THE Jamaica Council for Persons with Disabilities (JCPD) has acquired new software to improve services to its blind and visually impaired clients as well as to help staff complete job functions.

The council received two software packages — Job Access With Speech (JAWS) and MAGic — in March under the recently completed Caribbean Community (Caricom) Trade and Competitiveness Project.

This will assist the blind and visually impaired to access online information on the Caricom Single Market and Economy (CSME), through the Caricom Community (Caricom) and CSME websites, and Word and PowerPoint documents.

JAWS is a screen reader that converts text and components of the Windows operating system into electronically produced speech for the blind, while MAGic is a screen magnification and screen reading solution for the visually impaired.

Executive Director of the JCPD Christine Hendricks said the council is very grateful to Caricom for selecting the organisation to install the software, as it will aid in the independence of its clients and staff.

“The JCPD is very pleased to be the organisation that can showcase best practices for other employers and places of employment in terms of some of the software that are necessary for the independent function of our clients and our staff,” she said.

Hendricks noted that the software is already helping to improve operations at the JCPD, as one member who is visually impaired has been able use the software to assist in carrying out her job functions.

“She [sometimes] need someone beside her to utilise the computer [but] now does it independently and that will speed up her ability to document her information which she needs to present her reports. She is also able to disseminate information about the Council to a client without having to refer the client to another officer,” she said.

She said that students will also benefit from the unstallation of the software.