With each passing day, I find no need to remember the dictionary justified terms like normal, super-human or handicapped. Our english language tells us that a blind man is necessarily handicapped. But what would you call a person who has developed software programs which can read aloud complex solutions of Rubik’s cube, has modified Google search engine for blind users and have worked for Adobe, IBM and now Google? To tell you the least important fact that I have missed out is, he is blind from the age of 14. And the most outrageous revelation is he is going to make a touchscreen mobile phone for blind users. Meet T V Raman.

We gadget lovers have always looked and searched for gadgets. But there is a world for those who don’t see what color red or green or blue means, how VGA and Megapixels differentiate from each other and how sleek Apple beats heavy Nokia. T V Raman, an IIT Bombay pass-out and a very respectable figure amongst Silicon Valley programmers, is one of them but  his unparalleled quest for innovation of new gadgets is something to admire. Instead of asking how something should work if a person cannot see, he says he prefers to ask, “How should something work when the user is not looking at the screen?” That is why we decided to pay tribute to a person rather than a single elctronic gadget for today.

The Touchscreen Mobile Phone

Mr Raman says the new project is not only for blind persons. Such systems could prove useful for drivers or anyone else who could benefit from eyes-free access to a phone. They could also appeal to aging baby boomers with fading vision who want to keep using technology they’ve come to depend on.

With no buttons to guide the fingers on its glassy surface, the touch-screen cellphone may seem a particularly daunting challenge. But Raman said that with the right tweaks, touch-screen phones - many of which already come equipped with GPS technology and a compass - could help blind people navigate the world.

Imagine how big a project should it be when the GPS will guide a visually impaired person along the right path, feet by feet.

Other Projects

The other project Mr. Raman is concerned about is to make internet a better and more importantly a more productive place for those who can not see. The screen readers of recent times have suffered from poor filtering options. People are often left clueless as the navigation links, adwords are often included into a main article read by the reader software. Raman is trying to universalize a software which will get rid of all the difficulties once and for all. It will only read the crux of the page, i.e. the topic he wants to read.

Previous Projects

Raman built a series of tools to help him take advantage of objects or technologies that were not designed with blind users in mind. They ranged from a Rubik’s Cube covered in Braille to a software program that can take complex mathematical formulas and read them aloud, which became the subject of his Ph.D. dissertation at Cornell University. He also built a version of Google’s search service tailored for blind users.

Raman’s Every Day Life

For Raman’s (his photo just above) own use, he has built a highly customized system that allows him efficient access to much of what he needs on his PC and on the web, stripping out anything that could slow him down. For instance, the system goes directly to the article text on the news sites he reads regularly, bypassing navigational links and other features found on most web pages.

On a recent day, Raman was working on a research paper about the future structure of the web. A monitor hung above the desk. It is usually turned off, unless he wants to show a colleague or visitor what he is working on. He typed at his keyboard, his head slightly tilted to one side, listening to his screen reader through a pair of wireless headphones.

The screen reader is calibrated to speak at roughly triple the speed of a normal voice. To the untrained ear, the output is incomprehensible, but it allows Raman to read at roughly the same speed as a sighted person.

Conclusion

I am not only proud because he is an Indian. I am proud because he has proved once again that a human can only be a human. Nothing can limit his abilities if his will is strong. The connection between his works and ours are gadgets. A touch- screen mobile phone is what thousands of visually impaired people will be looking forward to in future. We will be too Mr Raman because you have shown us that a human spirit is neither super nor handicapped. Its indomitable.

Salutes!

[Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com]