-
Visually impaired man walks with cane - Source: ONE News -
Watch Video
The thought of sitting down to crunch the numbers can be intimidating for most of us, but for blind business people it takes on a whole new meaning.
Now, a new product by Kiwi company Accomplish has revolutionised bookkeeping for the visually impaired.
"From a blind person's perspective they use what's called 'screen reading software' to help them see in essence a PC or laptop," says general manager Grant Hewison.
"This screen reading software actually verbalises where their mouse or cursor is at a point in time so they hear what we would be seeing," he says.
Along with help from the Royal NZ Foundation for the Blind, the company has also worked with blind entrepreneur Terry Bartlett to ensure the product is effective.
"We live in a minority and software isn't designed for us, we've got to work with it, it's just the way it is," says Bartlett.
But with the new software, Bartlett can reliably carry out his business operations with the independence and ease not available before.
The product has not only generated interest with visually impaired business people in New Zealand, but also overseas.
"We've had fantastic interest from around the globe in the last four weeks, most notably from the United States," says Hewison.
Accomplish has been asked by the National Foundation for the
Blind to present at an upcoming conference and Hewison says there
is also interest from other organisations.
