General

300 disabled youth audition for NGO Blind Dreams Indiyaah Talent Hunt in Mumbai

In a touching, heart-rending and soul-stirring event, more than 300 blind and differently enabled youth from all over Maharashtra participated in the western zone round of auditions for the Blind Dreams’ Indiyaah Talent Hunt for the disabled or differently enabled. The auditions were held at the Kamla Mehta School for the Blind at Dadar in Central Mumbai. Most participants came from far off towns and villages in Maharashtra and Gujarat.

Blind school students miss family on Rakhi

RANCHI: Blind school students miss the love and pampering that home provides and more so during the festival of rakhi. It seems admission to a blind school has made their loved ones forget them even during the festival.

Fun Sighted

Stand-up comedian Sundeep Rao begins poking fun at himself right from the word go. His latest act is called Out of Sight and the irony is obvious because Bangalore-based Rao suffers from a condition of partial blindness. He, however, strongly rejects the notion that he is "suffering", but instead sees his impairment as a silver lining. "I was bitten by an anaconda," says Rao to those who ask him about how he lost partial vision. Waiting some moments for an awkward silence, he breaks into a chuckle and explains, "It is a degenerative condition that I was diagnosed with when I was nine.

India needs more reading tech for visually challenged

Indian libraries currently undergoing book digitisation programme must include a text reading technology for the visually-challenged people, an expert said today.

"Such introduction of technology will help increase the number of books available for reading for blinds, and people with low-vision and print disability," said Dipendra Manocha, Delhi-based representative of Daisy Consortium.

Daisy consortium is a global organisation for creating best ways to read and publish.

Railways to provide Braille signage in coaches for visually impaired passengers

As a part of its social commitment to make the Railways more friendly towards specially abled passengers, Indian Railways has decided to provide Braille stickers in coaches to facilitate visually impaired passengers.

Presently coaches are provided with signage, instructions and seat numbers . which are mostly in the form of vinyl stickers/metallic plates and have no Braille characters and cannot be read by visually impaired passengers. Now it is planned to use stickers with metallic base with printed characters embedded into it.

Jeffrey Archer to turn auctioneer for Tiger Pataudi

LONDON: Bestselling British author Jeffrey Archer, an avid follower of cricket and a big fan of the late Indian cricket captain Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi, will conduct an auction next month on behalf of the Pataudi Trust to raise money for the blind in India. The English and Australian cricket teams, currently playing the Ashes series here, have signed a special bat that will be auctioned along with some rare sporting memorabilia on September 12.

Dad was passionate about donating eyes: Soha Ali Khan

The entire Pataudi family had pledged to donate their cornea several years ago. On August 6 Organ Donation Day organised by The Times of India, Soha Ali Khan talks to us about why the decision wasn't hard to take at all...

Aug 6 meet to review airport checking norms for disabled

Disabled passengers using prosthetic limbs, crutches or wheelchairs, often find security checks at Indian airports very disconcerting, but a move to change all that may be in the offing. The Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) has called for a meeting on August 6 with representatives of organizations working for the rights of disabled, to discuss issues involving security checks of such passengers. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) is also reviewing a proposal sent by an organization working on law and policy changes for the disabled, said officials.

Carnegie students conduct research for blind in Bangalore

A group of students from US-based Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) are in India to conduct research projects to benefit the visually impaired under the university's summer internship programme.

An exhibition where you can see nothing!

A casual visit to an exhibition to while away his time in New York turned into a serious lifetime pursuit for S V Krishnan. The entrepreneur, who is using an ‘experiential entertainment hub’ at Inorbit Mall in Hi-Tech City, Hyderabad, to change lives, offers a completely immersive experience in total darkness to give sighted people an opportunity to explore the world through just four senses.