Microsoft helping visually-impaired children learn coding

Tech giant, Microsoft has been working on a physical programming language specially created for children who are blind or visually impaired. Code Jumper, as it is dubbed, comes in different sizes for different commands, and children can connect them together to build a program. Affected children can learn coding by connecting physical blocks together. Each block is brightly colored and has the size of a softball.

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Code ‘Jumper’ was originally developed as Project Torino in Microsoft’s research labs some years ago. At the onset, it was as an improved version of block coding for the visually impaired, as a response to the insufficiency of traditional screen readers or magnifiers. It is geared towards helping children between the ages of seven and eleven have a basic understanding of coding.

Microsoft has been collaborating with the American Printing House for the Blind (APH) to tweak its system and will now hand over the responsibility to APH so students can have access to it. APH is now planning to make Code Jumper available in Australia, Canada, India, the UK, and the US this year, with worldwide availability expected over the next five years.