Here’s some good news for over 10,000 visually impaired people who use public transport everyday. Auto rickshaws in Delhi will soon have metal plates bearing the registration numbers in both Braille and embossed form on the sides. The step would enable blind passengers to lodge a complaint if the driver misbehaves or refuses to carry them and will also help friends and relatives track a particular auto.
The recently concluded assembly polls in Tamil Nadu, Assam, Pondicherry and West Bengal saw the debut of ‘Braille-enabled Electronic Voting Machine’ (E.V.M.).
Assam’s Barhampur constituency saw as many as 32 visually impaired voters exercise their franchise independently. State Chief Electoral Officer J.P. Prakash said that this is indeed a welcome development and can be seen as a positive pointer towards the polling in three other states.
‘Nethrodaya’, a Chennai-based non-governmental organisation, has launched a new scheme to provide livelihood for visually impaired people in the villages of Tamil Nadu. Under the scheme, beneficiaries are provided with a Jersey cow each, so that they can earn their living. The animals will be insured.
Nethrodaya has invited a professor from ‘Madras Veterinary College’ who helps the beneficiaries identify good cows. Students of ‘Madras School of Social Work’, as part of their course work, help them deal with any problems.
Pam Boss works as a communications skills instructor at the ‘Clovernook Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired’ (U.S.). She is legally blind, and so sometimes relies on others to help her pay bills.
Boss' situation is not unique among blind and visually impaired people. The Clovernook Centre hopes to change all of that by offering a financial education programme that would enable people like Boss to handle their finances independently.
FSBraille Coach comprises of 51 pre-developed lessons that include basic tests for beginners and more rigorous exercises for more advanced Braille readers.
FSBraille Coach is a free software download. It is created for use with Freedom Scientific's PAC MateT accessible Pocket P.C.
Students need to use their PAC Mate's 20 or 40-cell Braille display to run through a series of lessons and reading exercises. The leaner gets immediate audio help with any Braille symbol, they encounter by simply pressing a button above the symbol.
In U.S., twelve visually impaired high school students got an opportunity to explore careers in rocketry as part of a partnership between N.A.S.A. (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) and the National Federation of the Blind.
The students were part of a weeklong rocket science camp, from July 14-22, 2006, at the federation's Jernigan Institute in Baltimore and N.A.S.A.'s Wallops Flight Facility, Wallops Island, Virginia.
The International Blind Sports Federation (I.B.S.A.) has expressed delight at being awarded U.E.F.A.'s (Union of European Football Association) €650,000 ( Rupees 51,350000) charity cheque for 2006.
In a statement U.E.F.A. said, “Its support confirms the leading role of I.B.S.A. in developing football and other sports for blind and partially sighted people, as well as the federation's position as one of the most active players in sports for people with disabilities."
The ‘Maestro’ consists of a standard Dell P.D.A. with a special tactile overlay, which allows people to enter data via touch, or an optional Bluetooth Braille keyboard. The information flows from the Maestro to the user in audio form thanks to a built-in voice synthesizer.
‘N.F.B.-Newsline’ is a service for legally blind people. It allows users to hear stories ranging from what's going on in their home state - to what's happening around the world.
The National Federation of the Blind (N.F.B.) U.S. has designed this electronic system that receives digital transmissions from publishers on the morning of publication. The system then reformats the data for conversion to synthetic speech, and uploads to the N.F.B-Newsline servers.
"I am sure this show would be an eye opener for the fashion industry as such shows are not only about the skin but mean more than that," said young fashion designer Himangshu Bora.
Certainly it was. Eight young models displayed some of Bora's summer collections created with an ethnic touch along with super models Dipanita Sharma and Nina Manuel. These models were students of the Guwahati Blind School (Assam). The occasion: A show ‘Light Up the World’ at the Pragjyoti cultural centre in Guwahati held on the 17 July 2006.
In March 2006, Eyeway had reported the launch of Wayfinder scheme in the U.K. Birmingham City Council. (See eyeway news for March 2006).
Now the system is ready for public use in the city. The Wayfinder system uses a fob to activate audio directions from speakers placed close to pavements around the city centre. 57 speaker units have been put in place, with a further three due to be installed later this year.
The main objective of Visually Impaired Children Kit for Inclusive Education (V.I.C.K.I.E.) project is to develop a technical solution for a better integration of the visually impaired pupils and students in the mainstream education.
The project enables visually impaired people to read books in digital format via a dedicated computer that translates book files into Braille or audio format.
Google research scientist T.V. Raman lost his sight due to glaucoma in childhood. But he never never let himself and other visually impaired people be sidelined on the Internet.
His latest effort is called ‘Accessible Search’, a new Google search engine that aims to deliver results both relevant and easy for visually impaired people to access.
Guangcheng lost his sight after a childhood illness and did not attend school until he was 18. When he did go to school, he encountered legal problems.
The Chinese government exempts blind citizens from taxes and fees. But Chen Guangcheng often did not receive such benefits. Determined to realise his legal rights, he studied law on his own, recruiting his four older brothers to read legal texts to him.
Thunder was launched by screenreader (U.K.). The company is run by blind couple Margaret and Roger Wilson-Hinds. "We see the talking computer as the modern Braille - providing a gateway to learning, work opportunities and a measure of financial freedom and independence," said the couple about their initiative.
Screenreader.net has developed the software in partnership with Manchester-based Sensory Software Limited.
Seven blind Iranian women are going to make documentaries on their lifestyle. The project was proposed by director Mohammad Shirvani at a screenwriting and directing workshop held last summer for blind people in White Cane Charity Foundation in Tehran.
The seven women will shoot their films through compact digital cameras. Sara Parto, Banafsheh Ahmadi, Narges Haqiqat, Shima Kaheh, Mahdis Elahi, Shokufeh Davarnejad, and Naghmeh Afiat aim to make short documentaries on their personal lives by the sound-based recording.
Playing video games with his brother Isaiah, in the cacophony of noise, 14 year old Ben Underwood can figure out everything that's happening just by listening.
"How can you even separate the sound? "Because they got different voices,” says Ben. Watching him in action, it seems clear that Ben really can do anything!
Nance Eldridge Coffaro focuses the camera on the wig, watches the monitor, and begins to work out the style. Once that's done, "I can do a lot of it by feel," she opined, "I'm amazed by how much I do by feel.”
Coffaro had been styling hair since she was a teenager. But was forced to give up salon work due to her blindness. She was diagnosed with a genetic disorder that causes the optic nerve to atrophy.
She is able to make out light and shadows within a few feet.
A new technology now allows visually impaired people to work shoulder to shoulder with non-visually impaired people in the B.P.O. (Business Process Outsourcing) industry.
The technology ‘Neil’ (Navigation and Expert Interaction Logic) offers a ‘talking companion’, according to Shyam Kedare, ‘Softnet Interactive Private Limited’ which conceptualised the new technique. The software is used to transform coded data into audio format through a landline telephone instrument. The caller first listens to the information and then makes a call to the customer.
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