Every citizen of the country, including one with special needs, has the right to cast votes. Now even the blind would cast votes in the forthcoming Assembly elections. And this is thanks to the Braille enabled EVMs that has been introduced in accordance with the order of the Election Commission. The district administration has geared up to streamline the assured facilities for the disabled.

RIO DE JANEIRO: For sports fan Heitor Luiz de Menezes, the 2016 Olympics should have been a dream come true. The 44-year-old from Rio had tickets to several events including the opening and closing ceremony at the historic Maracana stadium.

But after difficulties getting to and from the venues in his wheelchair, he gave up.

From the excessively steep access ramps at the football stadium to the disabled parking spaces that had been reserved for official cars at the beach volleyball arena, the lack of mobility provision was an insult too far.

Students of the YMCA University of Science and Technology have developed an electronic device that will help visually impaired persons track the way without anyone’s help.

The students behind the innovation — Karan Handa, Mayank Vashisht, Kushank Arora, Moksh Girdhar and Kushal Sharma — are from the electronics engineering department.

They won the second prize for their innovation at a recently concluded technical fest at the Indraprastha Institute of Science and Technology, New Delhi.

Pune-based Divyanshu Ganatra had earlier this year become the first visually-challenged person in India to paraglide and now he aims to become the first such person to go tandem cycling on the difficult terrain of the Himalayas.

Along with software professional Gagan Grover, Ganatra is set to start a 550-km trail from Manali to Khardungla on Saturday. They will have a team of three friends supporting them. Designed to be ridden by two persons, tandem cycling comes with its own set of challenges which get accentuated on hilly terrains.