Computers

More and more blind and visually handicapped people are using the computer.
Closed-Circuit Televisions , equipment that enlarge and contrast textual items, are a more high-tech alternative to traditional magnification devices.
So too are modern web browsers, which can increase the size of text on some web pages through browser controls or through user-controlled style sheets .



Access technology such as Freedom Scientific 's JAWS for Windows screen reading software enable the blind to use mainstream computer applications.
You can find more information about these programmes at: www.abilityhub.com/vision/blind.htm

Most legally blind people (70% of them across all ages, according to the Lighthouse for the Blind ) do not use computers.
Only a small fraction of this population, when compared to the sighted community, have Internet access.
This bleak outlook is changing, however, as availability of assistive technology increases, accompanied by concerted efforts to insure the accessibility of information technology to all potential users, including the blind.

Here you can read two articles about computers for blind people:
Talking computers boost Ghana's blind
China works out first computer for the blind

The movement towards greater web accessibility is opening a far wider number of websites to adaptive technology, making the web a more inviting place for visually impaired surfers. Experimental approaches such as the seeing with sound project are beginning to provide access to arbitrary live views from a camera .
One of the first associations that started their own computer group is the The British Computer Association of the Blind .