ABILITY NOT DISABILITY


Software enaineer TV. Raman builds mathematical models as a hobby when he's not working on developing speech technology.

GANY REYES - MEI~CURY NEWS

By K. Oanh Ha
Mere ~iiy Nez's
T.V. Raman is grateful that he didn't com-
pletely lose his eyesight until he was 13. Be-
cause of that, he says, he didn't get used to
always receiving "special" treatment.
"When you get things done special for
you, you come to always expect it," said Ra-
man, who was blinded by childhood glauco-
ma. "It caii be a crutch. You get marginal-
ized. The sooner you become main-
streamed, the better."
That's the same attitude Raman brings to
his research in speech technology While
Raman, a software engineer, is a fervent

proponent of making the Web and other
technology accessible to the disabled corn-
munit~ he chooses not to work in the assis-
tive technology field where products are de-
signed specifically for people who are physi-
cally impaired. Instead, he works in
developing mainstream products, such as
cell phones and personal digital assistants
that can be used with equal ease by people
with disabilities and those without.
"With most assistive technologies, you
end up retrofitting something that hasn't
been properly designed to work for people

T.V. RAMAN
Family: single.
Age: 38.
Education: doctorate in
applied mathematics, Cornell;
master's in computer science,
Cornell; master's in computer
science, Indian Institute of
Technology, Mumbai;
bachelor's in mathematics,
University of Pune, Pune,
India.

ENGINEER'S FOCUS: ACCESSIBLE TECHNOLOGY FOR ALL

current position: researcher,
IBM Almaden Research
Center, San Jose.
Specialty: Raman is one of
the world's leading experts
on auditory interfaces for
computers and other devices.
Professional
accomplishment& two
books and 20 patents filed.
Residence: San Jose.

See RAMAN, Page 5C

Source: httpj/ernacspeak. soLlrceforge.net/raIlzaIl/