In Croatia there are every day less and less working places. This situation
could be especially applied to the working places adapted for the blind.
Due to new technologies the traditional working places for the blind
are being replaced. Among these are: telephone operators or cardboard
workers etc. On the other hand, there is a lack of programers, system
engineers and other professions where the computers are used as the
main working tool. The blind persons abroad are being especially trained
for this type of work. So in Great Britain the most important subject
in schools for the blind is computing and more than 50% of the working
blind population uses computers.
To access the computer they use special speech programers. The blind
persons who manage to purchase this kind of program and the additional
equipment, start using the advantages of new computer technologies.
The use of the modern technologies enables the blind people to overcome
a part of their disabilities. . Computers, for instance, help them to
write a printed text, and at the same time, they can check the mistakes,
correct them and print a document. (When they were using a typewriter,
it was impossible for them to have the control over the text.). Until
now the blind persons have mainly used Braille, but the sighted people
normally do not use it. The computers give to the blind persons a possibility
to communicate with the sighted people by e-mail and This type of communication
gives them equal opportunities.
Along with the improved communication one of the crucial aspects
in the life of the blind people is information accessibility. In the
times when modern technologies were not used, the blind and partially
sighted people were limited only to specially adapted material: Braille,
large print, and talking books. Special material production is very
expensive and time-consuming.
The Croatian library for the blind (the unique institution in our country)
has about 5000 titles available on stock. The majority of the titles
are fine literature. There are also 279 professional literature titles.
(Last recorded 8 May 2001).
Nowadays, new information technologies enable us to access the Internet
and many electronic sources.
--- Blinds and computers---
--- Technologies ---
--- The goals of the project---