'Technology is not reaching differently-abled'

Chief Executive Office of Voice and Speech Systems T V Ananthapadmanabha said the benefits of present day technology are not reaching differently-abled persons due to lack of awareness and the lack of indigenous technology.

He was speaking at a seminar on ‘IEEE Special Interest Group on Communication Disabilities’, organised by the Department of Electronics at All India Institute of Speech and Hearing (AIISH) here on Saturday.

IEEE, an international institution of electrical and electronic engineers, has constituted a Special Interest Group on Communication Disability. The focus of the group is to encourage technology development for persons with communication disabilities.

The objective of the meet was to orient the faculty of engineering colleges in and around Mysuru about the technology needs for persons with communication disorders and encourage them to initiate student projects at under graduate and postgraduate level to support technology development.

Ananthapadmanabha said India needs focused team work in this area as it has a sizeable population of differently-abled persons. Mohan Kumar, vice-president of Megachips Corporation, highlighted the significance of academic institutions working jointly with industry to fulfill the technology needs of persons with communication disorders.

AIISH Director S R Savithri said technology plays a crucial role in diagnosis of communication disorders and also in the rehabilitation of people with communication disorders.

Vishwaprasad Alva, managing director of Skanray Technologies; Ajith Kumar, head of the Department of Audiology, Aruna Kamat, Deepa Anand, and Munir Mohammed from IEEE were present on the occasion.