Innovative Technology Being Used for a Social Cause: Online Communication Aid for the Disabled

For the all round development of the society people from all backgrounds should have a say in the society. In this ever growing competitive world, people having physical disabilities are generally ignored. These people feel rejected. They are provided educational opportunities but then many a times they are unable to express themselves as the world outside doesn’t understand them. The sign language used by the deaf  is not known to all.

[​IMG]BarrierBreak  Technologies and the Deaf Way Foundation have jointly developed  signtalk website to bridge these communication barriers. The hearing impaired person only needs to have a computer with internet facility and a web-camera. The web camera enables the interpreter to see the sign language of the user and thereby interpret it and communicate it to the others. The deaf user needs to register himself on the signtalk website. He then simply needs to log in whenever he requires using his username and password. He then needs to fill in some details like the contact number and the name of the person he wishes to talk to or convey his message to and then connect it to the interpreter. As soon as he connects the interpreter, a service agent gets connected  online .This service agent  then  makes a call to the person whom the user wants to contact through the telephone . The sign language  interpreter  interprets  the sign language of the user and converts it into speech and convey it to the  other receiver and vice-versa.

This has indeed  been a great help to the deaf community. They can talk to their friends, relatives, doctors, etc. It has also served as a good platform for them to express their feelings and have a say in the other walks of society.

There are many other assistant technological products like we have refreshable Braille display for the blind. It is basically an electro-mechanical device that displays Braille characters generally through raised dots emerging from a flat surface. These dots are raised merely by a piezo electric effect shown by certain crystals which are embedded in the monitors. The Braille monitor has 2 columns and 4 rows. The screen reader links with the operating system and converts the text into Braille format so that the user can interpret it.

There is also one clickhear web accessibility toolbar. It is a new talking tool for the internet which makes web browsing easier for the blind user. One simply needs to download it and then install it on to the computer. Once this has been done the user simply needs to click the mouse and a select a section and the clickhear software simply starts reading the text. It not only reads the text but also reads aloud the various options on the taskbar. This has indeed been a boon to the society and has immensely helped people with disabilities to overcome the hindrances that destiny has bestowed in their journey of life.

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