In the higher education institute that I work there are disadvantaged students. An admirable example is a blind student walking independently through the campus alone. Blind and vision impaired people is growing in numbers in the world. Blindness and low vision is a growing disease and problem that needs to be addressed. Statistics have shown that the number of visually impaired people worldwide has already grown in excess of 160 million.

I myself, have been using eye glasses as I have difficulty in seeing from a far. The least developed places have the largest share of visually impaired. Adults that are 50 years and above suffer visual impairment most. Studies also show that females are more prone to visual impairment than males. A leading common cause of visual impairment in many parts of the world is cataract.

Modern technology could help correct visual impairment through surgical intervention. Another solution is with Assistive technology products that are designed in provide better accessibility to individuals who suffer blindness or visual impairment. In IT field there are voice recognition assistive technology reading software that facilitates computer operation.

Some Voice Recognition Software Assistive Technology:

• QPointer Voice
• Dragon Naturally Speaking Pro
• J-Say Professional
• MacSpeech Dictate
• Speak To Me!
• SpeakQ (Plug-In for WordQ)
• ViaVoice V10.5 by IBM

Assistive Software are sold and found on online shops like www.enablemart.com. Note that some of the products though are closely tied up with a computer operating system. Several voice recognition software and program runs only on a particular computer system. Specialized voice-controlled software has resulted in increased interest and empowerment of blind or visually impaired people to access information through the Internet.