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Our Ability: Web Portal for People With Disabilities

When I was 16 years old, I had no person with a physical disability that I could look up to as a mentor. My heroes were Bob Costas, Dick Stockton and other Syracuse University broadcasters. All able bodied.

I craved someone with a physical disability that I could emulate. I needed to see the path to success -- a role model, a mentor. As I speak to individuals around the country, other people with disabilities share the same story. They had no role models. It is true today with the next generation of people with disabilities.

Test newborns for disabilities, Bombay high court tells Maharashtra

The Bombay high court on Friday directed the state government to make it mandatory for all hospitals in Maharashtra to carry out screening tests to check disabilities in new born babies.

The division bench of Chief Justice Mohit Shah and Justice SJ Vazifdar took a special hearing on a clutch of public interest litigation seeking implementation of the Disabilities Act.

At the last hearing the suggestion to test new born babies for disabilities was made by retired army general Ian Cardoz of the Rehabilitation Council of India.

NGO prays for Braille ballots

An NGO for the visually challenged has requested the West Bengal chief electoral officer to ensure better arrangements in polling booths for blind voters in the Assembly election.

The Calcutta chapter of the National Association for the Blind has written a letter to poll panel chief Sunil Kumar Gupta, asking him for adequate Braille ballots in all booths, as well as ramps to provide easy access for the wheelchair-bound.

Indian blind kids help scientists solve mystery over eyesight

Scientists from India, the US and the Netherlands have answered one of the world's most famous philosophical questions - a 300-year-old problem that intrigued Locke, Hume, Berkeley and other legendary thinkers - aided by Indian blind children. People born blind and taught to identify objects using touch likely cannot, on gaining sight, immediately identify the same objects using only vision, the researchers have concluded in findings published on Sunday in the journal Nature Neuroscience.

HC questions denial of e-tickets to disabled

“Why are the disabled denied the right to book railway tickets on Internet and avail concession when senior citizens can do the same,” questioned the Delhi High Court. The court has issued notices to the Railway Ministry and the Railway Board on what it called, a “serious and sensitive” issue.

The notices were issued after a visually challenged Delhi-based consultant Praveen Kumar filed a PIL that raised this question. The last day for the ministry and the board to file its responses is May 18.

Five more Delhi hospitals to issue disability certificates

he Delhi Government will authorise five more hospitals of the city to issue disability certificates in order to reduce pendency.

The decision was taken by Delhi Health Minister A K Walia today who reviewed the matter of issuance of disability certificates.

Dr Walia expressed concern over the present situation as the applicants had to suffer hardships and were forced to repeatedly visit the hospitals for getting the certificate.

Special ATMs for blind nowhere to be seen

Using ATMs in the city is a task for the visually impaired, as most banks do not have Braille and talking machines, despite instructions from the RBI to make changes. It has been two years since Veena Kumari (35), has been requesting a bank for a debit card. The bank refuses to give her one claiming that she would not be able to recognise the PIN number on the card, and would require assistance to conduct transactions.

Bard’s words for the blind

Hundreds of children who could only listen to Tagore’s works can now read them as well, thanks to a gift on the eve of his 150th birth anniversary.

Nine city schools for the visually challenged on Sunday received two copies each of two volumes of Gitabitan in Braille along with 21 other Bengali and English storybooks to mark the occasion.

IIA studying if public bldgs are disabled-friendly

Members of the Indian Institute of Architects (IIA) have begun a survey of all government buildings, as per High Court directives, to check if they are barrier-free and convenient for the differently-abled.

Blind cruisers get to 'smell the ocean and feel the wind'

This spring, Patty and Terry Horvath took 46 blind travelers on a Caribbean cruise.

The owners of Best Cruises & Tours in Grand Blanc, Mich., let participants pay $20 a week in installments for months or years to pay for the trip. They subsidized seven volunteers to accompany the group. They arranged special shore excursions on Nassau, St. Thomas and St. Martin. They kept the price as low as they could, pairing up the mostly solo travelers in double rooms.

Their biggest contribution? Serving a completely passed-over market — blind travelers on a budget.