[Promotion-technology] Fwd: Sight Savers Dolphin Pen

[David Andrews]

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>PRESS RELEASE
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>New ‘Sightsavers Dolphin Pen’ gives Africans with visual impairments access to a computer wherever they are
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>Visually impaired Africans are set to have their lives transformed by the arrival on the continent of the latest generation of accessibility software for computers.
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>Sightsavers International, the charity that works to combat avoidable blindness in developing countries, and Dolphin Computer Access Ltd, the British accessibility software developer, have teamed up to launch the Sightsavers Dolphin Pen, the lightweight thumb drive that makes it easy for blind and partially sighted computer users to use their full magnification software or screen reader on a PC wherever they are.
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>Sightsavers Dolphin Pen is a unique variant of the highly successful Dolphin SuperNova, the world's only combined software based screen reader and screen magnifier.  It will offer a low cost combined screen reader and screen magnifier on a USB pen drive enabling users to have complete portability of their access software.
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>Sightsavers Dolphin Pen will enable visually impaired children and adults in Africa to have full access to screen based information on their PC in either magnified text or synthetic speech.  This will allow users to produce documents, send email and surf the internet – offering the same levels of independence to visually impaired persons as fellow computer users who have to switch between PCs at work, school or college. 
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>Sightsavers International is making the Sightsavers Dolphin Pen available to Sightsavers assistive technology programmes in Africa, including those for children.  The charity is a member of the Global Campaign for Education to get all children into primary education by 2015, an initiative backed by Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown.
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>Robin Spinks, Assistive Technology and Disability Adviser for Sightsavers, said: “In many African countries, there are no services and developed infrastructure for adults and children with low vision.  The arrival of the Sightsavers Dolphin Pen will increase their use of available PCs, especially as they can install their own personal accessibility requirements on to any computer.”
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>Noel Duffy, managing director of Dolphin Computer Access Ltd, said: “It’s great that our partnership with Sightsavers International will enable thousands of visually impaired Africans to benefit from a unique, combined solution that delivers speech and magnification in one single, stable package, helping to give computer users a real chance of an independent lifestyle.” 
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>Roger Bonner from the Kenyan Ministry of Education, said “When I had the misfortune to lose most of my vision I thought that my working life and general usefulness to the world had finished. For the past 3 months I have been using the Sightsavers Dolphin Pen which has given me so much more mobility and freedom as I can be in any office, in any town or city, in any country and have the ability to access the majority of computers. Only somebody that has been forced to carry a heavy laptop from office to office as a matter of course, or has been totally reliant on other people, can fully understand or appreciate my new status. Dolphin are to be congratulated on this most welcome advance in such software technology and I sincerely believe that this extraordinarily complex but simple to use package will open up opportunities for many more people with similar problems to myself”.
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>ENDS
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>Contact:          Hazel Shaw
>Group Marketing Manager
>Dolphin Computer Access 
>01905 754 577 ext 218
>07989 444 541
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>Or                    Aidan Relf  
>rgmr media
>07710 305182
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>                        Nicola Davies
>                        Press Office
>                        Sight Savers International
>                        01444 44 66 00
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>Notes to editors
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>1. About the Sightsavers Dolphin Pen
>The Sightsavers Dolphin Pen is a USB thumb drive that allows users to carry a version of Dolphin Computer Access’s SuperNova software in their pocket to plug into any Windows-operating PC to access its applications in a way that suits them best.  Key benefits include:
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>·         Supernova includes magnification and speech output to cater for all types of visual impairments. 
>·         A combined screen reader and magnifier helps to reduce eye strain by allowing users to increase magnification or add speech during the day as eyes become tired. 
>·         Supernova includes a full screen magnifier with features such as variable magnification, multiple screen management styles and a variety of colour replacement options to overcome partial sight impairments. 
>·         It also includes a full screen reader for people who are blind.
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>Dolphin’s magnifying tool was recently rated the best among seven competing international products at the CSUN conference in California by two accessibility experts from the RNIB – more at <http://www.yourdolphin.com/>www.yourdolphin.com. 
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>2. About Sightsavers International
>Sightsavers International works to combat preventable blindness in developing countries, restoring sight through specialist treatment and eye care. It also supports people who are irreversibly blind by providing education, counselling and training.  It helps the people who need it most - those living in poverty in some of the world's poorest countries.
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>Today, Sightsavers works with partners in over 30 countries and its mission has expanded to provide services to those who are irreversibly blind, as well as campaigning to eliminate avoidable blindness.  Working with partners last year, it helped to treat over 15.7 million people for potentially blinding conditions and restore the sight to 233,203 people. More information is available at: <http://www.sightsavers.org/>www.sightsavers.org. 
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>3. About Dolphin Computer Access
>Dolphin Computer Access is one of the largest companies in the computer access industry, with over 60 employees in offices in the UK, USA and Sweden and dealers in over 30 countries worldwide.  The company offers a complete range of software solutions, including screen readers, screen magnifiers, text scanners and readers, Braille translators, educational software to help with reading and writing, speech synthesizers and DAISY talking book software. More information about Dolphin and its assistive technology and altformat products is available at: <http://www.yourdolphin.com/>www.yourdolphin.com.  
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>Dolphin and Sightsavers are also supporters of the Altformat Campaign (<http://www.altformat.com/>www.altformat.com), backed by Sir Steve Redgrave CBE and Rt Hon David Blunkett MP, which is highlighting how developments in the production of alternative format materials are transforming the education of visually impaired and dyslexic students of all ages.
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