Some visually impaired women in Kolkata are using theatre to connect with the world around them. These women belong to the ‘Blind Opera’, a performing art ensemble which is one of its kind in India. They are rehearsing for Rabindranath Tagore's 'Chandalika', a story about an untouchable girl who realises her worth as a human being when a Buddhist monk asks her for water.
Samsung Electronic's 'Braille mobile phone' enables visually impaired users to send and receive massages in Braille.
The mobile phone has a unique ‘Touch Messenger’ system that allows visually impaired users to send and receive Braille text messages. Users will be able to use two Braille keypads on the phone to send messages. Braille display screen on the lower part of the phone will allow them to read incoming messages.
It is anticipated that once the device hits the market it will facilitate about 180 million visually impaired people around the world.
Like most people with a camera, he can't resist a photographic opportunity. But there is a difference, Dave Ducommun (Woodridge, U.S.) cannot distinguish everything that comes through his lens. He is legally blind.
"Probably the most difficult part is being able to switch, stop or the different settings most of these cameras have. It just takes longer," said Ducommun.
Gerry Baze remembers the day he flopped on his couch and popped what he thought was a blood pressure pill. A few minutes after chasing it with a gulp of water, he told his wife, Maudie that he felt sleepy.
The blind couples now joke about the incident. “Now we know that this will never happen again,” said Maudie. “Now we are safe.”
Safety for Gerry and Maudie came in the form of ‘Rex’, a talking prescription bottle with a speaker that lets a pharmacist record the name of the drug, its purpose, when to take it and how much to take.
World Invitational and British Blind Golf Championships, 2006 is being held in Edinburgh (U.K.), from 3 to 9 September 2006 at the Ratho Park Golf Club.
Golfer Cameron McDiarmid, 18, will defend the title he won two years ago at Westerwood Golf Club in East Kilbride (Canada).
In order to boost distance education for persons with disabilities, their parents and trainers, the Rehabilitation Council of India (R.C.I.) signed a memorandum of understanding with the Indian Space Research Organisation (I.S.R.O.) for setting up an EDUSAT up-linking station and studio within the Institute's premises.
Visually impaired Minori Nakaoji, 33, riding in a unique wheelchair, completed the 42.195-kilometer New York City Marathon. She is the first athlete with multiple disabilities to complete a full marathon.
"The wind in New York was chilly, but I feel great," Nakaoji said after the competition.
Nakaoji lost her eyesight in her childhood because of an illness. She has been confined to a wheelchair for five years after her lower body became paralysed.
This month, at the ‘Kolkata Book Fair’, ‘Voice of World’ will be ready to offer a new gift to the blind book lovers. The N.G.O. is going to release a Braille edition of Rabindranath Tagore’s short stories called ‘Galpo Guchha’ during the event.
Following discussions with the country’s ‘National Commission for Persons with Disability’, Bank of Valletta (Malta) has introduced this new service for its visually impaired customers to have better access to their bank accounts.
"At Bank of Valletta we are supportive of our customers' needs and always seek to tailor our services to the specific requirements of our customers," said Igino Xuereb, Chief Officer Operations at Bank of Valletta. "Indeed, mutuality is a core value of Bank of Valletta's promise,” he added.
He was probably the first blind juror to sit on a Denver (Colorado, U.S.) jury. Joe Kovach, 29, recently sat on the jury that convicted gang member Timothy Guy Kemp of first-degree murder after a trial that lasted several days.
For Kovach, serving on the jury tested his senses and tested the ability of prosecutors, defense attorneys and Denver District Judge Morris Hoffman to put aside any beliefs they might have about a blind person sitting on a serious court case.
"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."
Garden designer Tracy Foster of Leeds (U.K.) has won a gold medal at the Gardeners' World show in Birmingham for her revolutionary £3,000 (approximately Rupees 2,37,000) seaside garden for blind people.
A new system called ‘vOICe’ (as in ‘oh-I-see’), gives the user an auditory ‘picture’ of what she or he‘s looking at.
vOICe includes a laptop connected to a special pair of sunglasses that are fitted with a small camera in the bridge and stereo headphones near the ear hooks. The camera feeds visual data to the computer, which translates the field of view into audible sounds. For example, louder sounds mean bright colours while a higher pitch means an object is located up high.
The England blind cricket team will enter the 2006 World Cup to be played in Pakistan in December. Well, that’s old news.
The English local cricket clubs too, are promoting cricket among the visually impaired people. Old Sharlston Cricket Club would like to hear from any visually impaired person who is interested in playing a blind cricket match at Sharlston on, July 23 2006. The event is aimed at popularising the sport in the country.
How to make textbooks and workbooks accessible to students affected with low vision?
Convert the pictures in the text and workbook to Power Point slides and then show them using a desktop computer, a multi-media projector and a screen. This way, an illustration in a textbook can be enlarged up to 100 times making it clearly visible to students.
Ms Lanka 2005 ‘ Beauty for a Cause ’ was organised by Technique International and co-sponsored by State Pharmaceutical Corporation (Sri Lanka) and other organisations.
“I'm thrilled to have achieved this record, but it will take a while to sink in,” Mark Threadgold said. "I was a bit nervous beforehand but things couldn't have gone more smoothly."
British diver Mark Threadgold has set a new world record for the deepest dive attempted by a blind person after reaching 103 metres in the Egyptian Red Sea.
The 38-year-old former soldier from Brighton beat his previous record by more than 30 metres at the Blue Hole dive site of Dahab (Egypt) on June 16, 2006.
He boldly went where no man has gone before and made history. Dan Barrett is the first blind diver ever to dive in the aquarium at Minneapolis' Mall of America.
"This isn't really about the diving as much as it is about giving a disabled individual, an experience that can empower them to do other things," Barrett said. "It's not about getting into the water. It's about elevating your spirit. It's about taking you to a new level."
In a State policy and plan of action for differently abled persons submitted to the High Court recently, the Government has committed itself to work for the welfare of differently abled people. In the matter of jobs, the policy envisages equal opportunities apart from 3 per cent reservation provided against identified government jobs.
Blind and visually impaired students across the United States and Canada met in Los Angeles for the sixth ‘Annual National Braille Challenge’.
The aim of the event was to build enthusiasm among blind people and celebrate excellence in Braille literacy skills.
The world of the printed word opened to blind people like never before. With ‘The K - N.F.B.’.
It can take pictures of objects, menus, signs, gadget blogs, etc., and then read aloud the captured text. The portable ‘Reader’ combines the latest state-of-the-art digital camera technology with a powerful ‘personal data assistant’ (P.D.A.). These components are housed in a custom-designed vinyl case that also contains internal circuitry to connect the camera and P.D.A .to operate as a single system.
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