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New Delhi, Aug 14 (IANS) Individuals and organisations working towards accessibility and ensuring a life of equality and dignity for the disabled were awarded here Tuesday. Mphasis Universal Design awards were organised by the National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People (NCPEDP) in association with AccessAbility and BarrierBreak Technologies. Dipendra Manocha, working with DAISY (Digital Accessible Information System) consortium - an international association that develops standards for production, exchange, and use of digital talking books, told IANS: "For the last two decades, I have been working to provide publications in accessible formats to those who cannot read normal print." Manocha, who is visually impaired, also runs the Saksham Trust for the blind. Manocha had been awarded for his untiring efforts to assist blind people with the help of technology to read books, magazines, newspapers etc. "Apart from converting reading material to audio format, we also offer Samarth tools, an application that can be used by the blind to operate a computer easily," he said. Prabhat Ranjan, a professor and scientist at the Dhirubhai Ambani Institute of Information and Communication Technology in Gandhinagar, Gujarat, was also awarded under the working professional category. He has developed an environment control system using body, voice and brainwave sensors to allow severely disabled people to operate a computer, TV, electric switches, etc. Ranjan has recently developed an application for touchscreen phones and tablets which can be used in innovative ways. "A child can touch an icon on the phone depicting food, games, toilet et cetera, and the phone will read it aloud, letting the parent know," Ranjan told IANS. "People can choose the language they want. We have distributed 200 such tablets in Ahmedabad and are waiting for the feedback," he added. Search for old postings at: http://www.mail-archive.com/accessindia@accessindia.org.in/ To unsubscribe send a message to accessindia-requ...@accessindia.org.in with the subject unsubscribe. To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please visit the list home page at http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in
