General

ENABLE THE DISABLED

-Albert Einstein, George Washington, Beethoven, Helen Keller, Thomas Edison, Graham Bell — all faced one form of disability or the other. As a new academic session has started in colleges, we need to remind ourselves of this fact in order to look at the differently abled from an alternative perspective, says ANANYA BORGOHAIN
My advice to other disabled people would be, concentrate on things your disability doesn’t prevent you from doing well, and don’t regret the things it interferes with. Don’t be disabled in spirit as well as physically — Stephen Hawking

For schools to be safe

-On December 17, 2012, exactly a day after the Delhi gangrape case that shook the country, a three-year-old girl was taken to the toilet of her play school in Delhi and raped by the owner-principal’s husband. She is not the only child violated in a space considered to be the safest space for children after their homes — the school. This ugly reality has come to light once again with a six-year-old being sexually abused in a school in Bangalore. Every report specified that it took place at an “elite school”, as if such incidents only take place among the poor and this was new.

Documentary on Vaikom Vijayalakshmi Released

A documentary on singer Vaikom Vijayalakshmi, directed by V K Subhash, was released here on Sunday. An august audience, including writer M K Sanu, music director Jerry Amaldev and Assistant Commissioner for Traffic Baby Vinod, attended the documentary release held at the Children’s Park. Vijayalakshmi has been suffering from an incurable form of blindness since birth.

Academy Teaching Visually Impaired Students Life Skills

Two dozen visually impaired students are part of the Summer Academy in State College where they're learning every day life skills as well as things specifically for the visually impaired.

"We're taught from a really early age how we're different and we need to access the world differently," says Jessica Minneci, a 17-year-old student at the Summer Academy.
The students are learning skills like cracking an egg, signing a credit card slip and crossing the street. Minneci says these are skills sighted people learn from watching their parents.

An Obama dinner invite for a disabled Indian girl

Next week, US President Barack Obama and his wife will host 12 disabled people from all over the world, including one from Mumbai, for an exclusive dinner at the White House.

The lucky Mumbaikar from suburban Goregaon is athlete Neha P Naik, 23, who is a Special Olympics International Global Messenger, besides taking part in the 100 metres and shot put events.

Proteas squad hosts coaching clinic for visually impaired cricketers in Lanka

Johannesburg: Members of the South Africa squad took time out to host a coaching clinic for visually impaired cricketers in Colombo on Tuesday, ahead of their second Test against Sri Lanka, which is underway at the Sinhalese Sports Club Ground.

The clinic is part of the `Seeing is Believing` campaign, which aims to raise funds for Sri Lanka`s visually impaired cricket team heading to the Cricket World Cup to be held in South Africa in November.

Hyderabad firm develops 'smart shoes' for visually impaired and athletes

Secunderabad (Andhra Pradesh) based Ducere Technologies has launched the haptic footwear under their wearable technology brand Lechal (meaning "take me there" in Hindi) that helps the visually impaired navigate from one place to another.

Quota for disabled; HC asks Centre to modify OM on vacancies

The Delhi High Court has asked the Centre to modify its 2013 office memorandum after considering the representation of NGO National Federation of Blind on computation of seats to be reserved for disabled persons in four category posts in government departments.

Check mates

Not many of us may be aware, but there is a chess-community of visually impaired youngsters in India. Capturing this in a black and white documentary are UK-based documentary filmmaker Ian Mcdonald and Indian producer Geetha J. who present Algorithms in collaboration with Vikalp at Everest Talkies on July 24 at 7 p.m.

Three-year-old kid brutally beaten by tutor

A private tutor has been caught on tape brutally beating a three-year-old kid in Kolkata.
The police is on the lookout for the middle-aged woman home tutor who is accused of thrashing the kid.
The incident came to light this morning after a CCTV footage showed the tutor mercilessly beating the kid in a Lake Town home.
"We have received a complaint and are on a lookout for her," officer in charge of Lake Town police station Ashok Sen said.
According to the complaint lodged by the kid's family, the tutor was given appointment just a few daysback.