The Supreme Court’s order to ensure the implementation of Urdu as official language and unavailability of an Urdu Screen Reading Software for visually impaired persons, necessitate development of Urdu screen reader on priority bases in Pakistan. Otherwise blind persons will be put on utter disadvantage in our society.
Today in Pakistan, visually impaired persons from prestigious civil services to academia and businesses are working in every walk of life thanks to information and communication technologies. Some of the advantages of these technologies for blind persons include: easy knowledge acquisition, enhanced communication, opportunities for higher education and improved employment prospects. Notwithstanding the benefits, in developing countries like Pakistan, the prospective gains promised with the digital era, have not become the reality for most of the people with visual impairment especially in educational context, thereby reducing the prospects of their employment. Moreover, due to the huge difference between their low income and high price of new devices and softwares, the gap of available technologies for visually impaired persons between developed and developing world is increasing day by day. In this context, the situation will be further aggravated for blind persons in Pakistan if Supreme Court’s order on making Urdu official language is implemented without developing Urdu screen reading software.
Screen reading software applications are form of assistive technology that deliver the information displayed on the computer screen to a visually impaired person in text to speech or Braille formats. In simple words, using screen reader, a blind person can as easily operate a computer and perform various tasks as any other person would. A blind person can work in Windows Operating System, MS Word, MS Power Point and MS Excel, and can use Internet and email with the help of screen reading softwares like JAWS (Job Access With Speech). Education and access to information for blind persons is much easier with the help of JAWS which also supports social media websites like Facebook and Twitter. However, there has been little done to subsidize or promote these programs in Pakistan by the government.
Currently these softwares are available in various languages including: English, French, German, Arabic, Persian and Hindi; but unfortunately, not in Urdu. It is therefore, need of the hour that an Urdu screen reading software is developed. If the government desires, it can develop its version in Urdu through Ministry of Information Technology that may greatly help the visually impaired persons in getting modern day research based education.
The need to develop an Urdu screen reading software application for visually impaired persons may be viewed with a four-fold focus:
Firstly, in view of the Supreme Court’s orders to make the Urdu as official language in the country, the development of this software becomes more significant, so that blind persons are not deprived or discriminated. If Urdu is implemented as official language in Pakistan as SC order requires and the Urdu screen reading software is not developed, the blind persons already working in government offices will be put to further disadvantage. This does not mean that Urdu should not be implemented as an official language, rather visually impaired persons should be provided with the tools and means to enable them to read and write Urdu.
Secondly, the UNCRPD, (United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities), of which Pakistan is a ratified signatory, asks the states/parties to enable the participation of Persons with Disabilities in social, cultural and public life and make the information accessible for them. Therefore, in Pakistan, it is necessary to develop an Urdu screen reader to make the literature and information produced in Urdu accessible for blind persons.
Thirdly, through Urdu screen reader, the blind people will have access to our own literature, history and civilization produced and preserved in Urdu language. It is unfortunate that they can access the literature and information in other languages such as English, but, are away from their own rich literary heritage.
Fourthly, availability of an Urdu screen reader along with on-hand the English screen reading software, open the new ways of getting education and information for blind persons. It will also enhance the productivity of the blind persons working in government and private sectors; besides open-up new fields for them to work in and generate more job opportunities for them.
The cost of developing the Urdu screen reading software is expected to be around six to eight million rupees. However, the educational, professional and personal benefits of this software for visually impaired persons in Pakistan will be worth it. Through it, they will not only be able to enjoy the rich literature in Urdu language, but also play a more productive role in the development of our state and society.
–iftikhar hussain jazib
The writer is a PhD scholar at Quaid-i-Azam University
