'With help from tech, you can make it big anywhere'

With the current churn in the technology space, the pace can get really hectic for a human resource professional in a technology firm. But Rajesh Mehta has taken it in his stride. Attending conferences, giving presentations and training 100s of fresh recruits is all part of a days work for him.
Mehta, career development manager with IBM India, went blind at age eight, but you wouldn’t know it judging from his work—which is exactly how he wants it.Using the text-based Lynx browser, Mobile Speak, and a JAWS (Job Access With Voice) screen reader to read out the screen, Mehta currently handles training sessions that are dense with information for new recruits.
Mehta denies any special credit. “There are many other colleagues of mine, here in IBM itself, who are doing brilliant work despite being visually impaired,” he says.
With a little help from technology and of course the drive and confidence, visual impairment need not be a hurdle to grow in the corporate world. “There are technologies available that can provide an equal opportunity in any profession,” says Kanchan Pamnani, a solicitor with the Mumbai High court, who is also visually impaired.
Screen readers: Screen reader software like Job Access With Speech (www.freedomscientific.com/fs_products/software_jaws.asp) read out aloud everything that is on the monitor, thus ensuring effective computer navigation. JAWS is probably one of the more robust solutions available for screen reading, though at $1,000 (approx Rs 39,590) it’s probably also the most expensive.
There are other cheaper options such as Screen Access For All (safa.sourceforge.net) which comes with a free basic version and an Indian language patch called Vachak.
OCR software: To read printed paper, you can use a scanner and an optical character recognition (OCR) software. All you need to do is, scan the printed page and then run it through an OCR software, which will then store a digital version of the copy that you can edit. One such tool is Kurzweil 1000 OCR (blinksoft.biz/products/ocr/ kurzweil.html). It will also let you make a copy into Braille.
Mobile screen readers: To navigate through a mobile phone, Pamnani uses Mobile Speak (www.codefactory.es/mobile_speak/mspeak.htm) —it reads out everything on your phone.
Audio book readers: There are plenty of audio books available on the internet which can be downloaded and loaded on MP3 players. You can then listen to them at leisure. Browsing the net and the TV: Lynx browser (lynx.browser.org) edits web pages and displays them in text-only mode. You can then use a screen reader to browse the internet. Likewise, Sara Reading machine is a stand-alone reading machine which you can connect to a TV. It can also magnify printed material.
Braille programs: There are several electronic and mechanical tools that help students type notes in Braille. Tools like TGD PRO (www. duxburysystems.com/tgd.asp?choice=pro) help in drawing computerised Braille diagrams. Handy they might be, but these tools usually come with a heavy price tag, says Sam Taraporevala, director, Xavier’s Resource Centre for the Visually Challenged (XRCVC), who himself has successfully battled visual problems. “Many companies are ready to employ visually impaired people. Unfortunately, due to a lack of knowledge of the technology available, or a lack of access to these tools, the number of employable people is still very limited,” says Taraporevala. XRCVC gives free access to these tools and increases awareness through seminars that bring together successful people who have battled visual disability. The organisation is also involved in building products to facilitate day-to-day activities for the visually impaired. One such project is a thumbprint recognition software for cheques, which they are developing with CMC. This will allow the visually impaired to use cheques while banking. There are many similar projects in the pipeline, says Taraporevala, "I just want (visually impaired) people to know that there are diverse professions available for them—it’s not just about candle making and telephone operators. With a bit of help from technology and the right training you can make it big in any profession today."