Access Technology and Disabilities in the Twenty-First Century
By Kurzweil, Ray; Braille Monitor, Vol. 47, No. 6Publication Date: June 2004
Article provides a transcript of remarks given by Ray Kurzweil at the first technology conference held at the National Federation of the Blind Jernigan Institute on April 8, 2004. Kurzweil is credited as the developer of omni font optical character recognition, inventor of the first text-to-speech reading machine for people with visual disabilities, developer of the CCD flat bed scanner, inventor of both the first speech synthesizer and a music synthesizer that reproduces the grand piano and orchestral instruments, and developer of the first large-vocabulary speech-recognition system. He is also working closely with the National Federation of the Blind to develop a pocket-sized reading machine that can be used anywhere. In his address, Kurzweil focuses on directions for new technology, what kind of capabilities he expects 20 or 30 years into the future, and the impact that technology will have on people with disabilities and on the world in general.
Assistive Products Discussed: KURZWEIL 3000 FOR MACINTOSH
KURZWEIL 1000
KURZWEIL 3000 FOR WINDOWS
KURZWEIL VOICE VERSION 2.5
KURZWEIL 5000, 5100, & 5200 SCANNING SYSTEMS
KURZWEIL READING MACHINE
KURZWEIL VOICESYSTEM
KURZWEIL - NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND READER
Published by: National Federation of the Blind (Website:http://www.nfb.org)
Link to text: http://www.nfb.org/Images/nfb/Publications/bm/bm04/bm0406/bm040606.htm
