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.

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.”

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.”

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.

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.

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.

Blind Eileen Scrivani, an avid knitter, expressed concern that Dynamic Resource Group’s (D.R.G), U.S.A, website ‘FreePatterns.com’ was inaccessible to visually impaired people. As a result, the company researched on accessibility and made the necessary technological changes. Now, all its free patterns are tagged to enable screen readers to translate them into audio format.

Computer technology allows for the conversion of information on a computer screen into either audio or Braille format.

Universities are likely to allow visually impaired students the option of writing answer papers for examinations on computers. This would do away with the age-old system of students using a ‘scribe’ during examination.

In a letter to all universities, including deemed universities, the University Grants Commission (U.G.C.) has taken note of a request in this regard from the office of the Chief Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities (C.C.P.D.), and requested universities to take ‘necessary action in the matter’ and bring it to the notice of colleges affiliated to it.