Pankaj Ghosal remembers the time, the exact day and date when his parents took him to visit Akshardham. "It was November11, 2010, a Thursday. We spent the entire day there," he recalls. It was the first time he had visited a place of historical importance. But being visually impaired, he understood little about the temple's grandeur or beauty. For him, visiting the temple was no different from visiting the neighborhood mall. It was spacious, crowded, a place to spend the day.

How many times have you and I complained about the state of our roads and pavements riddled with potholes? While many of us manage to make our way around them, these can often translate into a real danger for the visually impaired.

Very few residing in cities might be aware that the yellow line dotting the pavement, or tactile pavement as it is called, is actually meant to aid the visually impaired. Any disruption in these - in the form of trees, electric poles or potholes - poses a menace for those who take to the tactile pavement for navigation. 

This city teacher is a Samaritan for many of his students for he gives them moral support and financial support too.

Meet V Fazlullah, a teacher in computer applications at JSS Polytechnic for Differently Abled (JSS-PDA). Fazlullah bought talking calculators for visually challenged students at the institute which has helped them immensely.

BU Braille Resource Centre
Bangalore University has set up a Braille Resource Centre as an Enabling Unit for its visually challenged students in postgraduate departments, and affiliated and autonomous colleges. This centre provides assistive technologies to educate and rehabilitate students with disabilities such as blindness and low vision.

In a move that could help visually-challenged persons in customising Android-operated Tablets, DAISY Forum of India (Digital Accessible Information System) along with Delhi-based NGO Saksham and Connexus Systems, Noida, have a developed a Tablet with applications meant for such users.

Charudatta Jadhav, 45, chairman of the technology committee of DAISY Forum of India says, "Our aim is to ensure that companies selling Tablets in future are equipped with applications so that visually-challenged persons do not have to customise the product later at an additional cost."

Sprint has launched the Kyocera Kona feature phone for the visually impaired, which means it has been loaded with some very powerful text-to-speech functions. The handset is available for free after a $50 mail-in rebate with either a new line or an eligible upgrade with a service agreement of two years. As of now, the carrier is offering it through web and telesales and the device will hit the company-owned retail stores across the US on September 13.