Microcomputers are an increasingly important part of educational and professional activities. There are six constraints on equal opportunity for visually impaired persons to access microcomputers. They are the absence of (1) a standard computer braille code, (2) a standard system for the audio encoding of braille, (3) a means for accessing unique disk-operating system (DOS) copy-protected programs, (4) reasonably priced equipment, (5) an interactive tactile graphics display, and (6) specially designed software; there may be others. These issues must be addressed if visually impaired persons are to have equal access to the benefits of microcomputers.
