Free software with a vision for the blind

Visually challenged people at a training center in Bangalore

By Ancy K. Sunny

BANGALORE (Sept. 20)—New open-source screen-reader software enables visually challenged people to find jobs in companies that cannot afford expensive software to enable their employment.

Non Visual Desktop Access provides feedback through synthetic speech and enables sight-impaired people to access computers like sighted people.

NVDA also supports a feature to run regional languages, including Kannada. Sandesh H.R., a trainer for the visually challenged for the past five years, said it could boost employment in government offices and also in Kannada call centers.

NVDA works well with various applications of Microsoft Office and the Internet.

Like Job Access With Speech, a commercial program with a hefty licensing fee, NVDA allows blind people to do the same jobs as their sighted colleagues.

But while it only makes financial sense for large companies to shell out for the JAWS license, NVDA makes it realistic for smaller firms and government offices to hire visually impaired workers.

“There is a general misconception that visually challenged people are expensive,” said Swarna Lakshmi, a software engineer who lost her vision few years ago.

Few can afford JAWS

Visually challenged people employed by multinational companies like IBM, Wipro Accenture, small- and medium-scale call centers, consultancies and banks work using the JAWS platform.

Sundar, who has been working for IBM, Bangalore, for the past three years, said JAWS has changed his life. Despite everyday challenges, he is able to perform well in his work place.

But not everyone has a success story to share. Prema, who worked with a call center in Bangalore, had to quit her job as the firm failed to provide her with a feasible version of the screen reader program that supported her job tasks. She was forced to depend on her colleagues. This led to a drop in all-around performance levels.

“Dependency is there for everyone, but too much dependency is not acceptable,” Prema said.

Small firms prefer NVDA over JAWS

A licensed single-user version of JAWS costs Rs. 50,000, while a licensed version for five users costs about Rs. 18,000 per person.

This heavy expenditure is not welcomed by small firms and it keeps them from hiring visually challenged workers.

NVDA provides a chance for companies other than the elite group of multinational companies to come forward with opportunities for the visually impaired.

Pradeep T.S., who works as a clerk in Syndicate Bank’s Bangalore regional office, said, “Working with NVDA is better than JAWS.”

He has worked with JAWS for five years and has been using NVDA for the past four months. He said NVDA has flaws, but once these are ironed out it could be unbeatable.

NGOs training visually challenged in using screen-reader software

Various NGOs, including Enable India in Bangalore, have provided call center training in JAWS since 1999 to help visually challenged people work with this software. After training, they help them find a job.

NVDA training has been offered since last year.