The winners of the much coveted N.C.P.E.D.P. Shell Helen Keller Awards for 2009 have been announced. This is the 11th edition of these awards instituted by National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People (N.C.P.E.D.P.), to honour individuals and organisations who have been working towards promoting equal opportunities and providing gainful employment for persons with disabilities. The Awards will be given on December 2 in New Delhi.

The first flexible retinal implant could restore some vision to people with certain forms of visual impairment.

Conditions such as age-related macular degeneration occur when some of the photoreceptors in the eye stop functioning properly. But as other parts of the eye still work, it should be possible to restore vision using an implant that mimics the photoreceptor layer, says Rostam Dinyari at Stanford University in California.

To achieve this, an implant needs to convert a light signal into an electrical pulse – in other words, perform like a solar cell.

Non-availability of sufficient material is one of the causes for its decline

Modern technology has changed lifestyles; the invasion of new electronic gadgets has now questioned even the relevance of Braille for the blind in the present world.

On the occasion of 201st birth anniversary of Louis Braille, inventor of Braille language, Deccan Herald spoke to few individuals, who work for the blind and asked them about the importance of Braille in a blind person's life.

On January 4, Bangalore will celebrate the birthday of Louis Braille, the creator of the script for the blind with the rest of the world. Doordarshan Kendra will be observing this day in a unique way, Kannada News will be presented by visually challenged persons trained in Braille script.

Braille Script consists of six dots that are raised.

These six bumps are in different patterns, like constellations, spreading out over the page. They consist of numbers, letters, words.

Ministry of Communication and Information Technology would take a decision shortly with regard to the extra premium paid by the disabled employees

The Central Government Wednesday informed the Delhi High Court that equal benefits for postal life insurance will be provided to the differently-abled government employees with a maximum limit of Rs 5,00,000.

CHENNAI: The tax-free State budget 2010-2011, presented by Finance Minister K. Anbazhagan in the recently inaugurated Assembly-Secretariat complex on Friday, contained a slew of policy measures for the differently abled.

New research suggests musical talent and vision impairment are closely linked. High-profile and brilliant blind musicians such as Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder and Andrea Bocelli have long caused people to wonder if there is a link between music and blindness.

Now Professor Adam Ockelford, a musician and visiting research fellow at the Institute of Education, London, has some solid evidence.

He and his research team surveyed and visited visually impaired children who had been premature babies, at home and at school.

The visually-challenged could soon get a 24X7 companion in the form of a radio dedicated solely to education and entertainment for the blind. City-based Braillevani Education Radio Group (BERG) has been working on the concept and will approach HRD Minister Kapil Sibal with it in July this year. Once sanctioned, the group said, the project would be functional by the end of the year.

She travels 85 km from her village to Bhopal to study for her blind daughter’s sake, spending Rs 250, every day — a huge amount for an underprivileged family like hers. But 29-year-old Govind Kunwar does not mind because her efforts are helping her daughter reclaim her confidence and live with dignity.

Kunwar, a woman with normal vision, is learning Braille so that she can help daughter Anita (7) cope with her studies.