Viewscan Text System (1983) - the world's first portable, large print, word processing system.

The Viewscan Text System by Wormald International Sensory Aids is an early portable assistive technology device developed to help blind and visually impaired individuals independently read printed text. Housed in rugged briefcase-style shell, the system combines optical character recognition (OCR), a tactile QWERTY keyboard, a red monochrome display, and a built-in mono cassette drive for data storage.

Users could scan printed material, convert it to digital text, and either read it on the high-contrast display or export it to compatible Braille or speech output systems. As one of the pioneering tools in accessible computing, the Viewscan illustrates the ingenuity of 1980s technology in breaking down barriers to information access.

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Manufacturer: Wormald Sensory Aids
Date: November 1983

This exhibit has a reference ID of CH74101. Please quote this reference ID in any communication with the Centre for Computing History.

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