Borrowing the American Indian phrase, "Walk a mile in another man's moccasins", the Green Gables Restaurant in Jennerstown, Somerset County, created a new dining event that benefitted the Somerset County Blind Centre. Dubbed 'Tasting Blind', the event featured a six-course meal with six different wines—and a blindfold.
Voice of World, a Kolkata-based NGO, has a gift for blind book lovers. It will be releasing a Braille edition of Rabindranath Tagore's short stories, Galpo Guchha, during the Kolkata Book Fair. Tagore's stories have a unique flavour and are popular in academic and literary circles. Now, those who are visually impaired will get to enjoy such great literature. Every year the NGO releases one new book in Braille during the Book Fair.
In each issue of beyond the I, this column presents a first-hand account of a visually impaired person's experiences in the 'real' world. Here, Smriti Singh shares her life as a student in New Delhi, expressing gratitude towards all those who helped her realise her academic dreams. She also articulates her concern over the plight of those visually impaired students who face all kinds of harassment
Isadora Vail, American-Statesman, September 13, 2006
Audible newspapers are available for Austinites who are blind or visually impaired. The National Federation of the Blind (NFB), a group dedicated to helping people who are visually impaired, has created a phone number in which a synthetic speech engine called Newsline reads the news over the telephone.
The Union Ministry of Information Technology has embarked on a programme to provide job-oriented training in information technology (IT) to the visually impaired. The Union Minister for Communications and Information Technology, Dayanidhi Maran, said 20 schools, half of them in Tamil Nadu, have been selected for the programme; the rest are in Delhi.
new service offers guidance on different aspects of assistive technology for empowering visually impaired persons. Anyone can call or e-mail their queries or even send them by post. You can also visit the helpline desk within the National Association for the Blind (NAB) premises.
The assistive technology helpline team, supported by the NAB Technology Training Centre Faculty, will resolve the caller’s problems and will, as far as possible, provide a solution at that very time.
Vikas Kapoor had the opportunity to get a first-hand experience of using Braille Face at the Blind Relief Association, New Delhi. Here, he explains its interface in brief to give us an idea of how it works:
To use the software Braille Face (developed by Satvir Singh), you need to start the main application (that is, Braille Face). Then, just minimise it and open Microsoft (MS) Word in the usual way.
Business is ethics for Sanjay Dang who runs a successful travel agency
India is a great country, diverse and exotic, believes Sanjay Dang. Here, you find all the four seasons, mountains, oceans, national parks and so much more. In other words, India is a dream destination and taking you there is Dang’s passion and profession. The 39-year-old entrepreneur runs Le Travelworld, an agency that he set up in 1989 just after completing his diploma in management.
n each issue of beyond the I, this column presents a first-hand account of a visually impaired person’s experiences in the ‘real’ world. Here, Guneet Sethi tells us about her participation in the Delhi Half Marathon, right from the time George Abraham invited her to take part in the run to the event itself
Did your favourite newspaper or television news channel tell you that we have a World Cup Cricket coming up? Or that a World Chess Championship has recently taken place in India? Unlikely, because these are both for the visually impaired. And that makes the news immaterial for the mainstream media. Krishna Gupta discusses the issue
Let’s start with giving you a spot of news.
B.B.C., United Kingdom
Almost every subject has diagrams, charts and graphics, or artwork. Normally, these graphics and diagrams are largely inaccessible to a visually impaired learner and totally inaccessible to a blind student. Now, T3 or Talking Tactile Technology will make lots of such information accessible.
Herefordshire's Royal National College for the Blind (R.N.C.B.), U.K. has created a new talk and touch system to help students use maps, charts and diagrams.
Hannah Postles, Leeds Today; U.K.
Tracy Foster shows that visually impaired people can enjoy the scenic beauty surrounding a beach or a garden as much as sighted people. Her ‘See Hear’ garden proves it.
"It has been a challenge but I wanted to create the relaxed feeling you get when you are on holiday on a beach, and at the same time, recreate the sounds, textures, the scents and even the taste that you get in a seaside garden."
Joseph Kahn, New York Times; Beijing; July 19, 2006
This is the story of how a blind lawyer in China took on the authorities. Only a few years ago, Mr. Chen Guangcheng, a blind man who taught himself the law, was hailed as a champion of peasant rights who symbolised China's growing embrace of legal norms.
Associated Press
Like many colour-blind people who have adapted all their lives to a particular way of seeing things, Mr. Harry Rogers feels his inability to discern red and green hasn't caused him much trouble over the years. Even so, there is one particular difficulty, making sense of charts, graphs, weather maps and other colourful material on his computer screen.
Now, eyePilot software will enable colour-blind people such as Mr. Rogers to navigate the Internet, identify colours on computers and make charts and diagrams.
By Jim Mullen, CBS2 Chicago
It may look like any other Automated Teller Machine (A.T.M.) machine, but it's not. This A.T.M. contains an audio guide. It’s for people who are blind or visually impaired.
Chicago-based Chase Bank in the U.S.A. has installed the first fully accessible, state-of-the-art A.T.M. The Bank and Chicago Lighthouse are partnering to train visually impaired people on using A.T.M's.
B.B.C. News
The British Standards Institution has evolved guidelines for websites that would enable disabled people to navigate them easily.
B. Venkatesh; Mumbai Newsline, Mumbai
Students of the ‘Happy Home and School for the Blind’, Mumbai, discover their strength and much more through judo.
At the National Judo Championship held on February 25 and 26, 2006, in Mumbai, 30 students of ‘Happy Home and School for the Blind’, Mumbai demonstrated that judo wasn’t something which they took up just for kicks.
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