Sunday, April 11, 2010

Let the blind lead the blind

Literature and education for visually challenged persons in Assam is heading for a revolutionary change with the development of computerized transcription of Assamese language into Braille, using Duxbury systems - the world’s leading software for Braille that would automatically convert Assamese language written in Unicode - computer language into Braille.

The software has been developed at the initiative of the North-eastern Regional office of the National Federation of the Blind (NFB), in collaboration with New Delhi based Saksham Trust and Daisy Forum of India, the non-profit organisation working in the field of production of books and reading material in accessible formats for persons who can not read normal print.

“I am so excited! The software has already been developed successfully, tested, and I have received 20-pages of reading material for a test-reading, which shows 99 per cent accuracy in the software,” says Mohd. Imran Ali, Vice- President of NFB, who heads the North East regional office located at Guwahati. There is a minor problem with one or two letters, which is likely to be overcome soon, he says.

Full report here Eastern Panorama

No comments:

Post a Comment