First, consider what an e-reader represents to the blind community.

FORBES: Apple's iPad Brings Easy Reading to the Blind

What good is a reader to someone who is blind if it requires a seeing person to get to the first page, let alone turn that page?

FORBES: Apple's iPad Brings Easy Reading to the Blind

Sina's passion for his field originally stems from the fact that he is mostly blind and uses assistive technologies such as a screen reader to navigate computer systems and technological devices.

WHITEHOUSE: Sina bahram | The White House

Home Page Reader uses a 10-key numeric keypad interface so that blind and visually impaired users can interact with their computers and navigate the Internet.

CNN: IBM Web browser talks to visually impaired

The expressed goal of IBM's Home Page Reader is "to minimize the information gap between the sighted and the blind, " according to Chicko Asakwa, a blind researcher at IBM's Tokyo Research Laboratory who played a pivotal role in the development of the product.

CNN: IBM Web browser talks to visually impaired