NVDA (Non-Visual Desktop Access) is developed by an NPO based
in Australia.

I am participating as the project leader of Japanese localization of NVDA since 2011.

Assisitive technlogy is making evolutions, as well as the other technologies.

In Japan, most of the core technologies, such as text input method, speech synthesis, and automatic braille translation, have not been freely available, so the Japanese community is behind the times.
This is the reason I committed to the project so deeply since the earthquake.

nvdajp 2011.3j was released on Dec 23.
Its enhancement includes Japanese TTS, IME support and braille support.
Default speech engine is JTalk, an open-source Japanese TTS, based on Open JTalk.

Functions of reporting Japanese input method has limitations as follows:

(1) IME support does not work properly with Wordpad, Microsoft Word, and Internet Explorer.

(2) With Internet Explorer and some applications, after writing some Japanese characters within a textbox,
pressing Escape key without finishing composition may cause collision of escaping edit mode with canceling Japanese composition.

(3) With 32bit applications, key-echo of Japanese input is delayed, because the report is performed at the key-up events.

IME support function can be disabled using Keyboard setting.

DirectBM is experimental braille driver which supports KGS Japanese braille displays.

Although the activity is separated from the mainstream development now, international cooperation, such as helping development of Chinese text imput support, is very important.

We started discussions with an NPO in Japan to obtain the support. I am also seeking the consultation business related to the software, or a position of full-time researcher where I can keep the engagement of NVDA development. I hope I can inform the good news this year.