Screen Reader and Voice Synthesiser
Facilitation and access to computers by the blind and visually impaired people
This was one of the Foundation’s first projects, organised in partnership with the Ministry of Education. Its objective was to develop a system that would facilitate access by blind and visually impaired people to computers with the Microsoft Windows environment. This is a tool combining HAL computer screen reader technology with the Madalena voice synthesiser in European Portuguese.
The Vodafone Portugal Foundation supported the integration of these two pieces of software (screen reader and voice synthesiser) with a donation of 151,000 euros, and also paid for 420 user licences. Following the presentation of the project in Lisbon in January 2004, these 420 licences were distributed to visually impaired students and teachers, educational establishments recognised by the Ministry of Education, libraries and special education establishments in Coimbra, Porto, Beja, Funchal and Ponta Delgada.
Partners: Ministry of Education