A common myth about web accessibility is that it “Only helps visually impaired”. It’s one we hear again and again. We only want to test with screen readers.

This approach of building accessibility and inclusion for only one group at a times, is not really practical.

Let me share how I see it with a very real world example. Let’s take the example of an elevator which will be used by lots of different people with diverse needs. Imagine if we went with only one disability at a time, when we thought of accessibility. Let’s look at the needs one at a time:

Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/alternative-route-in-majerhat-spells-existential-dilemma-for-blind-school/articleshow/65791244.cms

For the first time since the launch of the Smart City Mission four years ago, the Centre has stressed on making a blueprint on how a smart city should look like from a differently-abled person’s point of view.

The Modi Government on Tuesday asked the States to ensure integrating disabled-friendly measures in various projects being implemented in the smart cities under the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pet project. 

Sathi offers Braille support for the visually impaired.

M-tech, a manufacturer of affordable mobile phones, has launched its first senior-friendly phone – Sathi.   

The company has focused to make it easy to use and it comes with a 2-inch horizontal screen, large keypads and on-screen fonts, bold keypad and icons for better visibility.  For facilitating elder with hearing problems, the phone emanates keypad sound for adding an extra touch of usefulness. Considering security and medical emergency as crucial, the phone features an SOS button for emergency.

HYDERABAD: Being able to move on one’s own is a great achievement for visually impaired people like me. I am a 20-plusser student in the city. Visiting a lot of places in a city like Hyderabad especially with a pool of people rushing all the time needs more than white cane mobility. It is highly impossible to move around such places without proper accessibility features in and around them. Being a visually impaired guy myself here’s my two cents of the accessibility off the places which I visit frequently in the twin cities. 

Over the years, the integration of visually-impaired individuals has increased in government services. However, they still have to encounter many difficulties, ranging from the lack of accessible infrastructure to the unavailability of materials in a suitable format. For instance, a visually-challenged aspirant preparing for UPSC can only avail 20% of the entire syllabus in Braille. Akella Raghavendra from Hyderabad observed their plight from close quarters when he started coaching visually-challenged UPSC aspirants in 2016.

THE MTN Foundation has awarded a scholarship to 96 blind students and 1068 students to study science and technology in 2018 academic session.

Mr Dennis Okoro, Director MTN Foundation made this known on Tuesday in Abuja during the presentation of scholarship award to some of the beneficiaries.
Okoro said that a total of 1164 students had so far been awarded the scholarship comprising 96 blind students and 1068 other students.
 

He said the award of the scholarship was part of MTN social corporate responsibility in giving back to the society.