Cellphone to Support Braille Display

ALVA, a provider of information technology for the blind and visually-impaired, has shown off a PDA-cellphone that offers a Braille "display" for the visually impared.

The ALVA MPO offers all the key features traditional cellular phone and PDA (personal digital assistant) users have come to expect, with additional features incorporated for blind and visually impaired users. With 20 Braille cells, an 8-dot Braille keyboard, a high quality speech synthesizer, and ALVA's Smart-Control user interface, the MPO is unique in design and functionality. Other key features include: fully accessible tri-band; GSM cellular phone; essential note-taker; SMS text messaging; agenda planner; alarm; calculator. Upcoming features will include email, Internet browser, GPS (Global Positioning System), Daisy reader, and an MP3 player and will be released as optional software upgrades in phases beginning in Q3.

"My clients are some of the most sophisticated and productive technology users you could meet," said Chuck Cohen, president of C TECH, a distributor of low vision products and adaptive technology for the blind, visually-impaired, and learning disabled in New York and New Jersey. "It's fulfilling to me to see that ALVA has put real care into this design, that it's not just another 'yeah, blind people can use it, too' product."

Blindness and severe vision-impairment currently affects over 1.3 million adult Americans while more than 3.4 million over the age of 40 are vision-impaired. The demand for assistive information technology increased under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA), which requires that employers accommodate disabled employees by acquiring or modifying equipment or devices, including IT equipment.

Braille is a system of reading and writing by touch, consisting of arrangements of dots that make letters, numbers, and punctuation marks. Experienced Braille readers read at speeds comparable to print readers -- 200 to 400 w.p.m. Refreshable Braille Displays are electronic devices that are used to read text that a computer sends to the monitor, producing output on a Braille display.

The ALVA MPO will be available in June 2003"

Posted to the site on 24th March 2003