There isn't an alternative. People with disabilities can have trouble entering or retrieving electronic information. And the alternatives are numerous. Joy Relton, a systems analyst for Unisys, demonstrated a portable Braille reader that functions as a note-taking device as well as a calculator, a phone book and even a calendar. The Braille'N'Speak has seven keys on it and is a very popular item.
People use it in meetings.
You can carry it easily. Moving to a desktop computer equipped with screen-reading software and a Braille keyboard, Relton navigates through the Windows operating system and composes documents, her fingers alternating between the shifting white pegs that she uses to read information on the screen and typing on a standard keyboard for data entry. Many workers with disabilities consider access to computers more important than travel aids like guide dogs and canes and even Braille, says Wakefield. Unisys also displayed oversized keyboards with letter pads large enough for a person to type with toes or a straw and a computer equipped with voice-recognition technology. Only a user with the appropriate passwords would be able to extract data from the unit's hard drive.