Access To Technology For People Living With Disabilities

In Kenya and East Africa, there is a critical shortage of resources and opportunities for people with physical or mental disabilities. One major challenge that people with disability face is low literacy levels and in essence access to modern technology. Computer literacy, in particular, is paramount in the day-to-day activities of today’s world; using smartphones, ATMs, Job Applications, E-Commerce and so on. Various organizations have come to their aid by providing basic training on fundamentals of computer literacy that will positively impacts the lives of people living with disabilities. On top of this debilitating lack of education, opportunities to join the workforce are further hindered by general bias and a lack of awareness that people with disability can handle many of the same tasks that sighted people can.

Deaf Aid, a Norwegian development organization, has been working hard to change that by engaging in several programs throughout Kenya that are helping deaf youth develop valuable knowledge and skills. Deaf Aid’s activities include creating a Kenyan sign language, launching an education and child development center in the Kibera slums, and, most recently, providing educational resources to help deaf students develop IT skills. Deaf Aid in conjunction with Cisco Systems established a Cisco Networkin Academy with a lab to equip deaf students with ICT skills. Hital Muraj, Cisco Networking Academy manager for East Africa facilitated the establishment of the academy while the Norwegian Government supplied refurbished computers.

The academy had to develop sign languages useful in the identification of gadgets like hard disk, and Internet for easier understanding. Out of the first 15 students who have graduated from the Cisco Networking Academy program, 11 have found internships and four have started full-time jobs. Andrew Wasike, a former student at the academy, is a technician with Computer Planet. Computer Planet is a computer maintenance and networking services company located along Mombasa Road. Wasike is responsible for software installation, networking, and repair of computers and printers. This is a rare opportunity for a deaf student.

InABLE, an organization based in the US, has set pace in assist blind and visually impaired children access technology. To improve future opportunities for these children, inABLE has brought computers, the internet and assistive technology to the blind children of Thika School for The Blind. The organization believes that computer literacy will not only allow our students to bridge the academic gap with their sighted peers, but also arm them with valuable skills that allow them to enter a job marketplace that has dismissed them for too long. The idea came up about when the founder of inABLE, Ms. Irene Mbari-Kirika, traveled back to her Kenya from the US to establish a library and encountered a particularly engaging group of blind students had insufficient educational resources and nonexistent assistive computer technology.

People who are blind and visually impaired, however, find cell phones difficult devices to operate. Basically, a phone has got a screen, keys, and switches for power and volume. One key is often indistinguishable from another by touch. The screens are small. The switches are often in inconvenient locations. Incorporating a keyboard for sending text further complicates the device. Most phones do not have audio output of either keys pressed or information displayed on the screen. Over the years earlier several companies were have been to experimenting with more accessible designs. Current smart phones can access email and the Internet; limitations in their screen-reading software prevent the plethora of information from being read aloud.

Audiovox was one of the first to develop a voice-recognition system for the cell phone. Its Voice Guidance System gave users the ability to speak a phone number to dial and listen to incoming caller ID. Verizon soon followed with its own software. A recently added application called Voice Genesis Vemail allows email to be read aloud on some phones. Samsung entered the field with the design of a conceptual Braille keyboard phone. The Touch Messenger would enable visually impaired users to carry on a mobile conversation in Braille. The device has two Braille pads. Messages can be typed on the top keypad and read on the lower. Some cell phones advancements can have previously unforeseen benefits for visually impaired users. Kurzweil Technologies, the inventor of various text-reading devices, has developed a device based on the Nokia N82 smart phone. This new phone literally reads to you. Take a picture of a printed page or an object, guided by a voice-recognition system. Press a button, and presto—printed material is read using a synthesized voice.

So, how would the deaf use smartphones? For most smartmobile phones, they must send text messages. But that can be limiting because it doesn’t convey emotions, voice inflections or body language. Engineers at the University of Washington have developed a system that helps deaf and hearing-challenged users communicate using video chat. For most people, video chat on cellphones is a fun application. But for deaf users, video chat could make a huge difference to their quality of life.With video chat, they can use Sign Language, just as they do in face-to-face conversations. The software, mobile ASL, can potentially run on any device. The software is specially designed to allow video chat through cellphones, without taking up a lot of bandwidth.