5.4.2 Disabled friendly devices LIRNEasia, along with MIDO and Centre for Internet & Society (CIS) are working towards ensuring the participation of differently abled individuals in the mobile and Internet revolutions in Myanmar. Rohan Samarajiva (Chair, LIRNEasia) and Nirmita Narasimhan (Policy Director, CIS) met with a multitude of stakeholders to discuss issues related to e-accessibility for persons with disabilities. Nirmita Narasimham was instrumental in engaging with key stakeholders in the field by making recommendations on policy level decisions that could be made to support disability access. Face to face meetings took place on 3rd and 4th February 2016 with the following individuals. 1. Christopher Peirce- Ooredoo Myanmar 2. Patricia Curran- Telenor Myanmar 3. Aung Lwin Oo- Kyee Myin Dian School for the Blind 4. Nay Lin Soe- Myanmar Independent Living Initiative 5. Sarah Oh- Phandeeyar 6. Kyaw Kyaw- Myanmar Deaf Community Development Association 7. Thant Thaw Kuang- Myanmar Book Aid and Preservation Foundation 8. Vicky Bowman- Myanmar Centre for Responsible Business The roles that each party could play in making information resources available and accessible to individuals with disabilities was discussed at length and follow up conversations to discuss these action points were initiated. Annexures 11 to 15 contain the follow up notes sent to various stakeholders. Annex 25- Christopher Peirce- Ooredoo Myanmar Annex 26- Patricia Curran- Telenor Myanmar Annex 27- Nay Lin Soe- Myanmar Independent Living Initiative Annex 28- Thant Thaw Kuang- Myanmar Book Aid and Preservation Foundation Annex 29- Vicky Bowman- Myanmar Centre for Responsible Business During these visits, LIRNEasia learnt of a number of issues that surround the use of ICTs for the disabled. The need to resolve issues in screen reading software to produce a workable text-to-speech engine for the blind in Myanmar was one of the key issues identified during the course of this project. Mr. Dipendra Manocha, who had worked extensively in such situations in other countries such as India, was invited to Myanmar for this purpose. Mr. Manocha and Piyush Chanana, a researcher at IIT Delhi were in Myanmar from 13-18 December 2016. Mr. Manocha made a presentation at the Myanmar Digital Rights Forum during his stay. To resolve issues with the TTS engine, they had meetings with 1. Rev. Thein Lwin: General Secretary, Yangon Christian Fellowship for the Blind, Mya Thida Lwin, Vice Principal Yangon Education Center for the Blind and Mr. Bananan (who demonstrated the use of the existing TTS engine) 2. Benedict La Hkun, Programme Manager of ICT, Myanmar National Association of the Blind Aung NaingTun, Myanmar National Association of the Blind (MNAB) 3. Min Maung (Bo Bo), Aung Lwin Oo Following these meetings, it was identified that resolving issues in e-Speak, an lightweight open source TTS, would be the low hanging fruit in providing accessibility to the blind despite its robotic voice. The MNAB was working on getting the Myanmar language onto e-Speak since 2013, but had hit multiple roadblocks.