For more than 50 years, both visually impaired and sighted people have found friendship and a helping hand in the ‘Friendly Circle for the Blind’. But the group’s monthly gatherings could soon become thing of the past as it has only 10 members now.
Based in the U.S., the group was found in 1953 to offer blind people an outlet to get out of the house and meet people. It had nearly 100 members then.
A five-day exhibition of art and craft products made by visually impaired children was held in Mumbai from December 7, 2005. It was organised by Happy Home and School for the Blind.
Inaugurated by actor Victor Banerjee, the exhibition highlighted the abilities of visually impaired children. "This is organised so that the public can learn about the abilities of the visually impaired children. They just need an opportunity to be independent and lead a meaningful life as contributing citizens," said Meher Banaz, principal of the school.
A slew of changes have been suggested to the Indian Institute of Technology (I.I.T.), Delhi and Ministry of Tourism, Government of Delhi, for its Bus Rapid Transit system. The proposed changes aim to provide a passenger-friendly transport system for all.
I.I.T.- Delhi's, Transportation Research and Injury Prevention Programme and RITES have been entrusted the task of planning and designing the system.
Disabled passengers have won new rights of access to airline travel in the European Union (E.U.). The European Parliament has adopted measures to ensure E.U. airports help disabled travellers with less mobility.
A report by the United Kingdom (U.K.) Cabinet Office’s e-Government Unit found that disabled people could not browse 97 per cent of official government sites in Europe, mainly because they ignored several known techniques for making the websites accessible.
Statistics released by the Ghana Eye Foundation (G.E.F.) at its launch in late 2005 indicate that out of the total population of 18.8 million (2000 census) in the country, 200,000 people are completely blind while 600,000 people are visually impaired.
Seventy-five per cent of the cases of blindness and visual impairment were due to avoidable and preventable reasons.
Cataract, glaucoma, trachoma, childhood blindness, refractive errors and low visions as well as diabetes and sickle cell retinopathy were cited major causes of visual impairment and blindness among Ghanaians.
In Singapore, a photo exhibition was organised where photographs were converted into tactile displays with captions in Braille exclusively for visually impaired people. This first endeavour has been made possible by the French photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand and the eyewear designer Alain Mikli.
The exhibition ‘Touch and See’ had the photographs titled ‘Earth from above’, which enabled the visually impaired people to touch and feel the photographs that were on display.
On World Disability Day (December 3), President Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam presented the National Awards for the Welfare of Persons With Disabilities 2005. On the occasion, President Kalam asked the state governments to nominate special commissioners to ensure the selection of the right candidates, to fill up the 3 per cent reservation in jobs for disabled people. He suggested that the special commissioners could work under the supervision of the overall coordinator in the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Government of India.
Visually impaired travellers entering Connecticut (U.S.) can get a welcome guide in Braille and in large prints at the state’s six tourist welcome centres. They can even get access to an audio version of Information brochure.<br><br>A few years ago, while travelling through Georgia (U.S.), Junerose Killian, noticed that the welcome centres had guides and pamphlets in Braille. She returned to Connecticut and realised Braille tourist brochures were not offered in the state and set about making it happen.
"Parvai Atror Kural’ has two objectives: identifying and encouraging the visually impaired writers to write stories, novels, essays etc and also help them express their grievances.
The print version of the magazine will also be made available to the subscribers. This novel initiative was announced by Professor M. Sahadevan, General secretary of the Tamil Nadu Unit, N.F.B., recently.
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