blindness

The Twenty-First Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act, which President Obama is expected to sign on Friday, would make it easier for people who are visually impaired, deaf, or have other disabilities to access smartphones, TV programming, and other technology products. This would include making sure that devices could, when possible, be used by people who may not be able to see a screen.

The act is designed to assure that closed captioning, which is required on TV broadcasts, also applies to Web TV programming, and it would require that TV and Web-video interface devices, such as remote controls, be … Read more

Google has acquired a start-up called BlindType that aims to dramatically improve typing on Android and iOS mobile devices.

"We're excited to join Google, and look forward to the great opportunities for mobile innovation that lie ahead," BlindType announced on its blog Friday. The company hasn't released the software, though one review in July was favorable.

Mobile-device typing has changed significantly with the iPhone's functional touch-screen keyboard, Android's reasonably advanced word-prediction system, and Swype's technology for sliding fingers over letters. But as any touch typist or hunt-and-peck tapper knows, mobile typing is still … Read more

In development for more than a decade, biosynthetic corneas implanted in 10 Swedish patients over a two-year clinical trial are helping most of those patients see again, according to researchers in Canada and Sweden.

"This study is important because it is the first to show that an artificially fabricated cornea can integrate with the human eye and stimulate regeneration," senior author May Griffith of the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute said. "With further research, this approach could help restore sight to millions of people who are waiting for a donated human cornea for transplantation."

Griffith and colleagues … Read more

BlindType is a new software keyboard meant for iOS and Android devices. Made by a company based in San Francisco, it reduces typing errors by predicting words even if you tap on the wrong letters. Yes, most mobile phone onscreen QWERTY keypads already do this. For example, in a situation where you type "hwllp" when you mean to say "hello," the software will fix it for you.

The difference with BlindType is that its algorithms seem to be much more tolerant and you can type in almost gibberish and the software will still give you the … Read more

A blind person will soon be driving at Daytona.

No, I didn't begin my Independence Day celebrations a week ago. Please, bear with me a little. We'll get to Daytona shortly.

You see, the Associated Press has offered the information that the National Federation of the Blind and Virginia Tech University have come together to develop technology that will allow blind people to get behind the wheel of a car and go wherever they like.

2011 should see the debut of a prototype vehicle equipped with "nonvisual interfaces." This technology transmits information to blind drivers about … Read more

VI Fit, a video game research project at the University of Nevada, Reno, could help people who are visually impaired stay fit with active games modeled on the Wii that do not require vision (of the literal variety, that is) to play. They do require Wii remote controllers and a Windows PC with Bluetooth support or a USB Bluetooth dongle, but the games can be downloaded for free at vifit.org.

"Lack of vision forms a significant barrier to participation in physical activity, and consequently children with visual impairments have much higher obesity rates and obesity-related illnesses such as … Read more

In case you've been overwhelmed by iPad coverage these past few days (or, perhaps, weeks), the reason for the barrage is simple: to many people, this device is many things. It's a continuation of the brilliance and categorical confusion birthed by the iPhone, only in the case of the iPad, the Swiss Army Knife has left its holster. The iPhone still purported to be a phone first, and the iPod Touch laid claim in some capacity as a successor to the iPod line, despite both devices really being small computing platforms of a different sort.

Expanded and standing … Read more

Updated 4:50 p.m. PST with response from Amazon.

Three universities will refrain from using Amazon's Kindle DX in the classroom under terms of deals announced Wednesday by the U.S. Department of Justice.

In separate pacts, Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Pace University in New York City, and Reed College in Portland, Ore., agreed that they "will not purchase, recommend, or promote use of the Kindle DX, or any other dedicated electronic book reader, unless the devices are fully accessible to students who are blind and have low vision."

The Justice Department's civil rights division has been exploring whether Kindles and other e-readers violate the Americans with Disabilities Act. Last year, two organizations representing the blind--the National Federation of the Blind in Baltimore and the American Council of the Blind in Arlington, Va.--sued another school, Arizona State University, after it and other universities announced pilot projects to use the handheld device in classrooms.

The federation has said that while it appreciates the Kindle's text-to-speech feature, the "menus of the device are not accessible to the blind...making it impossible for a blind user to purchase books from Amazon's Kindle store, select a book to read, activate the text-to-speech feature, and use the advanced reading functions available on the Kindle DX."

Per the settlements, according to the Justice Department, the universities agree that if they do use dedicated electronic book readers, they will "ensure that students with vision disabilities are able to access and acquire the same materials and information, engage in the same interactions, and enjoy the same services as sighted students with substantially equivalent ease of use."

"Advancing technology is systematically changing the way universities approach education, but we must be sure that emerging technologies offer individuals with disabilities the same opportunities as other students," Assistant Attorney General Thomas E. Perez said in a statement. "These agreements underscore the importance of full and equal educational opportunities for everyone."

Amazon said Wednesday that it had no comment on the Justice Department deals. It did, however, point us toward a December 7, 2009, statement highlighting positive reactions from vision-impaired readers who have benefited from the device and announcing that it's working on new features--including an audible menu system--that will make the Kindle better for the visually impaired. … Read more

The National Federation of the Blind is applauding the decisions of Syracuse University and the University of Wisconsin-Madison not to Amazon.com's Kindle DX as a textbook replacement.

The universities cited the Kindle's inaccessibility to the blind as the problem.

The federation said Wednesday that while it appreciates the Kindle's text-to-speech feature, the "menus of the device are not accessible to the blind...making it impossible for a blind user to purchase books from Amazon's Kindle store, select a book to read, activate the text-to-speech feature, and use the advanced reading functions available on the … Read more