“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.

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.

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.

‘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.

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.

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."

‘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.

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.