Decem ber 2020

Ed i t i on 57

Ed i t or 's Desk

Dear fr ien ds,

Th e year 2020 tau gh t u s th at th e val u e of sim pl e

th in gs we took for gr an ted ar e PRICELESS. Goin g ou t for a m ovie,
visitin g fr ien ds, tr avel l in g, eatin g Gol gappa fr om r oadside eatin g
join t, wear in g par ty wear l ook s a distan t past!!!!!

As we h ope for th e n ew year to br in g back al l th ese joys,

l et?s al so r em em ber to add on th e top of ou r n ew year r esol u tion l ist -
?To Appr eciate an d En joy wh at we h ave in h an d today?

Wi shi ng you a ll a H a ppy N ew Yea r !!

Regar ds,
Bh avn a Botta
con n ectspecial .in
I nt er est i ng Tech N ews-
Act i v eW or d s
ActiveW or ds is a n ifty fr ee pr ogr am th at does seven u sefu l
th in gs wh en you type k ey wor ds or l etter com bin ation s an d h it
th e space bar. In fact, th e devel oper s bel ieve pr ogr am 's seven
categor ies m ak e u p th e 80 per cen t of com pu tin g task s in th e
80/ 20 par adigm : Su bstitu te Text, Lau n ch a Pr ogr am , Open a
Docu m en t, Navigate to an In ter n et Site, Sen d E-M ail , Open a
Fol der ,an d Scr iptin g. You specify you r ActiveW or ds u sin g qu ick ,
easy com m an ds, an d th en associate th e wor ds with on e of th e
seven task s via sim pl e wizar ds.
It l ets you cr eate easy-to-r em em ber sh or tcu ts th at do wh at
you n eed m ost often : Type "addy," for exam pl e, an d h ave
ActiveW or ds fil l in you r en tir e addr ess or l au n ch a pr ogr am by
typin g its in itial s ,open a W eb site with a wor d you 'r e typin g
an yway; a diction ar y site, for exam pl e.
ActiveW or ds can open fil es an d fol der s, web pages, an d
appl ication s, an d h an dl e m ost task s a per son m ay n eed to
per for m on th e com pu ter. If you h ave m u l tipl e devices, you don ?t
h ave to star t over establ ish in g com m an ds with each device eith er ,
as ActiveW or ds Syn c al l ows u ser s to u se m ost cl ou d ser vices l ik e
On e Dr ive, Dr opbox, an d Googl e Dr ive to au tom atical l y syn c data
between th eir devices. Th is is u sefu l to stu den ts with
devel opm en tal disabil ities as it wil l sign ifican tl y save tim e
h ttps:/ / down l oad.cn et.com / ActiveW or ds/ 3000-2084_4-10055469.h tm l
X f i n i t y Ey e Det ect i on
Com cast r ecen tl y u n veil ed som e n ew featu r es to th eir Xfin ity X1
cabl e pack age th at u ses eye detection tech n ol ogy th at en abl es
peopl e with m obil ity l im itation s to ch an ge th e ch an n el , access
th e gu ide, r ecor d sh ows an d even open som e apps by ju st u sin g
eye m otion s.
Th is fr ee-to-u se softwar e can even be u sed on tabl ets an d l aptops
an d it wor k s seam l essl y with al r eady-existin g h ar dwar e an d
softwar e on devices, so u ser s wil l n ot h ave to pu r ch ase a n ew set
of gadgets to en joy th e ben efits of th is ser vice
Th e El ect r ol ar y n x
On e of th e ch ar acter istics th at differ en tiates
h u m an s fr om oth er cr eatu r es is th e abil ity to pr odu ce
an d m an ipu l ate ou r voices to com m u n icate in
com pl icated ways.
Ou r voices ar e actu al l y gen er ated by vocal cor d vibr ation s
fr om th e air as it passes fr om th e l u n gs. Al l of th is h appen s in
ou r l ar yn ges, som etim es cal l ed th e ?voice box? becau se ... wel l ,
it pr odu ces ou r voices. You can l iter al l y tou ch you r n eck wh il e
tal k in g an d feel th e vibr ation .
Som etim es, du e to can cer or tr au m a or oth er r eason s, th e
l ar yn x m ay n eed to be r em oved, wh ich obviou sl y r esu l ts in
an in dividu al bein g u n abl e to speak . If th er e wer e a way for
som eon e to actu al l y get th eir voice back , th at wou l d be
incr edible.
An el ectr ol ar yn x, som etim es r efer r ed to as a "th r oat back ",
is a m edical device abou t th e size of a sm al l el ectr ic r azor
u sed to pr odu ce cl ear er speech by th ose peopl e wh o h ave
l ost th eir voicebox, u su al l y du e to can cer of th e l ar yn x. Th e
m ost com m on device is a h an dh el d, batter y-oper ated
device pr essed again st th e sk in u n der th e m an dibl e wh ich
pr odu ces vibr ation s to al l ow speech , To be abl e to u se an
el ectr ol ar yn x, you n eed tr ain in g fr om a speech an d
l an gu age th er apist an d pl en ty of pr actice.
Sev en w i n n i n g sol u t i on s t o em p ow er p eop l e w i t h

d i sabi l i t i es

Or i gi n al l y f eat u r ed i n
Access an d I n cl u si on t h r ou gh Tech n ol ogy
h ttp:/ / www.accessan din cl u sion .n ews/ # /
h ttps:/ / n ews.m icr osoft.com / apac/ 2020/ 12/ 03/ seven -win n in g-sol u tion s-to-
em power -peopl e-with -disabil ities/

Our AI for Accessi bi li t y H a cka t hon i s held vi r t ua lly for

t he fi r st t i m e a cr oss 14 Asi a Pa ci fi c count r i es.
---By Pr at i m a Am on k ar , Ch ai r f or D&I an d Accessi bi l i t y
f or M i cr osof t APAC
Accessibil ity is a jou r n ey towar ds a
fu tu r e wh er e ever yon e can
par ticipate. Th e W or l d H eal th
Or gan ization , sh ar es th at m or e th an
1 bil l ion peopl e iden tify as h avin g a
disabil ity (PwDs) gl obal l y,an d at
som e poin t in ou r l ives, ever yon e
wil l face som e for m of it.
W h eth er tem por ar y l ik e a fr actu r ed ar m , situ ation al l ik e
car r yin g an in fan t, or per m an en t. Un for tu n atel y,on l y on e in
10 h ave access to tech n ol ogy th at can assist an d en abl e fu l l
par ticipation in society.
In Asia Pacific (APAC), th at n u m ber is 650 m il l ion .
At M icr osoft, wh en we l ook ah ead, we see tr em en dou s
possibil ity h er e. W e bel ieve th at we h ave th e r espon sibil ity an d
oppor tu n ity to design an d bu il d tech n ol ogy th at is in cl u sive an d
in n ovative. W e bel ieve th at text-to-speech tool s l ik e M icr osoft
Nar r ator , voice com m an ds an d r em ote con tr ol s wer e design ed
for peopl e l ivin g with disabil ities, an d ben efit u s al l . In addition
to th e M icr osoft En abl e Lab, we h ost h ack ath on s wh ich h ave
r esu l ted in assistive sol u tion s l ik e Eye Con tr ol an d Seein g AI .
Beyon d tool s, it?s cr u cial th at we cr eate a cu l tu r e of in cl u sion
an d bu il d th e digital sk il l s capabil ities of peopl e with disabil ities.
To ach ieve th at, we l au n ch ed th e M icr osoft En abl er Pr ogr am in
Septem ber 2020 with em pl oyer par tn er s an d n on -pr ofit
or gan ization s, im pr ovin g th e em pl oyabil ity of peopl e with
disabil ities th r ou gh digital sk il l s an d cor por ate tr ain in g,
in ter n sh ips an d job sh adowin g.
Th e AI for Accessibil ity h ack ath on is so m u ch m or e th an ju st
a h ack ath on ? it is al so a spr in gboar d for u s to iden tify an d
advan ce tech n ol ogies th at m ak e th e wor l d m or e accessibl e an d
in cl u sive. Th e 2019 win n er of th e AI4A h ack ath on fr om Sr i
Lan k a,For tu de, al so r eceived ou r gl obal AI for Accessibil ity
gr an t, wh ich wil l en abl e th em to fu r th er devel op th eir Dysph agia
iden tification app.
Fi r st v i r t u al AI f or Accessi bi l i t y H ack at h on i n APAC
578 par ticipan ts fr om 181 team s acr oss 11 cou n tr ies cam e
togeth er on on e pl atfor m to cr eate sol u tion s for r eal -wor l d
pr obl em statem en ts posed by 12 n on -pr ofit or gan ization s (NPOs).
Th e seven win n in g team s devel oped in n ovative sol u tion s to
m eet n eeds in th e ar eas of em pl oym en t, dail y l ife an d
com m u n ication an d con n ection .

To assist peopl e wh o ar e h ar d of h ear in g,Team Accensible

fr om Si n gap or e devel oped an appl ication th at wou l d r u n
al on gside video con fer en cin g pl atfor m s an d pr ovide assistive
tech su ch as speech -to-text, sign -to-text an d a m eetin g m in u tes
tr an scr iber ? an especial l y r el evan t tool in ou r ?r em ote
ever yth in g?wor l d of today. To bu il d awar en ess on com m on
ch al l en ges for th e deaf, Team Cloud Access fr om In don esia bu il t
an app with gam ification featu r es so th at ever yon e can l ear n
sign l an gu age u sin g AI
ABOVE: A pr ototype of Team Cl ou d Access?sol u tion
den gar k an .ai.
In N ew Zeal an d , Team N awi (N avigating Kiwi) design ed a
n avigation assistan ce tool for peopl e with l ow vision . Th eir
wear abl e tech sol u tion ?Nawi? was equ ipped with h aptic
feedback , h azar d sen sor s, au dio feedback an d cam er a-tr ack in g
sen sor s, so th at u ser s cou l d wan der h an ds fr ee or with a tactil e
con tr ol l er.
Fr om Vi et n am , we h ad Team Yeh Yeh ?s app ?Yeh Yeh NFC?, wh ich
h ou ses an au dio book sh el f with text-to-speech tech n ol ogy as wel l
as a ph ysical ?Br ail l e-abl e?, wh ich r epl aces tou ch scr een
oper ation s with Yeh Yeh bu tton s, so th at peopl e can accu r atel y tap
on th eir desir ed fu n ction on tou ch scr een s.
In Th ail an d, Team Vulcan Coalition devel oped a Th ai
text-to-speech syn th esizer.
In addition to aids, win n in g team s al so l ook ed at m ak in g it easier
to em pl oy peopl e with disabil ities.
Team # ASBW eAllN eedToSee fr om M al ay si a design ed
BlindI n.co, a job-m atch in g pl atfor m for poten tial can didates to
sh owcase sk il l s an d capabil ities th r ou gh videos u sin g Azu r e
Cogn itive Ser vices an d M ach in e Lear n in g.
In th e Ph i l i p p i n es, Team Lingar o l ook ed at psych osocial disabil ity.
Th eir Lingar o W ellness App tr ack s m oods th r ou gh AI an d data
an al ytics an d del iver s basic cogn itive-beh avior al in ter ven tion s
in cl u din g su ggestion s for m eetin gs with m edical pr ofession al s an d
h u m an r esou r ce cou n sel or s.
To su ppor t th eir in n ovation , al l th e team s h ad access to m or e th an 18
tech n ical an d n on -tech n ical wor k sh ops, coach in g, su ppor t by
M icr osoft an d ou r par tn er s ? Lin k edIn , Datacom , an d Tel str a. Th e
team s con sisted of bu sin ess par tn er s, devel oper s, star t-u ps an d
stu den ts fr om u n iver sities an d th eir sol u tion s wer e devel oped on
Azu r e, th e M icr osoft cl ou d.
Accessi bi l i t y i s m or e t h an a bol d t h ou gh t
Tech n ol ogy is a power fu l for ce for in cl u sion , an d wh en cr eated to h el p
som eon e with a per m an en t disabil ity,it h el ps th ose with tem por ar y
in ju r ies or situ ation al disabil ities. Accessibil ity for th e few, often ,
becom es u sabil ity for m an y. I?m excited to wor k with com m u n ities
m ak e tech n ol ogy accessibl e.
Th er e ar e n o l im its to wh at peopl e can ach ieve wh en tech n ol ogy
r efl ects th e diver sity of ever yon e wh o u ses it.

For su bscr iption wr ite to-

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