To see is to believe but to see people who cannot see dance their way into the hearts of Brits is simply unbelievable.
A group of visually-impaired dancersfrom Bangalore, invited to the region by Kalapremi, an organisationdevoted to art and celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, havedefied all odds and are busy enthralling audiences in north-eastEngland.
The Election Commission will issue directions to State ChiefElectoral Officer M.N. Vidyashankar to ensure that all electronicvoting machines (EVMs) to be used in the Assembly elections in theState have a Braille option. Over 50,000 EVMs will be used for pollingin the State.
Chief Election Commissioner N. Gopalaswami told The Hindu that EVMs with Braille option had been used in a few States.
“It should not be a problem to ensure that Braille number strips arepasted on the EVMs to be used in the polling stations in Karnataka aswell,” he said.
Lesson No. 1 on Celia Chacon's television cooking show — use what you have, find substitutes for what you don't.
Except this food TV host isn't just talking ingredients. She's teaching viewers to use touch, smell and sound instead of sight. That's because her viewers are mostly listeners. Like Chacon, most are blind or visually impaired.
Can you visualise blind children learning tap dancingto perfection? This is exactly what one-time TV actor Kumar Bhatia hasdone in his forthcoming film 'Seven'. And he has signed on seven kidswho are actually visually challenged.
'It's an idea turned into afilm that I lived and worked with for four years,' said Bhatia, whoplayed a junkie in Doordarshan's soap 'Subah'.
Working in a food-service job means attention to customers, assembling orders properly and keeping things clean, and doing these tasks requires extra effort if the worker is blind or visually impaired. Three teenagers from the Kentucky School for the Blind are operating Kingdom Sub on weekdays at Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom for four weeks as part of the school's Summer Career and Work Program.
Marissa Chambers, Mitch Saylor and Samantha Hubbard are working from 11 a.m. to3:30 p.m. Monday through Friday today through July 18. They also worked June 16-27.
In an effort to unlock the untapped potential of visually-challenged children and to make available Braille literature on science and astronomy, which are pretty rare to find, city-based Planetary Society of India (PSI), has launched a Braille newsletter aptly titled Chandrayaan, India’s first unmanned moon mission.
It is aimed at giving the blind voters dignity and secrecy. For the first time, Braille-facilitated electronic voting machines (EVMs) are being introduced on a large scale for the 15th Lok Sabha polls.
"A total of 1.05 million EVMs are being used, of which 4,50,000 are Braille-enabled. These EVMs are spread across the country in many states," an Election Commission official told IANS.
He said earlier the rule was that one person would accompany the blind voters. "Now, the blind persons can cast their vote without any help."
At first look, 52-year-old Khairul Bashar would pass off as any another candidate trying his luck in the Lok Sabha polls.
But there is something special about this candidate which makes him different from others in the rat race.
Bashar, who is making a debut in electoral politics by contesting as an independent from Azamgarh parliamentary constituency, is visually challenged and physically impaired.
Elections in India are all about inclusion, the right to vote for all citizens of a certain age.
And this means that people with disabilities, including those who are visually impaired cannot be left out.
A training session in Bhopal has a huge turnout. And why not? For the first time ever, our polling booths will have ballot papers in Braille.
Voters are being trained in advance, so that on the D-Day they need no assistance.
In his letter dated May 18, 2009, the Hon. President of Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) writes to the government for empowering visually challenged chartered accountants. This letter, addressed to the Secretary, Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment, is considered to be a great gesture by visually impaired persons. The letter, in its entirety, is produced below:
No.1-CA(RepCom)/2009
May 18, 2009
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