text, which we could download and print.”
More articles by The Desk
- Actor Pankaj Jha will be holding his first solo exhibition 'No Mind’s Creation' in the city - March 17th, 2010
- IPL merchandise hit stores across the city - March 17th, 2010
- Cummins plans to reserve 30% posts for women - March 17th, 2010
- Scorpions are passion for Zoology student Aamod Zambre - March 17th, 2010
- New local job website for Pune - March 17th, 2010
