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Sky Liu

Professor Schering

RHET 105

16 April 2023

Unit 3 Final

Ever since the inception of computers, programmers have relied heavily on visual cues

to program efficiently and successfully - it becomes especially important when it comes to

coding on a 9 inch 512 x 342 macintosh classic computer. Vision is important to programming,

operating a computer, and placing electronic components on an Arduino breadboard. However,

it is not required, and better yet, you can accomplish what a sighted programmer or computer

engineer can do without the help of vision at all. CS can be extremely theoretical, and Abstract

Linear Algebra and Discrete Mathematics certainly do not need vision to study - both of which

are the foundations of programming. On the other hand, modern technologies have developed

so much that there is a modern solution to all kinds of problems that a user may encounter.

Technologies are evolving at such a rapid speed that if there is a new demand, you can be rest

assured that a new form of technology will appear in no time to accommodate it. The same goes

for CS education for Blind and Visually Impaired (BVI) individuals. Many may argue that it is

impossible to use a computer, let alone program on one, if you do not have vision. But, with the

advent of the newest technologies, the fact that computer science can be largely theoretical,

and the continuous support for blind education, learning CS and computer engineering without

vision can be feasible and a lot easier than you might think. It can even be argued that CS

education for BVI individuals can shape them into programmers who are just as proficient at

coding and computer engineering as sighted individuals.

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There are many technologies that help BVI learners use a computer, speech synthesis,

screen readers, physical coding education tools, just to name a few. These assistive

technologies play a huge role in modern BVI programmers’ lives.

Speech Synthesis, also known as text-to-speech, is a technology that artificially

produces human-like speech from reading written text. The process of speech synthesis

involves the fields of Linguistics and Computer Science. The standard procedures are as

follows: text analysis, linguistic analysis, acoustic analysis, and speech gen. In detail, text

analysis involves breaking down written text into smaller units, such as morphemes, phonemes,

and syllables; linguistic analysis involves analyzing the syntax elements, grammatical

structures, and semantic/pragmatic features of each sentence; acoustic analysis involves

converting the processed linguistic features following the aforementioned steps into sound

parameters, such as pitch, duration, and amplitude; speech generation involves synthesizing

speech from the acoustic parameters using a voice synthesizer. In the article published by Soft

Computing: “Mobile robot: automatic speech recognition application for automation and STEM

education”, the authors explored combinations of AI and voice recognition technologies to come

up with a robot combined with the Android operating system and a GUI. “We research the

mobile robot using RockChip AI Processor RK3399Pro, which focuses on understanding the

structure and operating mechanism of the AI Processor that RockChip robot uses, along with

researching Android with IPC AIDL architecture and Automatic Voice Recognition technology to

control robot to turn left, turn right, move forward, backward, and stop the movement by voice

with three languages: Korean, English, and Vietnamese” (Tran, et al., 2023, Abstract). The

authors present a detailed discussion of the various applications of the intersection of speech

synthesis and robotics. They were able to achieve amazing results such as controlling the

robots with voice recognition in several different south-eastern asian languages. This

technology should inspire huge improvements in the field of CS education for BVI learners for

two reasons. First, blind and visually impaired individuals could potentially communicate with
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this robot verbally, making coding completely visually independent. In other words, the learners

can input vocal commands by telling the robots each line of code that they want to write, then

the robot can use text-to-speech to generate speech. Second, such a robot would make CS

education for BVI learners much easier as the robots can find valuable educational resources by

voice commands only. The learners would not have the need to look up information on the

Internet, or type in anything in their own browsers. This saves a lot of time and energy for the

BVI learners, as “looking stuff on the Internet” could be a slow process for these individuals.

Screen readers, as the name suggests, is usually a software that does basic text-to-

speech conversion. It might seem identical to the aforementioned robot, but without physical

properties. However, there is a key difference between both technologies, screen readers are

much easier to install and use, and they are much more affordable to the average consumer

than expensive robots with the latest processors. Anyone can install and use a screen reader

with a Windows PC, it does not take much effort, and works straight away. In fact, the majority

of blind programmers nowadays heavily depend on using screen readers. Most of them are

trained to do a variety of advanced tasks with this technology, and the outcomes are nothing

short of jaw-dropping for the average sighted person. According to “Typhlex: Exploring

Deformable Input for Blind Users Controlling a Mobile Screen Reader” (Matthew Ernst, et al.),

“A 2014 online survey of mobile phone users revealed that 91 percent of the survey’s visually

impaired respondents owned an iPhone. Yet such touch-centric smartphones present strong

challenges for blind users: with no tactile reference to anything other than edges or corners,

blind users cannot interact with the visual interface or process its feedback” (Matthew Ernst, et

al. 1). Most technologies nowadays develop without having BVI users in mind, the iPhone is a

brilliant example of that. The latest iPhone models are becoming more reliant on screen and

camera quality, adding features that presume vision is available. Phones are essential devices

that are convenient to use, and relevant in our daily lives. In our current situation, the

importance of screen readers for BVI individuals needs no introduction. The fact that screen
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readers can be implemented onto smartphone devices speaks volumes for its convenience and

advantage over other current technology adaptations. However, some people might argue that

screen readers are still rather inefficient, and pale in comparison to traditional screens due to

the fact that it is rather unintuitive and not easily interactable. But, there are current

modifications to screen readers that can be helpful in solving this issue. “Deformable devices

offer an enhanced tactile interaction model, because users interact with the interface by

performing physical manipulations, such as bending, twisting, or squeezing. For a demographic

that relies heavily on touch, this tactile form of input could potentially let blind users further

interact with the world around them. Learning and performing these intuitive deformable

gestures on easily locatable and distinguishable parts of a smartphone, such as corners and

edges, could help blind users interact with screen readers” (Matthew Ernst, et al. 1). Deformable

inputs combine tactile and auditory senses together to complement the lack of vision. It

eliminates the needs of extra equipment for special inputs, such as Braille interpreters, Braille

PDA, and Braille printers. On top of convenience, it also provides the BVI users with a sense of

orientation and more control. With the help of this technology, we can define control paradigms

that guide the BVI users how to interact with their screen readers more effectively, increase their

performance, and convenience.

Besides tools that can also be used in BVI individuals’ daily lives, there are also specific

tools designed to teach them core CS and Computer Engineering concepts. Snapino is a

perfect example for achieving this purpose. Snapino is based on Snap Circuits and Arduino.

Snap Circuits is a simplified version of traditional Arduino kits that is more user friendly, and it

consists of a series of modular basic electronic components, such as resistors, speakers,

switches, buttons, and a variety of other interesting components. Arduino software, on the other

hand, is a great tool for an introduction of programming code that is similar to C++. Snapiino

combines the best of both worlds, and provides a full package of core CS and Computer

Engineering education. However, even Snapino is not geared towards BVI learners. Its
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development did not have BVI learners in mind, but it can be easily altered to provide a great

education for them. Snapino combined with Snap Circuits is great for this purpose. The modular

components of Snap Circuits are marginally easier to manipulate and move around than

traditional Arduino components due to their simplicity and larger sizes. Also, they are usually big

enough to put Braille labels on top of them, making them more recognizable and therefore more

accessible. Snapino, on the other hand, offers a crucial component to coding education in this

scenario - the microcontroller. The microcontroller is compatible with all existing Snap Circuits

components, and it can be hooked up to a Windows laptop installed with Arduino software and

VS Code. The power of the microcontroller is that through a real text editor (VS Code), the BVI

learners can write real code to control the Snap Circuits components and conduct a variety of

activities. The Snapino and Snap Circuits combo spawns a truly amazing tool that is at the

intersection of CS and Computer Engineering.

More on the topic of effective CS education, we have to also realize that the main part of

CS is extremely abstract and about theoretical mathematics and CS concepts. Those lay the

foundation for advanced algorithms and data structures. Theoretical Computer Science is not all

about coding, and Math concepts do not require vision to learn. In the article “Exploring

theoretical computer science using paper toys (for kids)”, the authors propose an introductory

course to CS theory that is built on computational cards consisting of computational elements:

“Computational cards are playing cards with formal rules, designed to be an educational tool for

teaching computer science to a broad range of students, either very young or without a strong

mathematical background. In the following we give a brief introduction to c-cards, and we

discuss some of the motivations and goals behind this educational tool. Together with its syntax

and semantics” (A. Valente, et al., Section 1). The students are able to move around disposing

cards with symbols on top of them to learn formal CS rules, the same cards can be altered to

have Braille labels on top of them for BVI education. Learning theoretical CS puts both sighted
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learners and BVI learners on a level playing field, as there are a lot more tools that can be used

for BVI education.

Since CS education for BVI learners is proven to be feasible, perhaps you will wonder if

these people will go on to become as proficient as the sighted professionals in their respective

CS and Computer Engineering subfields. The answer to the question is yes, there exists a large

number of successful examples of excellent BVI programmers, and they are just as good as

sighted programmers. Michael Hingson, Jamie Teh, and Haben Girma are a few names that

come to mind. With the help of some of the aforementioned technologies, these people were

able to excel in their chosen subfields. They overcame numerous challenges and obstacles that

they faced, including accessing and interpreting code, navigating software development tools

and interfaces, and collaborating with sighted colleagues, with the aid of all of the

aforementioned tools and many more strategies.

Finally, If you are a BVI individual who wants to study CS or Computer Engineering but

is deterred by the uncertainty of whether or not you will succeed in this field, it is important to

remember that this thought might exist simply due to perceived negative feedback from others.

It is important to recognize that everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses, and visual

abilities alone do not determine whether or not you will become a successful professional in the

computing industry. The stereotypes in CS and Computer Engineering education for BVI

individuals usually refer to the preconceived notion that CS is equivalent to operating a

computer, and it must require vision, which is false in and of itself. If you are a blind person

interested in pursuing a career in CS or Computer Engineering, it is important to understand that

being able to see can only help you so much in an extremely technical, theoretical, and

conceptual field. In fact, many BVI programmers have already demonstrated their capabilities

and success in CS and Computer Engineering.