Cincinnati, OH -- (PRWEB) -- September 1, 2005 -- Somatic Digital, LLC today announced that its President, Jason E. Barkeloo spoke to over 3000 attendees at the National Federation of the Blind's (NFB) National Convention in Louisville, Kentucky, Wednesday, July 6th, 2005.

Mr. Barkeloo addressed the topic of "Interactive Education for Everybody Including the Blind." During the presentation Mr. Barkeloo discussed the touch user interface (TUI) technology and its promise to connect blind students to digital content through Braille-printed pages. This technology serves to enhance Braille by coupling auditory content to it. When a blind student presses the Braille-printed-page digital content is retrieved and presented to the student in an auditory form through a computer.

The TUI technology was discussed against the backdrop of the National Instructional Materials Accessibility Standard (NIMAS) as part of the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act (IDEA). The TUI enables all students to access digital content through pages in a textbook and this provides a bridge over the digital divide while meeting the requirements of NIMAS at the same time.

An audio/video version of the speech can be found here.

About the National Federation of the Blind (NFB)

Founded in 1940, the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) is the nation's largest and most influential membership organization of blind persons. With fifty thousand members, the NFB has affiliates in all fifty states plus Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico, and over seven hundred local chapters. As a consumer and advocacy organization, the NFB is considered the leading force in the blindness field today. (Media Page) For more information about the leadership of the National Federation of the Blind please click (Board of Directors).

The purpose of the National Federation of the Blind is two-fold: to help blind persons achieve self-confidence and self-respect and to act as a vehicle for collective self-expression by the blind. By providing public education about blindness, information and referral services, scholarships, literature and publications about blindness, aids and appliances and other adaptive equipment for the blind, advocacy services and protection of civil rights, development and evaluation of technology, and support for blind persons and their families, members of the NFB strive to educate the public that the blind are normal individuals who can compete on terms of equality.

Special services of the National Federation of the Blind include a Materials Center containing over eleven hundred pieces of literature about blindness and four hundred different aids and appliances used by the blind and the International Braille and Technology Center for the Blind is the world's largest and most complete evaluation and demonstration center for all speech and Braille technology used by the blind from around the world. NFB-NEWSLINE for the Blind, the world's first free talking newspaper service, offers the blind the complete text of leading national and local newspapers with the use of only a touch-tone telephone. Jobline offers national employment listings and job openings through a telephone menu system to anyone free of charge.

Publications of the NFB include the Braille Monitor, which provides a positive philosophy about blindness and discusses events and activities of the Federation and in the blindness field and Future Reflections, a publication of the National Organization of Parents of Blind Children, a Division of the NFB. Voice of the Diabetic focuses on special interests and needs of diabetics and is a publication of the Diabetes Action Network, also a Division of the National Federation of the Blind.

It is estimated that about 1.1 million people in the U.S. are blind. Each year 50,000 more will become blind. Studies show that only AIDS and cancer are feared more than blindness. However, blindness need not be the tragedy which it is generally thought to be. In the NFB we say, "The real problem of blindness is not the loss of eyesight, but the misunderstanding and lack of information which exist."

The program for the conference can be found at http://nfb.org/convent/conven05.htm For more information please visit the NFB's website at: http://www.nfb.org.

About Somatic Digital, LLC

Somatic Digital, LLC is developing the touch user interface (TUI) technology in part with licensed technology from Smartpaper Networks Corporation (www.smartpaper.net). The TUI technology connects paper directly to digital content that can reside on optical media, the Internet, or hard-drives. This technology enables accessibility for students who normally are unable to connect to digital content. With the press of a finger or stylus or pointer, a physically, visually, or hearing impaired student can gain access to digital content.

The Company's mission is to create and distribute the tools that enable publishers to connect to digital content by touching pages in a book. Somatic Digital seeks to provide a bridge over the digital divide for more students, regardless of learning style, special needs or socioeconomic position, than are current connected. For more information, please visit the Somatic Digital's web site at www.SomaticDigital.com

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Somatic Digital, LLC
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