News

Volume 2 Issue 24 - December 15, 2004

President Kalam announces speech applet for visually impaired people

DNIS News Network - The Rashtrapati Bhavan is working on a speech applet that will allow disabled people to access the Internet via a speech interface.

The Internet will soon climb a few notches up in the accessibility department. President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam has announced that the Rashtrapati Bhavan is working on a speech applet that will allow disabled people to access the Internet via a speech interface.

“It will be made available to all through my website for download, so that it can be configured to provide a speech interface for visually challenged persons,” said President Kalam, during the National Awards ceremony, held on 3rd December, for the Welfare of Persons with Disabilities. The applet, to be released on Republic Day next year, will hand a powerful tool to institutions training visually impaired people.

The President added that the Rashtrapati Bhavan, in collaboration with research and development institutions, was also working on integrating the speech interface with open source operating systems in English and other Indian languages to increase the grasp of disabled people over the Internet.

Regarding the Disability Act, the President was of the view that the Government must respect the 3 per cent job reservations. He said that more legal provisions were needed to empower disabled people with the right type of skill and technology.