INFOTECH

PINAY MICROSOFT OFFICE ICON SPECIALIZES IN ACCESS TECHNOLOGIES FOR THE BLIND

Here is good news for Filipino drivers who can not await to pull over to the side road to read, type and send their text messages on their mobile phones. To top it all, for the blind to travel with the aid no longer of a stick, but his cellfone.

"People who are driving need not take their eyes off the road," says Roselle Ambubuyog, the fifth exemplary information worker to be honored with a Microsoft Office Icon title. If there is any person or group of people who are in the best position to develop a software application for cellfones to aid drivers, then it has got to be Roselle and her international team of visually impaired workers.

The more challenging project she is venturing into is helping the blind to travel independently with the aid of a Global Positioning System (GPS)-embedded mobile phone. This is actually already possible, but the application comes separate from the phone unit. "Right now, the blind has to pay for the applications," she reports, "They already spent so much for the phone. They pay just to talk."

So, why not have the applications already packaged with the phone?, she asks. At 27, Roselle is no ordinary girl. She lost her sight completely at the age of six, but she has achieved more than persons with no disabilities have.

She is more techno savvy than any regular girl of her age. She has five Personal Data Assistants, a desktop computer and a laptop and she commands all these like a captain does his platoon. "I can do everything with a computer. It gives me independence as a disabled person. I don’t need sighted assistance to do my work," shares Roselle. She currently works as a product and support manager of Code Factory, S.L., a Spain-based company that is a leading developer of mobile phone accessibility solutions for the blind and visually impaired worldwide.

Roselle adds, "I want the blind to have an equal opportunity in society to become productive and to achieve success like everyone else, and I believe technology will play an important role in making this happen. In fact, I myself consider technology as an integral part of my personal and professional life."

Technology has become an enabler and partner for Roselle. "It’s very important that there are companies, such as Microsoft, that are serious in being able to give persons with disabilities access to technology. And I am looking forward to the day of enhanced human-computer interaction, where accessibility and usability issues are a thing of the past, and the disabled will no longer have to make limited use of available technology because their special needs were not considered during the development phase of such software or hardware."

MICROSOFT SUPPORT

Roselle Ambubuyog is part of the Microsoft Office Icons campaign, a project which pools together a group of individuals who have made their mark in their respective fields, inspired others to do better, and successfully integrated technology as a vital part of their lifestyle. The Microsoft Office Icons serve as examples of how an individual can be empowered or how one can empower others with the use of technology.

With the help of her screen reader, a form of assistive technology (AT) that converts to synthesized speech what is displayed on the computer screen , Roselle creates her own PowerPoint presentations for use during training sessions for distributors and customers about products of Code Factory ; does her own accounting in Excel; and communicates and works via e-mail with Outlook. "Boundaries are non-existent with new technology. I can do just almost anything a sighted person can do with his computer," Roselle shares. She works at home, sending e-mails like a pro to both colleagues and customers. "In a way, technology has become my virtual workplace, it bridges the distance between me and the company I work for, which is based in Spain."

"Working for an international company like Code Factory made me realize how important communication via the Internet has become. Blind people, just like the sighted, have resorted to reading and writing blogs for this purpose, but unfortunately, not all blogging services are accessible to screenreader users. Now that blogging is supported in Word, computer users who are blind can just type our blog entries in Word and send them to a supported service like Windows Live Spaces to post. Similarly, very few RSS readers are screen reader-friendly, so the built-in RSS aggregator in Outlook 2007 is a most welcomed feature," enthused Roselle.

Ferdie Macatangay, Product Manager for Information Worker, Microsoft Philippines said, "The collaboration features of the 2007 Office were enhanced to allow information workers like Roselle to communicate and share information and view shared files with colleagues and customers day in and day out with ease and regardless of her location. She doesn’t need a desk with a pile of information sheets, she can store all the information she needs, from business contacts, customer information to market strategies, in a familiar interface such as Outlook."

Roselle is even more efficient with the help of the 2007 Microsoft Office system because it is designed to work with different assistive technologies. The 2007 Microsoft Office system includes improved support for screen readers, magnifiers, speech recognition, alternative displays and other assistive technologies. Assistive technology products are designed to provide additional accessibility to individuals who have physical or cognitive difficulties, impairments, and disabilities. For Roselle, the automatic generation of citations in Word, and the word count in the status bar that updates automatically while you type are just some features in 2007 Word that makes work easier. "I’m glad to see these very useful features, as it will help blind people, especially those who write documents that require such functions to finish their work without sighted help."