MCAST University College student Jader Pelligra has designed and developed a computer-based telephony project for persons with disability. The project was announced during a media event held on 7 February at MITA in Blata l-Bajda.

In the days of dial-up Internet, modems with voice support capabilities were popular, and one could easily and cheaply enable a person who could not use a standard phone set, but still had access to a computer, to communicate using the phone, via their PC.   With the introduction of ADSL and cable-based Internet, this hardware became harder to find and nowadays most software no longer supports it. The student's ICT solution enables users to make and receive phone calls by using their computer instead of a telephone handset. The system is geared for home use but adaptable to different situations.

The features in the new telephony application communicate with the Private Bench Exchange (PBX/Handset) and include calling; hanging up; recording a call; playing music; muting microphone; auto record and call dialling.

By using their Windows-based computer to handle voice-based communication and doing away with inaccessible telephone hand-sets, users can now fulfil many clerical job requirements.  

MCAST student Jader Pelligra has donated the source code of the software to FITA and will continue to support the project.  FITA successful ran accessibility assessments on the software and included it among the ICT Pool solutions hosted at MITA in Gattard House.