It combined optical character recognition and a speech synthesizer, which took the text from a page that was scanned in and read it out loud in a synthesized voice. At the time, I had a blind guy who was head of international sales. He traveled all over the world on business for us, but he was limited to reading documents in Braille. Speech programs are also useful for people who can't use their hands, from the profoundly physically impaired to people with mild repetitive stress injuries. Now, dictation products that can handle 80 to 90 words per minute are better than all but the fastest typists.
Computers are an ideal technology for overcoming the handicaps of disabled people.
We're not creating computers that are far-ranging cybernetic geniuses. When these systems go outside their area of expertise, they start to flounder. But a disabled person is a normal intelligent person, with a narrow deficit. That's a perfect match for today's computer technology. Another disabled technology is a sensory aid for the deaf.