Media Contacts Available for Interviews
Talk to the Vision Specialists
The subjects of assistive technology for the blind and the issues surrounding low vision and vision loss make compelling stories to which most can relate. As a member of the media preparing an article, you can benefit from our experience in developing solutions for the blind and individuals with low vision.
Among the topics with which our vision specialists can assist are:
- With so much reliance on computers in the classroom, how does the blind student access the same information as his sighted classmates? The answer is software that reads screen content and speaks it to the student - even calling out information about images. Take a look at the development, future, and daily living applications of technology that reads screen content aloud.
- Among the blind are new explorers who blaze frontiers in areas that most sighted people take for granted. They have made notoriously inaccessible popular music sites speak information aloud so they can download their favorite tunes. They have written programs for activities that ordinarily require sight: music editing, games like Scrabble and Battleship, medical references for physican training - and more. These are not high-level programmers, but everyday people who have discovered the ease of writing scripts for JAWS screen reading software and PAC Mate accessible PDAs.
- The blind rank number one in unemployment among larger, mainstream special population groups. Now, due to innovative technology solutions, the visually impaired fill specialized job slots in some of the nation's largest corporations.
- Who's afraid of technology? Not the older generation - not even those with minimal computer know-how. This population warms up to machines that scan and read books and bills aloud, magnify their prescription bottles, and even allow them to read in giant print on a computer monitor or TV ... and all with just a few simple, highly-visible buttons.
- Is the standardization of food and sundries containers into a handful of shapes and sizes posing a potential danger to the blind and low vision householder? A portable barcode scanner and accessible Pocket PC decodes and reads information from UPC codes aloud for more than 1 million consumer products - alerting those with low to no vision to the difference between canned tuna and cat food, toothpaste and antibiotic ointment, and products that contain allergens and other ingredients that can adversely affect the user.
- The deaf-blind population faces intense and mostly unresolved challenges. How does a person, who cannot see or hear, communicate with emergency personnel, teachers, and doctors? Freedom Scientific has developed technology that assists the deaf and blind to communicate more easily with their doctors, emergency personnel, friends, and others who do not read braille. It's all done with Pocket PCs.
- Across the nation, the pressure is on to raise reading, writing, and comprehension scores. The stakes can be high as schools and teachers are held accountable for the success or failure of their students. Often, even school revenue is in jeopardy. That's why many educators are turning to a new generation of literacy software that not only speaks aloud but also addresses specific needs of students who cannot concentrate or comprehend written instructions.
These are only a few topics our vision specialists can address for your interview. Contact our media department at FreedomScientificNews@FreedomScientific.com or call 1-800-444-4443, ext. 1014 in the US or 727-299-6111 internationally.
Vision Awareness Seminars by Freedom Scientific
We conduct free one- and two-day vision loss awareness seminars throughout the nation. Visit our Vision Awareness Days schedule for information about these seminars and to register.
