General

700 deaf, mute to sing national anthem in sign language

Prerna 2013 - a national-level social event organized by the students of M S University's (MSU) Faculty of Technology and Engineering (FTE) is set to make a new record this year. During the two-day annual event - Prerna - the budding engineers of MSU will attempt to register a Limca Book of Records.

The record will be one of its kind in which more than 700 deaf and mute people from every caste, creed and sex will perform the Indian national anthem on the same platform in sign language.

Trade fair for disabled to be held in Delhi

A four-day trade fair aimed at creating awareness about technical advancements in aid, assistive and rehabilitative devices for the people with disabilities will be organised here from Thursday, an official said.

"We are organising Swavlamban, a national fair on aid and assistive devices for people with disabilities, at Pragati Maidan July 25-28," said Stuti Kacker, secretary in the department of disability affairs, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.

Whiteprint: Lifestyle magazine for visually impaired

India is home to 12 million visually impaired people of which 56 lakh are literate. The number of newspapers and magazines published out of Mumbai were only about 60 till May this year until former PR professional Upasana Makati launched White Print, there wasn’t a single English magazine in Braille.

She lights up blind parents' dreams

AHMEDABAD: Birwa Hadial was ecstatic when she passed the CA final exams on Tuesday. Her parents Damji and Krishna, however, were over the moon. The blind couple cannot see, but they had always seen to it that they raised their daughter well and helped her attain heights through education.

For the disabled, footpaths are a nightmare

If you are able to walk and see and are a determined pedestrian, Chennai’s apology for footpaths might still be negotiable. However, for those with disabilities, footpaths such as these are best avoided.
“For a disabled person, using the pavements in Chennai is a nightmarish experience,” says Rajiv Ranjan, member, Disability Rights Alliance (DRA).

Exnora organises walk for awareness on barrier-free pavements

A number people at the walk stressed the need for coordination among various civic agencies for better footpaths in Chennai

Visually-impaired R. Raja escaped death two months ago. On his way to university, the research scholar in Tamil Literature stumbled upon a political party’s hoarding on a footpath near Kannagi statue near Marina beach.

“I did not know there was a hoarding on the footpath. So I fell on the road. A bus came to a screeching halt a few inches beside me,” said Mr. Raja.

Every step is a struggle

Right from architectural barriers in hospital buildings to inaccessible medical equipment, from insensitive doctors to negligent authorities, access to healthcare facilities for the huge invisible population of disabled people in the capital is abysmally difficult.

Low-rise urinals with grab bars. Doors with lever-action locks. Bright colour-bands on edges of stairs. Ramps with the right slope. This is part of the wish list for making access in hospitals easy for people with disabilities.

The Royalty Lectures - Right, Copyright

Coplyright:

US film industry tries to weaken copyright treaty for blind people

Treaty to make copyrighted works available for visually impaired people – 90% of whom live in global south – coming up against film lobbyNegotiators from 186 countries are in Marrakech this week trying to hammer out the text of an international treaty that aims to make copyrighted works more readily available to the world's blind and visually impaired people, 90% of whom live in the global south.

A night of melody in Mumbai

Here' some interesting news for music connoisseurs. Ability of Disability- A Night of Melody will showcase performances by disabled artistes as well as various singers including Abhijeet Sawant.