Soon, blind and visually impaired people will have the opportunity to learn science just like anyone else. Quantum Simulations, has developed tutoring and assessment software based on artificial intelligence (A.I.). This has been the result of a six-month, 100,000 research project, funded by the National Eye Institute, a division of the U.S. National Institutes of Health.
Business leader and philanthropist John J. Moores has contributed 4 million to the Scripps Research Institute, world’s largest independent and non-profit biomedical research organisation based at La Jolla California, U.S.A.
The donation will be used to establish the ‘Worm Institute for Research and Medicine’ (W.I.R.M.), within the Scripps Institute that will combat parasitic worms, which cause river blindness and many other diseases around the world.
Salesboom.com, a leading provider of hosted Customer Relationship Management (C.R.M.) software solutions has announced a new user interface option for visually impaired users. Describing it as a breakthrough for the C.R.M. industry, Troy Muise, C.E.O. and co-founder, of the company said, “[It] gives accessibility to our end-users across the board with no limitations.”
The new interface, which has been completely remodelled, is the first of its kind in the hosted C.R.M. software industry, and is set to pave the way for better accessibility options in the future.
Chandrasekhar Sankurathri is working to erase blindness among the poor and rural communities of Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh. "Many are unnecessarily blind,” he said.
A biologist turned philanthropist, Sankurathri, 61, strongly believes that most cases of blindness can be cured with proper treatment. He relocated from Ottawa in Canada to Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh in 1989, after he lost his wife, daughter and son in the Air India bomb attack 20 years ago. Since then, he has dedicated his life to social activism through his community outreach programmes.
At the Manipur Civil Services Combined Competitive (M.P.S.C.) Examination 2005 (preliminary), visually impaired Sapam Jashobanta was disallowed from appearing, even though he was issued the admission card.
The 29-year-old candidate was given the examination centre: the L.M.S. Law College, Imphal. Sapam said: he was forced out from the examination hall as M.P.S.C. authorities could not provide him answer sheets in Braille, which authorities conducting the examination are supposed to provide for blind candidates.
The Helene digital library enables visually impaired people to read books available in digital format via a dedicated computer, which translates book files in Braille or audio format.
BrailleNet, a French organisation that promotes the use of the internet to assist in the education and professional integration of visually impaired persons has created this library with assistance from French telecommunication company Alcatel and other partners.
The library which opened in January 2006, initially includes books for young people. The collection will grow in the coming months.
The four one-day match series for Umer Rashid Memorial Trophy started on May 27 in England and ended on 31 May 2006. England was looking to regain the trophy, which Pakistan claimed with a 3-1 series win in 2002.
Kristen Cox and David Paterson, both legally blind, are running for the post of lieutenant governor in Maryland and New York this year. Paterson, a minority leader in the New York Senate, is the choice of Democrats and Cox has the support of the Republicans.
Cox said she knows her blindness will be an issue in the minds of voters. “They are curious about it. They have questions about it, and that's fair,” she said. “I hope ultimately in the election that blindness becomes a non-issue.”
Esther Medley of Centralia (U.S.) is legally blind, but when she bowls, she can see a bit of the floor to line up with the lane.
Medley (94) can't see straight ahead, so her 86-year-old husband Ralph tells her which pins are left after her first ball.
That's how Medley recently bowled a score of 244, which included eight strikes. It was the second-highest score of the year for her league.
The Medleys have been playing in the senior league since 1979.
A stall put up by the social welfare organisation, ‘Voice of World’, at the 31st Kolkata book fair, gave the visitors a chance to view the world of visually impaired people. Books and magazines on Braille were also on display.
Sukumar Chakraborty, former student and presently, the principal of Voice of World, said “Here we have our special collections on Braille such as the Sharadiya collection, Thakumar Jhuli, Romeo Juliet and Hashikhushi.”
Legally blind Brittney Holland can't remember a time when she wasn't barrel racing. At just 15, the Aledo (Texas, U.S.A.) native has already made quite a name for herself.
Barrel racing is a horse riding event in which riders ride in a set pattern around three barrels in a triangular arrangement.
Brittney is placed in the top five of her district, for youth. Not bad considering most of her competitors can see.
It may turn out to be the most revolutionary step in the field of visual disability since Louis Braille’s embossed dots on thick paper in 1829. Divya Drishti, or divine sight, is a high-tech, infrared-based system that helps blind people in spatially orienting themselves, thereby facilitating navigation within closed environs such as offices, railway stations and even malls.
Developed by Pallavi Tiwari and Dhruv Sakalley, final year biomedical engineering students of ‘Shri G.S. Institute of Technology and Science’, Indore, Madhya Pradesh, the system is easy to operate.
With more than 29 years of combined experience and education in the high tech sector, Sharlyn Ayotte’s drive to make accessible materials available to the blind community resulted in the launch of her company.
Sharlyn’s Ottawa (Canada) based T-Base Communications provides companies and organisations with alternate format communication services for their blind and partially sighted customers. The company specialises in producing accessible communication materials in Braille, large print, e-Text and audio formats.
The ninth Round Table Blind People car rally was organised jointly by the Round Table India (R.T.I.) and Blind People's Association (B.P.A.) in Ahmedabad, Gujarat.
A feature of this rally was that the route map was given to the participants in Braille just a few minutes before the commencement of the rally. The blind navigators then had to guide the sighted drivers to the destination.
The challenge was to read the route map perfectly and enable the drivers to reach the finish line on time.
Annah Poteat travels across North Carolina (U.S.) helping manufacturing facilities increase their efficiency through N.C. State University’s Industrial Extension Service. She’s a specialist in Lean Manufacturing Technique.
The basic concept of lean manufacturing is to reduce the inherent waste in the manufacturing process by lessening the downtime that a product spends between stages of manufacture.
Under the ‘White Cane Path Project’ visually impaired people can look forward to a safer trip to the shopping mall, restaurants etc., in Penang, Malaysia.
The Rotary Club is funding a 1.5 kilometre pathway connecting ‘Saint Nicholas Home’ to One-Stop Midlands Park. The home is a centre for the care and rehabilitation of children and adults with visual or multiple sensory disabilities.
Visiting your favourite restaurant or pub may no longer be a chore. Now, pointing your cell phone in a particular direction, can precisely establish its location, and the easiest way to get there. Researchers at Britain’s Southampton University have reportedly developed a cell phone with interactive information to find local points of interest on a map. According to the research, a system called Map Snapper has been created that processes a snapshot of a printed map, captured on camera phone, and forwards an interactive version of the same map back to the handset.
After series of fruitful discussions with the members of the National Federation of the Blind (N.F.B.), the Prime Minister Mr. Manmohan Singh has assured to bring about reforms, to improve the condition of visually impaired persons in the country.
The major breakthrough being the participation of the Government to bring about change. The Prime Minister has agreed to three main demands of N.F.B. that will bring about an improvement in job opportunities for visually impaired persons.
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