Microsoft Imagine Cup contest: software to strip away stigma of being disabled

Mohamed Radwan came from Egypt to Microsoft's US campus to show Bill Gates a way software can strip away the stigma of being disabled.
Radwan, his sister, Noha, and fellow Cairo college students Tarek Elgaaly and Ahmed Fathallah created computer software that uses artificial intelligence to customise school programs for those with mental or physical challenges.
"I have a good friend and one day I found out he had a brother who is handicapped," Radwan said of the inspiration for the invention that put his team among the finalists in this year's Microsoft Imagine Cup innovation contest.
"It was as though the family was ashamed and kept him a secret."
The Imagine Cup theme this year is, "Imagine a world where technology enables a better education for all."
Ten of the teams that will vie in August at the Imagine Cup finals in Seoul were at Microsoft's US headquarters on June 26, showing their work to the software giant's legendary co-founder Bill Gates.
"It's a great area and I completely agree with your vision," Gates told Radwan and his team, which boldly suggested that Microsoft more aggressively develop ways to make computing easier for people with disabilities.
Gates and Microsoft chief research and strategy officer Craig Mundie lingered at student presentations, asking questions and trying programs.
"I'm very nervous and excited," Byoung-Su Lin said as she and fellow students from South Korea readied a program that lets deaf and blind people read, write and participate in classes.
The invention features a glove embedded with sensors with software that translates Braille into and out of text and speech.