GRAPHICS ACCESS SENSORY SYSTEM (GASS)

THE GRAPHIC ACCESS SENSORY SYSTEM (GASS) WILL ENABLE A VISUALLY IMPAIRED PERSON TO GAIN ACCESS TO GRAPHIC SCREENS ON THE IBM PC, IBM AT, IBM PS/2, AND COMPATIBLES. IT WILL CONVERT THE GRAPHICAL SCREEN DATA INTO REGULAR TEXT CHARACTERS. IN THIS WAY, EXISTING ADAPTIVE AIDS MAY BE USEDTO OUTPUT THE TEXT IN SYNTHETIC SPEECH OR BRAILLE. CURRENTLY THERE IS NO TECHNOLOGY THAT PROVIDES ACCESS TO GRAPHIC SCREENS ON THE IBM PC. DUE TO THE NEW FASTER COMPUTERS MORE AND MORE APPLICATION SOFTWARE IS BEING CREATED IN GRAPHICS MODE. THESE PROGRAMS ARE INACCESSIBLE TO VISUALLY IMPAIRED PEOPLE. MOST NEW COMPUTER PROGRAMS HAVE A GRAPHICS AND NOT A TEXT INTERFACE. THIS RESEARCH WILL PROVIDE ACCESS TO THOSE GRAPHIC SCREENS AND THEREFORE ENABLE VISUALLY IMPAIRED PEOPLE TO USE THE SAME APPLICATION PROGRAMS AS SIGHTED PEOPLE. ONCE THE APPROACH FOR DEVELOPING THE GASS HAS BEEN PROVEN EFFECTIVE, THE UTILITY COULD BE DEVELOPED AND FIELD TESTED DURING PHASE II. WITH GASS, VISUALLY IMPAIRED PEOPLE WILL HAVE ACCESS TO THE NUMEROUS GRAPHIC-ORIENTED PROGRAMS. WITHOUT GASS, THEY WILL LOSE ACCESS TO ALL BUT THE MOST SIMPLE VISUALLY FORMATTED PROGRAMS. GASS WILL ENABLE VISUALLY IMPAIRED PEOPLE TO INCREASE THEIR POTENTIAL, MAINTAIN THEIR CURRENT JOBS, AND LEARN IN SCHOOL BY PROVIDING ACCESS TO THE LATEST IN COMPUTER SOFTWARE.