[9fans] teaching programming for blind people

[Sam Watkins <sam@nipl.net>]

On Mon, Dec 14, 2009 at 03:18:38PM -0200, Maur??cio CA wrote:
> I also have an old plan of teaching professional computer
> programming for blind people, since I watched a movie named
> Sneakers, where a blind guy named Whistler uses a computer through
> something that looks like some kind of braille terminal.

I have a friend Philip who is blind and a professional programmer.
He writes audio arcade games, you can try the demo (2 levels) of his
game q9 if you're interested:  http://blastbay.com/q9.php

It runs on windows or in wine, I doubt whether it will work on plan 9
unless wine can run in plan 9's Linux emulation (of which I know
nothing).

He might be interested to talk to you about your idea to teach computer
programming to blind people.  I can set up a meeting online or ask him
about it if you like.

I had an idea for a different of input device for blind people, for gui
/ graphical displays, which would be something like a braille terminal
but with bitmap graphics and acting like a touchscreen.  It could give
audio feedback about what you are touching - it could for example read
text aloud when you touch it, and play quiet sounds or musical harmonies
corresponding to different colours and items as you touch them.

The audio feedback part could be achieved with a normal mouse or
graphics tablet / touchpad for demonstration purposes.

I think this could make it possible for blind people to play classic
arcade games (slightly modified) such as Kings Quest, not to mention do
other useful things with unmodified or minimally modified graphical
computer programs, websites, maps, etc.

Sam