There are a lot of consequences on disabilities of ICT nowadays. Many devices such as some specialist software and hardware were produced in order to help disabled users with their limited mobility. With the use of two different types of devices – visual impaired devices and motor impaired devices, they improved the way how each disabled individual use ICT significantly. The common device – braille keyboard helps people who have total loss or partial loss of sight to read using braille dots. A braille printer can be used to print braille on pages, for the use for each individual.
The keyboard has been one of the most successful devices; because it helped these people to read properly even without an ordinary book. However, these hardware are relatively expensive. It might be hard for some people to afford. The other downside is every individual who uses a braille keyboard will need to learn the ‘braille language’ which can take a long time to learn a new language. Apart from braille devices for the visually impaired, there is another device called eye typer for people who have loss of arms or/and legs. An eye typer is a hardware which fits onto the muscles near the eye to control the pointer on the computer screen.
When the eye moves, the pointer moves. Another device would be mouth stick; it is a stick in the mouth to control input of the computer. By using these devices, they are able to use the computer keyboard to type in a way that they weren’t be able to. The disadvantage about it is these devices can be very expensive and hard to find one. The user may have to contact a special supplier for the device and make an order. Some devices like the braille hardware, users will need to purchase a set of braille devices such as braille printer, braille specialist paper or book in order to make use of it.
A lot of these cannot be found in typical shops which will take more time for the user. Healthy people (non-disabled people) may need to convert normal language to braille dots to communicate with the disabled people which may not be as efficient as it used to be. Another obvious down side is that novice users will always have to spend a lot of time to start with what they don’t used to be using. For example, a visually impaired person has just started to learn to use the braille keyboard and braille dots. You can imagine that this person used to be a healthy person who could read a book, write a word with a pen.
Now she has to learn the braille and just looks like starting something new to her. It is not just hardware devices that can make computer more accessible to physically impaired users, there is also software available. The common system speech to text enables users to speak to the computer and it types out what is read from the user. This allows users to type on the computer, it is ideal for people who have loss of their limbs. On the other way around, text to speech system is available to visually impaired users. The computer reads text what is being typed on the computer, and converts it externally to a human voice.
This is extremely useful for people who cannot see and it can be used with the hardware loud speakers too. Apart from this, screen magnifier also allows people who have problems on their eyes to have easy accessible to read on the computer. Also, there is another well-known system which called predictive text. We may have heard it from our mobile device, which predicts text when you write type on your mobile phone which allows us to type faster. And this was originally created for people who have physically impaired users who type slowly.
With all these devices mentioned above, it shows a great advantage on disability on ICT. ICT has changed our live a lot as well as disabled people. From impossible to possible, they could not read or type, due to the loss of limbs or sight. After the rapid development of ICT, they can now type on the computer with braille keyboard, mouth stick, can now read easily and more comfortable with a screen magnifier, they can also hear better with a loud speaker and a lot more. Having the great facilities for them to work with ICT, this has significantly improved the quality of their life.