KANNUR: To her, it was darkness everywhere, but Shifna’s eyes were glittering as if they were celebrating her victory. Shifna Mariyam, a visually impaired Class X student of Government Model Girls High School, Pattom, who came through appeal, won second prize and ‘A’ grade in the mimicry competition.  Shifna went to contest in the district-level competition from hospital bed.

Shifna Mariyam | T K Swaroop

The CSR Committee of The Utkal Chamber of Commerce conducted an art and song competition for the visually impaired, hearing and vocally impaired children (deaf, dumb and blind). About 63 students participated from different schools.

They were from Bipin Bihari School of Deaf and Dumb, Rajdhani School of Deaf and Dumb, Lewis Blind School, Sri Sri Beleswar High School, Sriharsha Mishra School, Bhima Bhoi School for Blind and Nursery School.

Both the competitions were conducted in three categories, sub-junior, junior and senior. Cash prizes were

It's not easy to crack this test, but this visually-challenged young man has “belled the CAT”!

Ambati Venkata Prem Swaroop has scored an impressive 82.87 percentile points in the Common Admission Test (CAT-2016). The score may not be big, but factoring in his visual impairment, it is more than impressive, as it requires a mere 60 percentile points for People With Disabilities (PWD) to get through.

From the old Braille typewriters to modern assistive technology, there have been significant developments that have made life easier for the visually impaired. Nonetheless, their employment and economic independence continues to be a major issue.

Rachna Khaira

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, January 10

While the Election Commission of Delhi introduced a non-visual desktop access (NVDA) on its website around a year ago for persons with disabilities (PWD), the Election Commission of India (ECI) and the EC, Punjab, are yet to provide the facility to blind voters.

Surprisingly, the state does not maintain a separate data for visually impaired voters and those suffering from various physically and mental ailments.

Differently abled persons have urged the provincial government to increase their job quota from two to five per cent and provide them with medical facilities and a monthly stipend.

Addressing a press conference, Arifullah, a physically challenged person, said that the incumbent provincial government had failed to address the issues of the community.

He demanded an increase in the existing quota from two to five per cent, besides a provision of Rs10,000 as monthly stipend and free health facility.

PESHAWAR: