High Speed Tactile Graphics and Braille Embosser

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The long-term goal of this proposed project is a commercial technology permitting mainstream authors easily to create and distribute a wide variety of one and two dimensional data plots that are easily accessible by all people including those who are blind or have other print disabilities. This would extend the ViewPlus IVEO technology to include virtually all static graphical information. The project is relevant to the mission of the National Eye Institute, because it could improve educational and professional opportunities for blind people as well as improve their quality of life. Phase I research is intended to prove feasibility of extending the ViewPlus IVEO Scalable Vector Graphics Viewer to include access to most conventional types of quantitative one and two dimensional data plots. Phase II would be used to develop authoring and importation tools to enable expanded commercialization by ViewPlus of the IVEO technology. Relevance to health: If all text and graphical information were distributed in accessible form, a great deal of health-related information would become far more accessible by people with print disabilities, including a considerable fraction of elderly people. Access to this and other information could also make a major improvement in their quality of life.