CHENNAI: Government staff with visual impairment appointed for election duty were turned away from training programmes as the officials allegedly claimed their appointment was a ‘mistake’.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that there are over 1.3 billion visually impaired people, of which more than 36 million are blind. Home to the world’s second largest population, blindness is no stranger to India. According to a report by Centre for Sight, one of every three blind people is an Indian. The country is home to over 30 per cent of the world’s blind population—an estimated 12 million.

Remember going to the exam hall? The butterflies in your stomach, sweaty palms, and feverish prayers that the questions be easy – then the post exam stress of how well you’d score!

Most of us write our exams out of compulsion and, well, because we don’t really have a choice. Now think of someone who has braved the exam stress over 10 years, writing a whopping 681 exams, and all of it willingly. That is NM Pushpa Preeya for you - an exam scribe from Bengaluru, who was awarded the Nari Shakti Puraskar this year.
 

Facing safety challenges, visually impaired women across the state are forced to carry folding knives and safety pins. A survey on the condition of working women with visual impairment conducted by Karnataka State Government Employee's Association  for the Blind also stated that the government has not trained them in navigation and smart mobility technology such as the smartphone app Eye-D, electronic canes, Google Map and other navigational aids.

Hubballi: The Dharwad district administration intends to  provide differently-abled persons free pick-up and drop to  and from polling booths. This initiative is aimed at iincreasing polling percentage and at helping the differently  abled vote.