Technology shines light into world of the blind

Erica D. Johnson

Friday, Nov. 15, 2002 | 5:52 a.m.

WEEKEND EDITION November 16, 2002

When Raquel Silva, a junior at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, took notes in class last month, it took her considerably longer than it did her classmates.

While other students scribbled away in spiral notebooks, Silva used a slate and stylus, a metal Braille device used by the blind and visually impaired.

Silva, who is blind, demonstrated her note-taking skills by securing a piece of typing paper into a metal clamp and using a sharp pick to make tiny circular indentions.

Each page of print is equal to three pages of Braille. The process, Silva said, is a long and tedious one that can make college even more stressful than it already is.

Thanks to new technology being created by several national software companies, others like Silva who are blind or visually impaired will be able to take notes and surf the Internet on sleek, hand-held devices similar to laptops.

The technology was introduced for the first time during a technology fair Oct. 31 at the Blind Center of Nevada, 1001 N. Bruce St., near Washington Avenue, the only blind center in the state.

Representatives of Pulse Data International, a Chicago-based software company, unveiled several new computers, note-takers and personal organizers for the blind and visually impaired.

The new machines are less bulky and more technologically advanced than most of the machines introduced within the last 20 years.

But many advocates for the blind said because the machines can cost from $2,800 to $5,700, they are often inaccesssible to the people they were created for.

"The majority of our clients live below the poverty level," Veronica Wilson, president of the center, said. "About 68 percent of the blind are unemployed. And most never work."

There are about 7,500 people in Las Vegas who are legally blind, Wilson said. About 28,000 have severe limitations to their vision.

Ernest Hall, a rehabilitation technologist at the Easter Seals Crossroads Rehabilitation Center, works with state counselors and employers to get the blind the technology needed to enter the workforce.

The state provides funding for the machines only if someone is going back to work, Hall said. The need also has to be approved by the state counselor.

Even those programs are quickly running out of funding. Hall said blind employees often have to wait up to nine months after being hired to receive the equipment they need for work.

"The technology for someone who is blind or visually impaired is more expensive than for people with other disabilities, because it has to be so technologically advanced," Hall said.

Among the new computers introduced at the Blind Center were:

With a grant from the Easter Seals, more than $30,000 of the new equipment presented at the fair remain at the Blind Center to be used by its patrons.

In addition to taking notes in class, Silva said she would use the new equipment to organize her schedule and browse the Internet.

"This is the first time these machines are available in a portable format," Silva said. "What's so awesome is that this is giving blind people equality. It's another step toward access."

Most people who attended the technology fair said they had no immediate plans to purchase the machines because they were so expensive.

But Richard Montano, who is visually impaired, said the equipment signifies progress for the blind community, despite the steep prices.

"We're finally bridging the gap between people who can see and people who can't," he said. "With more financial backing, this can only get bigger and stronger."