KOCHI: As he puts his batting gloves on, Sijumon casually explains how he normally travels out of his tribal village in Therakkudy. First, a two-and-half-hour walk through the forest -- a river or two to cross along the way -- as his father accompanies him till Kuttampuzha. Then he depends on infrequent jeep services to reach Pooyamkutty and catches a bus to Kothamangalam and from there to Aluva. All this to play a sport that he dearly loves, cricket.
In the 11th episode of the third season of Touching Lives, the telecom services provider presented university scholarships, mobility equipment, and laptop computers with voice recognition to two students of the institution.
One of the beneficiaries, Philomena Ukwueze, 30, recently scored 243 in the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) and had received an offer to study Guidance and Counselling at the University of Ibadan.
A human being is a magnificent creation and the magnificence must reflect in a humane, magnanimous, and all-inclusive manner so that every individual tends to feel that she/he deserves space," as observed by the Supreme Court in the Pranay Kumar Podder vs State of Tripura and Others case in 2017.
There is potential progress on the horizon as inclusion, integration and phrases that would define their essence are discussed zealously, but what portends horror is that it is still left to choice - that it is not the practice.
The Supreme Court observed that “employment is a key factor in the empowerment and inclusion of people with disabilities” in its judgment in theUnion of India v. National Federation of the Blind case (2013).
The verdict registered the “alarming reality” of disabled persons out of jobs, not because of their disabilities but due to social and physical barriers that prevent them from joining the workforce.
Paul D’Souza
BENGALURU: Meet a Bengalurean Paul D’Souza, who has developed Touché, which works as an e-reader for the blind.The device, a Refreshable Braille Display, has a display area or a window where there are hundreds of small pin like projections that can be felt like the embossed Braille dots on paper.
JAJPUR/BERHAMPUR: Beyond the numbers crunched for the all-time record results in High School Certificate (HSC) examination are the real stories of success of a girl belonging to the Mankedia tribe in Jajpur district and the visually challenged students of a school in Ambapur on the outskirts of Berhampur.
If Moneka Mankedia became the first female from the nomadic Mankedia tribe to clear the annual examination, seven girls from the Red Cross School for the Blind in Ambapur overcame the odds of impairment to keep the school’s 100 per cent success rate intact.
NEW DELHI: Leaning on his wife and daughter, Harish Chandra, a blind voter, made his way to a polling booth in Burari. The 55-year old was then assisted by an official to cast his vote. Chandra spoke for the many voters who had made light of their physical limitations on Sunday when he said, "Disabilities should not stop anyone from casting their vote because every vote counts."
Mumbai, April 20
Visually disabled persons, those suffering from various degrees of blindness, are finding the new currency notes “unfriendly” because these are difficult to recognise by touch.
New Delhi, April 19
India has changed its over 40-year-old definition of blindness, bringing it in line with the WHO criteria, a step that would drastically bring down the number of people considered “blind” in the country.
According to the new definition, a person who is unable to count fingers from a distance of three metres would be considered “blind” as against the earlier stipulation of six metres, which was adopted in 1976.
BENGALURU: Each year people with disabilities and those without find unique ways to celebrate Helen Keller’s birthday. June 27 is the birthday of the woman who inspired millions of people.
This year Bengaluru will celebrate Helen Keller week with a silent human chain, not by holding hands but by forming a chain teaching sign language.
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