Title Page - Curtin University Centre for Accessible Technology

2.0 COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY AVAILABLE FOR THE VISUALLYIMPAIRED2.1 OverviewToday’s computer technology relies heavily on sight for information andcommunication. Therefore, visually impaired people may have trouble usingtechnology and may feel isolated. For these reasons, tools have been created to assistthem.Braille presentation has become one of the dominant types of computer accessibilitymethods for the visually impaired. However, text information on computer screenneeds to be translated into Braille alphabets and printed out. This process is slow andnot efficient. A real-time process would be preferred.Moreover, the computer cursor can be too small for visually impaired people and isnot accessible for the blind. Therefore, the keyboard is an important tool for them forinputting data into the computer, navigating file directories and selecting icons.Hence, it is important to design software with keystroke accessibility; for instance,CTRL+O can be used to open a file in Microsoft Word.As a result, many companies such as Microsoft, Adobe and Macintosh haveintegrated accessibility, such as magnifier, narrator and on-screen keyboard, intotheir products. These allow increased accessibility for visually impaired people.3