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Date: Wed, 28 May 1997 10:06:25 -0700
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From: nfb-rd@lothlorien.nfbcal.org
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Subject: Interesting Press Release About Chinese Screen Access
Rejected message sent to nfb-rd@nfbcal.org by CHONG99@CONCENTRIC.NET
follows.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The following comes to me courtesy of Fred Leung, from the Hong
Kong Society for the Blind. Clearly, they're not yet too
concerned about the GUI<grin>.
Curtis Chong
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 28 May 1997 09:13:06 +0800 (HKT)
From: Hong Kong Society for the Blind <hksbfred@net1.hkbu.edu.hk>
To: Frank Lin <franklin28@juno.com>, Curtis Chong <Chong99@concentric.net>,
Kam-Ho Peter Wong <petew@MICROSOFT.com>,
Emily Chan <clyyeong@phoenix.princeton.edu>,
George kerscher <kerscher@montana.com>,
Joe Sullivan <duxbury@world.std.com>,
"Dr. Harold Snider" <hsnider@cris.com>,
"Mr. K.M. Lee" <goodguy.bbs@bat.tkblind.tku.edu.tw>,
"Dr. Fung-Huei Yeh" <funghuei@bat.tkblind.tku.edu.tw>,
Ida Kwan <kwani@westminster.ac.uk>, "Dr. John Gill" <jgill@rnib.org.uk>
Subject: From Fred Leung
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Perhaps you would be interested in the following draft news release.
Regards,
Fred Leung:
NEWS RELEASE
A NEW INFORMATION ERA
FOR VISUALLY IMPAIRED PEOPLE
Now in her beautiful 20's, has good education and employment, Ling Ting is comparatively
luckier than many of her visually impaired friends. Totally blind since birth due to retinal
maldevelopment, Ms. Ting has gone through a great deal of hardship and challenges before
becoming as she is today.
She enrolled in the School for the Blind in Shanghai where she stayed and completed the first
semester of Primary 2. In 1980, she came to Hong Kong with her family. She continued her
education at the Ebenezer School for the Blind, St. Stephen's Girls' College and University of
Hong Kong. Ms. Ting holds a Bachelor's Degree in Social Work, and is now an Executive
Officer in the Government.
Ms. Ting has to use the computer a lot at work, particularly in word processing and database
management programmes. However, she can only work with English so far because it is
impossible yet technically for people with visual impairment to do Chinese computing efficiently
and effectively.
1 June 1997 will be of special significance to people like Ms. Ting and the Hong Kong Society
for the Blind as it marks the beginning of a New Information Era for people with visual
impairment. The Society will officially make the following three products/services available to
its visually impaired members:
1) Cantonese Reading System
The Society and the Department of Computing of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University
have been jointly undertaking a project to develop the Instant Screen Access for Chinese
Computing (ISACC). The goal of this major pioneering project in this part of the world,
costing over HK$2m granted by the Jockey Club, is to empower the visually impaired
persons to do Chinese computing, resulting in new employment opportunities in
translation, telephone enquiry or paging services and other fields which have so far been
confined to English only. Needless to say that the impact of ISACC will extend well
beyond the scope of employment; education as well as daily living of visually impaired
persons will certainly be greatly enhanced by such a system. The two-year ISACC project has resulted in an independent, practicable Cantonese
Reading System which enables visually impaired operators to know Chinese characters
displayed on a computer screen. This is achieved by means of qualitative synthetic
speech and refreshable braille display devices. Speech features are complete with
intonation, speed, pitch and volume controls. User can also review previous, current or
next line, paragraph and page.
Ms. Ting could, from now on, select a Chinese computer file and enjoy the contents of
it at her own command.
2) Chinese Braille Newspaper
Ms. Ting has been reading the Braille Post and recalls how it helped her in keeping in
touch with the world while she was studying in university. It is the world's first ever
braille daily newspaper and has been published by the Hong Kong Society for the Blind
since August 1990. Commencing June 1997, the Society takes one step further by
joining Apple Daily Co. Ltd. to produce a Chinese braille newspaper. Ms. Ting believes
that the Braille Apple Daily will contribute much to bridge the information gap between
the blind community and the society as a whole. This braille edition will also be
available in computer readable format and posted on the Internet.
3) The HKSB Website
The Carolina Gutterres Technical and Advisory Services Centre of the Society looks after
matters related to adaptive technology for people with visual impairment and makes such
equipment available to them where possible, including computer braille displays, CCTV
magnifying systems and synthetic speech output devices etc. It was from this Centre
where Ms. Ting got a braille display device and the necessary software on loan to her
office before the Government could buy one for her.
The restriction on access to information had no doubt greatly hampered the success of
the visually impaired in education, employment and daily living. Fortunately, the use
of computers and modern information technology, such as the Internet, has changed the
situation entirely. The Society has been making the best efforts, in the past few years,
in providing Internet access to the members it served. Until recently, it was not
successful due to limited resources.
The Department of Electronic Engineering of City University of Hong Kong has helped
realizing such a dream by providing free Internet facilities and services to the Society.
Ms Ting and other members will, as of 1 June 1997, take advantage of the Net with the
facilities and training provided at the Centre.
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