Audio-based CAPTCHA
for the blind
Competitions are often seen as spaces for rivalry, but I’ve discovered they offer so much more. They are places for learning. While the primary purpose is to showcase one’s work, the shared interests among participants create a unique environment. When I encounter projects that are more creative or practical than mine, I often find myself shifting into a learning mindset without even realizing it.
My experience occurred at the 2nd IT Coding Invention Contest. It is a competition to showcase inventions for the disabled. I submitted an acoustic directional CAPTCHA for the visually impaired, and since it is difficult for the visually impaired to use a security program called CAPTCHA, I changed it so that the user could guess the direction of the sound. I was confident in my work, and the result of the competition was satisfactory. However, there were works that I thought were as good as me or better than me. It was a competition where many children participated, so I think I had a lot to learn. There were many works that could be reborn as a potential technology with a little more refinement. In particular, I was amazed by the portable braille printer.
What I felt during the interview at the newspaper after the competition was, "You can't end it here." I wanted other people to realize how helpful these inventions could be. There were many works that were outstanding but not illuminated, and I thought that if there was a chance for them to be seen in the world, it would be good for students and the disabled. Therefore, I created a site called withabled.org. I made it so that users can see detailed information of the inventions for the disabled, and let them fund the project if they wanted to. My organization, withabled, will manage all donations so that students' projects could contribute to society.