The Blind Physicist Who May Find ET
By Williams, John M.; Business Week Online,Publication Date: May 2001
Article on Kent Cullers, a blind physicist, and his use of old and new assistive technology while searching for Extra-terrestrial life in the cosmos. Cullers is a senior researcher at the Search for Extra-terrestrial Intelligence Institute (SETI) in Mountain View, California. He uses a decades-old system called Optacon, which consists of a photocell camera attached to an electronically controlled matrix of 144 vibrating pins that move up and down to represent letters. As the user slowly moves the camera across the page, letters from words are translated into vibrating raised pins that cover about half the index finger. People with impaired vision can scan the camera over a document or computer screen and piece together an image in their mind. Cullers also uses two computers: a portable Windows laptop and a BrailleNote from Pulse Data Humanware. BrailleNote is a small computer the size of a mini-notebook that runs on WindowsCE and has a tactile input and output interface. He uses this to do all of his word processing, mathematics, e-mails, and other activities.
Assistive Products Discussed: BRAILLENOTE
OPTACON II
Published by: McGraw-Hill Companies (Website:http://www.mcgraw-hill.com)
Link to text: http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/may2001/nf20010516_176.htm
