Innovation at its Best: A Touch-screen Phone for Blind

With each passing day, We 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.