Blind since age of 10, Terry Garrett can’t play soccer, basketball or drive. But he made a pact with himself about how he’d view his disability. “I don’t let my blindness control me — I control my blindness,” he said.
This June, Garret was 7,710 feet above the sea level at Machu Picchu (Peru) along with five visually impaired teenagers and Erik Weihenmeyer, the first blind person to climb Mount Everest.
Created by LevelStar (U.S.), this P.D.A., called the Icon mobile manager plus docking station, isn't the first P.D.A. designed for visually impaired users. Yet, it’s different from the rest. Icon comes with a detachable Braille or regular full-size keyboard, which is easier to use for taking extensive notes and was designed with the Internet at its core.
It’s like having a personal guide in hand. As the user moves around, it announces where he or she is. ‘Trekker’ is a small, lightweight device that uses the Global Positioning System (G.P.S.) to help visually impaired people find their way around. Along with G.P.S. technology, the device also uses talking digital maps and talking menus to provide real-time information on surroundings and also pinpoints user location.
This is the first 'World Chess Championship for the Blind' to be held in India. According to sources, as many as 150 participants, including 15 International Masters (I.M.), 3 International Women Masters (I.W.M.), 6 F.I.D.E. Masters (F.M.) and 30 F.I.D.E. rated players from 40 countries will be competing for the prestigeous title.
The tournament will be inaugurated on 9th October 2006 and will end with the felicitation of winners on 18th October 2006.
Visually impaired Shyam, a college student completed his course in massaging and is now working for the ‘Bapu Nature Cure Hospital’, an Ayurvedic Centre, Delhi. He is looking forward to doing his master’s degree with the money he earns.
Visually impaired travellers entering Connecticut (U.S.) can get a welcome guide in Braille and in large prints at the state’s six tourist welcome centres. They can even get access to an audio version of Information brochure.<br><br>A few years ago, while travelling through Georgia (U.S.), Junerose Killian, noticed that the welcome centres had guides and pamphlets in Braille. She returned to Connecticut and realised Braille tourist brochures were not offered in the state and set about making it happen.
The people at Alabama Institute for Deaf and Blind don’t refer to their students as having disabilities.
Many of them are totally blind, some are legally blind and others are totally deaf, but instead of dwelling on what students and employees can’t do, the school focuses on what they can do.
The school was host to a technological symposium sponsored by the Alumni and Workers Association of Alabama School for the Blind.
"Parvai Atror Kural’ has two objectives: identifying and encouraging the visually impaired writers to write stories, novels, essays etc and also help them express their grievances.
The print version of the magazine will also be made available to the subscribers. This novel initiative was announced by Professor M. Sahadevan, General secretary of the Tamil Nadu Unit, N.F.B., recently.
The third ‘Blind Cricket World Cup’ will take place in Islamabad, Pakistan between December 4th to 16th, 2006. This was announced by the ‘World Blind Cricket Council’, recently.
The opening ceremony of the tournament will be held on December 3rd, World Disability Day and the finals will be played on December 16th. The tournament was scheduled to take place in South Africa but after organisational problems Pakistan stepped in to host the event.
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.
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