BENGALURU: A football game without claps and cheering? Sounds strange? Not to this group of visually-challenged players, who participated in Blind Football, a fast-paced five-a-side game, which is played using a football with bells. Played on a smaller ground of 40x20 sq. m, there is more dribbling and short passing than that in the mainstream sport. Crowds remain silent to ensure players can hear the ball and fellow teammates.
Our guest writer this week is Arun Dua from Chandigarh. Dua works with the
NGO Disha, which produces audio books for visually impaired people and
offers advocacy, counselling, empowerment and support for assistive
technologies.
On the big day of polling for the Lok Sabha elections 2019, lack of arrangements at some polling booths made it difficult for differently abled persons to cast their votes in some parts of Dehradun.
The 4th edition of The Indian Blind Football Federation’s (IBFF) football tournament started on April 12 ends today. The 4-day tournament is hosted at The BullRing FeverPitch Football Arena, Yeshwanthpur
The tournament saw 16 teams with 160 players. A women’s blind football demo, comprising Bengaluru-based players, will also be organised today. In a conversation with Metrolife, Sunil J Mathew, coach of Indian Blind Football Team, talks about the techniques used and the challenges faced by the academy, players and more.
Thanks to the efforts of Election Commission of India, those with visual impairment can now cast their vote without any assistance in the general and byelections scheduled for April 18.
A demonstration on EVMs with Braille touch and dummy ballot papers was held at the Tiruvannamalai Collectorate where Collector K.S. Kandasamy reviewed the operations in front of a visually-impaired voter Vanitha.
The phone hasn't stopped ringing for Sparsh Gupta. Congratulations are pouring in for this 28-year-old who has cracked the Civil Services Examination 2018 with a rank of 562, some of them including people who had
written off his future prospects when he lost his vision completely in 2016.
It's a sweet moment for Sparsh and his family, who have stood by him rock solid from birth.
To make elections more inclusive, the Election Commission has instructed the chief electoral officers of all the states to print ballot paper in Braille for visually-impaired voters.
Uttar Pradesh chief electoral officer L Venkateshwarlu has directed the district electoral officers to make arrangements for Braille voting ballot paper to ensure their participation in the Lok Sabha elections beginning April 11.
Braille Ballot papers will be used to help the blind vote in the state.
HYDERABAD: For the visually-impaired, voting has always been a harrowing experience. Many of them have, for a long time now, complained that polling booths are not user-friendly. Even at polling stations with Braille ballot papers, issues are many. Some of them have asked the Election Commission to resolve their issues this election. They will find out on Thursday, the day they cast their votes, whether these requests have in fact worked.
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