“How popular can Internet be with the visually impaired? A lot, it appeared, as the visually challenged users in Bangalore navigated through the web with the help of a screen reader.”
Visually impaired people, who frequently need to use the Internet, find that the only option that helps them operate- speech software- is actually incompatible with a number of Web sites and is often slowed down by high graphic content on such pages.
“Now, Yahoo! India has launched an initiative that could bring a large community of people with various disabilities on to the Internet.”
With the launch of a new product called the “Yahoo! Mail Classic,” the company’s products have become more accessible to the users – even the visually impaired. Interestingly, the Yahoo! Mail Classic functions on all standard screen reader software and can be used by the common masses too.
Yahoo! has made Yahoo! Mail Classic, Yahoo! Mail, Yahoo! IM, Yahoo! Search, Yahoo! Finance, amongst other products “fully accessible”.
For instance, upon opening Yahoo! Mail Classic, users would be greeted with a voice that says “please enter your user name and password.” The visually impaired can then proceed to do so using the incorporated Braille reader and carry on communicating.
Yahoo! products have been enhanced so that not only the visually impaired but people with a range of disabilities can hop onto the Internet bandwagon.
The screen reader software helps in identifying and interpreting what is being displayed on the screen and then represents this to the users with text-to-speech, sound icons, or a Braille output.
A form of assistive technology, screen readers are usually beneficial for visually impaired or learning disabled people.
“It is a novel idea, where the screen reader software identifies the text for the user and then transforms it to sound and speech or even a Braille printout that helps even the blind to use the mail.”
Usually the screen readers are used to help the visually impaired in the educational efforts and this technology has now been successfully utilized by Yahoo! to enable them in sending and receiving e-mails.
The people who have made this possible are the Bangalore-based Yahoo! India Research & Development team who has worked under the guidance of Yahoo! accessibility guru, Victor Tsaran to make Yahoo! products “fully accessible” across the board.
Tsaran, made a profound introduction as he prepared to demonstrate the company’s new mailing version for the blind. “If any of you cannot see my desktop from where you are sitting, it is okay. Then you will understand how your students feel, to be unable to see the screen while using the Internet. I suggest you work on the computer with your screen switched off for a few minutes every day, so that you will know how painful it is, to not see,” he said.
Himself completely blind and a hand behind the accessible version, Tsaran was perhaps best placed to put the teachers at Mitra Jyothi, a charitable institute for the blind, in their students’ shoes for a while. He would hold the keyboard in his lap, and remind the trainers that for their students, the mouse was a vain instrument. But there was good news: “The Screen Reader can do everything on the keyboard.”
“Besides, the new Yahoo! Mail Classic with accessibility feature is touted as simple enough to be able to work on all standard screen reader softwares.”
Users need to familiarize themselves with screen reader — and screen magnifier — softwares before using the enhanced products. Otherwise, given basic Internet connectivity, any user with any disability can fully access these products.
The Internet giant who has a large presence in India said that Yahoo! Mail Classic, which has support for accessibility, will helo the visually impaired users to use Yahoo! Mail with ease as it now works on all standard screen reader software.
Also, with the presence of magnifiers, the visually impaired will be able to use the Internet to check their email as well as search for content.
This version for the visually impaired was launched by Victor Tsaran, who has worked around his own disability and helped Yahoo! with its research to make their site accessible. This product was launched at the Mitr Jyoti Blind School.
Tsaran, hailing from Ukraine where he was a student in philosophy, spoke to the media about the accessibility factor and said that it is challenging because “we live in a world where technology is changing by the day.”
“Technology has made people more independent, it has opened jobs for people; but society also has to change,” he said. Back in the US, he would continue to work on improving the possibilities of the Internet for those who cannot see, he said.
“It is difficult to keep pace but then there is no perfect world. Purists may not like to hear that but it is true. I hope society will work towards bringing blind people into the mainstream instead of looking at them as objects of charity.”
He also spoke about the need for job opportunities for the blind and said that services for the blind should not be ignored.
The Yahoo! India R&D team in Bangalore has played pivotal role to make the new Yahoo! Mail accessible to all. Yahoo! has a dedicated team of accessibility experts who ensure that Yahoo! products benefit all users with disabilities, the company said.
Now, with this breakthrough people across the board and will all disabilities can benefit from the Internet.