A report by the United Kingdom (U.K.) Cabinet Office’s e-Government Unit found that disabled people could not browse 97 per cent of official government sites in Europe, mainly because they ignored several known techniques for making the websites accessible.
It seemed to be a never ending struggle, for 50-year old visually impaired, U.N. Singha, until he got justice from the Commissioner Disabilities, Uttar Pradesh (C.D.U.P.), office for inclusion of his initial temporary services period for counting towards the seniority.
The two-year struggle which Singha thought had come to an end, is not over yet. The State government and Lucknow University has decided to appeal against the decision of the C.D.U.P. This means that Singha will have to fight another round.
Statistics released by the Ghana Eye Foundation (G.E.F.) at its launch in late 2005 indicate that out of the total population of 18.8 million (2000 census) in the country, 200,000 people are completely blind while 600,000 people are visually impaired.
Seventy-five per cent of the cases of blindness and visual impairment were due to avoidable and preventable reasons.
Cataract, glaucoma, trachoma, childhood blindness, refractive errors and low visions as well as diabetes and sickle cell retinopathy were cited major causes of visual impairment and blindness among Ghanaians.
Society’s attitude towards disabled persons is changing gradually. People are less likely to see someone with a disability as someone to be pitied; there is increased recognition that disabled persons have talents that can be useful to both the employer and the employee.
Madhubala is one such example. At 23, she is like any other working girl: enthusiastic and hard working. She clearly doesn’t let her blindness come in the way of her efficiency.
Dr. Eli Peli, lead investigator of the study at S.E.R.I. had found that by increasing the contrast of details of certain sizes television watching could be made more enjoyable for people with low vision.
The information from the study will aid in the development of an electronic device that will help millions with low vision due to macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy and other eye diseases.
Children with disability will now have a better chance to secure fair marks in the 10th and 12th standard class, thanks to the decision taken by the Council of the Indian School Certificate Examinations (C.I.S.C.E.). The council has decided to allow disabled children under the I.C.S.E. to use computers and Braille keyboards in examinations with immediate effect.
Visual impairment is no deterrent in enjoying the thrills and adventure of mountaineering. The fact will be proved by 10 visually impaired students of the Ramkrishna Mission Blind Boy’s Academy (R.K.M.B.B.A.), as they set out to conquer the 3,636 metre high Sandakphu peak.
On December 2, 2005, National Federation of the Blind (N.F.B.) in Baltimore, U.S.A. hosted an interactive opportunity for a select group of blind students to explore the sun through a new and exciting book Touch the Sun.
The book allows blind and visually impaired students to experience images of the sun and solar activity by feeling transparent raised textures bonded to the pictures.
Page Accessibility Labs (P.A.L.) offers the experience of its visually impaired test specialists to conduct website accessibility testing. Their work ensures websites are as convenient as possible for visually impaired users.
To access the computer and the internet, visually impaired people require special hardware or software known as assistive technologies. The experience is quite different from that of a non-visually impaired user.
In spite of a Government notification that reserved 3 per cent of posts for persons with disabilities in Groups A and B and 5 per cent in Groups C and D, the quotas are not being filled properly.
Several government departments remain hesitant to recruit persons with disabilities because they do not think they can handle the work efficiently enough, said Pradeep Kumar, former assistant commissioner for disabilities.
In Singapore, a photo exhibition was organised where photographs were converted into tactile displays with captions in Braille exclusively for visually impaired people. This first endeavour has been made possible by the French photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand and the eyewear designer Alain Mikli.
The exhibition ‘Touch and See’ had the photographs titled ‘Earth from above’, which enabled the visually impaired people to touch and feel the photographs that were on display.
‘Ensuring e-learning materials are fully accessible to anyone especially those with physical or learning disabilities’ was the subject of a conference held in London late last year. The invited delegates included senior learning executives from the public, private sectors and educational publisher groups Debates covered the usability and accessibility of e-learning material to people with disabilities.
‘Prologix Software Solutions Pvt. Ltd.’ which developed the local language speech synthesis software 'Vaachak' was felicitated with the National Technology Award by the President, Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, for this achievement on World Disability Day in the capital.
On World Disability Day (December 3), President Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam presented the National Awards for the Welfare of Persons With Disabilities 2005. On the occasion, President Kalam asked the state governments to nominate special commissioners to ensure the selection of the right candidates, to fill up the 3 per cent reservation in jobs for disabled people. He suggested that the special commissioners could work under the supervision of the overall coordinator in the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Government of India.
Five-year-old Dinesh rubbed his eye while handling a paan sachet, which contained chunna (white limestone powder, also used for whitewashing). The eye became so watery and red that he had to be rushed to the hospital. The injury led to severe loss of vision.
Fortunately for him, science threw up an answer. The doctors at L. V. Prasad Eye Institute, Hyderabad, transferred stem cells to the boy's eye. Today, he can see and is careful not to touch stray paan packets.
Are banks empowered enough to put restrictions on blind customers thereby depriving the latter of the right to operate their accounts like any other ‘normal’ (non visually impaired) person? That’s the question visually impaired Prasanna Kumar Pincha posed to the Guwahati High Court.
In a prompt response, the Guwahati High Court issued an interim order stating that the petitioner must not only be allowed to open a savings bank account but also be allowed its usual operation.
Alex Loch of Maple has won several medals, over the years, in gymnastics - but what may be more impressive is his mettle to overcome visual impairment.
Loch has ‘rod monochromatism’, an eye disorder that allows the use of only rods in his eyes, instead of cones. "Rods are basically all your night vision and black and white vision. Cones are your day vision and colour vision. I don't have cones, so I'm always using my night vision and that causes complete colour blindness, sensitivity to light and I can't see very far," says Loch.
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.
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