Assistive technologies for the visually impaired: prospects and challenges in a developing country like India

In broad terms an assistive technology is one which enables an individual with an impairment, physical or intellectual, to perform and accomplish something which he or she would not be able to achieve without the use of such technology or device. Assistive technology is any device, software, or equipment that helps people work around their challenges. These technologies may include both low-cost tools and high-tech equipment. They are available on a variety of platforms these days due to the advancements in science and technology. Things like the text-to-speech have become commonplace and are available on desktops, mobile phones and tablets.
Such technologies have come to occupy a very important place in the lives of people with visual impairment. They are helping in creating and enabling environment where basic tasks can be accomplished independently with minimal help from humans. These include screen readers available on almost all technology platforms, special mobility devices like smart canes, electronic braille devices like the Orbit Reader20, BrailleMe, IIT Delhi's Dotbook and many more.
Although the accessible computer technologies came to India during the mid-1990s, it is during last 15 years or so that these technologies have been widely used in India. So, the screen readers have become somewhat commonplace and are being used on desktops. laptops, tablets and mobile phones in fact the mobile devices are gradually replacing laptops for most of the tasks.
In today's time the mobile phone has become a minicomputer acting as many devices combined into one. Interesting technologies are evolving based on mobile phone use. It is here that most of the advanced assistive technology environments are evolving.
This paper would try to examine the development of assistive technologies in the light of the above facts. It will also consider the challenges in availing fruits of technological developments by the relatively poorer population of the disabled community in developing countries like India.