Microsoft and Foundation Horizonti partner to provide access to technology for the visually impaired in Bulgaria
New nationwide programme to open up access to technology for visually impaired people across Bulgaria.
SOFIA, 10 March 2005 — Europe's new i2010 strategy aims to make Europe's Information Society more competitive, in part by making it as inclusive and accessible as possible. To help make this vision a reality Microsoft is working with community partners across Europe through the Unlimited Potential programme. Celebrating its second anniversary this month, Unlimited Potential helps people and communities to discover the benefits of technology in their daily lives and for achieving their dreams.
The focus of Unlimited Potential is to support community IT skills training to promote digital inclusion, employability and entrepreneurship skills for under-served groups including unemployed youth, people with disabilities, senior citizens and refugees. In the first two years across Europe, the Middle East and Africa, Unlimited Potential has supported over 100 projects, working with more than 300 partners in over 1000 community-based technology learning centres, providing training to 300,000 people and access to IT for thousands more.
One of the most exciting Unlimited Potential partnerships is in Bulgaria, where Microsoft has partnered with Foundation Horizonti, a Bulgarian NGO, to open a modern IT training centre in Sofia for visually impaired people. The Director of Foundation Horizonti, Zeynep Saraeva, says the project is "of national importance in making information technology accessible for visually impaired people. It provides both a chance to improve their professional qualifications and to be more integrated in society”.
In Bulgaria today, more than 18,000 people are permanently blind and unable to work, while a further 40,000 have eyesight impairments that prevent their easy mobility. Promoting inclusion and accessibility in the information era is also a key goal as Bulgaria enters the European Union in 2007.
Accordingly the partnership combines both IT skills training and facilities, and technological innovation. In the first phase, the Bulgarian Association of Computer Linguistics (BACL) developed a Bulgarian language speech synthesiser (Speech Lab) designed to work well with Microsoft Windows and Microsoft Office. The development of a high-quality text-to-speech system allows for greater intelligibility and fluidity, giving the visually impaired in Bulgaria access to the very latest speech recognition technology. Through Unlimited Potential financing, the speech recognition tool has been made freely available throughout the country by Foundation Horizonti and 19 local branches of the Union of the Blind in Bulgaria.
Second phase of the project includes the launch of a modern community learning technology centre and learning curricula. The centre provides 8 fully equipped workstations installed with Windows XP and the full suite of Office applications, donated by Microsoft. Through access to the latest business and productivity applications, as well as to curriculum content that focuses on technology and computer literacy skills, the centre is able to provide training tailored both to real-life situations encountered by the visually impaired and to employment and business skills.
Two months after the start of the project in November 2004 it received the Investor in Human Capital award from the Bulgarian Business Leaders Forum. As Microsoft General Manager in Bulgaria Teodor Milev says, "This award recognises our commitment to extend the benefits of technology to people with visual disabilities. We are very proud to support our partners in this project. Their work is vital for the social inclusion of this community and supports its members in using their spiritual force and intellectual power to bridge physical difficulties."
