Blind baking is something Stanmore Bay’s Michael Erasmus, 22, does daily.

Michael is fully blind in one eye, and has 5 percent vision in the other.

But that hasn’t stopped him graduating from the North Shore International Academy, or opening his own gourmet pie shop in Whangaparaoa.

In April Michael was the first blind person to graduate with a Culinary Arts and Professional Cookery National Certificate from the North Shore academy.

His dream didn’t stop there.

Dibyendu (Debu) Adhikari is excited about his holidays. He would return home from his hostel (Kolkata Blind School) after three months for his Puja vacation. Puja for this 10-year-old is synonymous with good food, a couple of new clothes, dhaks (traditional drums, used especially during auspicious occasions in Bengal), bells and conch sounds. For him, his elder brother is indispensable during these five days of festivity. “Mejda (his elder brother) takes me around each pandal and describes every detail — the lighting, décor, goddess etc,” he said.

In a few days from now, even the visually challenged would be able to saunter into the District Central Library, Karur, and savour books designed for them and stored there through the medium of computers. In a pioneering move, the library here is all set to welcome the visually challenged visitors by becoming a blind-friendly library. The proposal that had been under consideration for sometime got a boost with Collector J. Uma Maheswari deciding to grant some funds.

Cambridge University Press is to provide free content to an Indian charity, giving millions of readers with a visual impairment access to a range of educational materials.

The academic publisher has signed an agreement with the Daisy Forum of India, a charity for the visually impaired. The Daisy forum turns books into digital content, which can be read aloud by special software in computers and laptops. CUP will allow the organisation to use the content in its books free of charge.

Non-availability of sufficient material is one of the causes for its decline

Modern technology has changed lifestyles; the invasion of new electronic gadgets has now questioned even the relevance of Braille for the blind in the present world.

On the occasion of 201st birth anniversary of Louis Braille, inventor of Braille language, Deccan Herald spoke to few individuals, who work for the blind and asked them about the importance of Braille in a blind person's life.