The International Institute of Information Technology-Bangalore (I.I.I.T.-B) and Chennai-based companies, Lattice Bridge Info and Spatial Data (Spinfo), are jointly developing cellphone-based technology to help visually impaired people and tourists find their way in a particular location.

Call a designated number and ask a question like 'Where am I?' or 'Where is the nearest A.T.M.?' and disconnect. In a few seconds, you will get a call with an automated voice informing you where you are exactly and where you can find the nearest A.T.M.

Chennai based N.G.O. Nethrodaya organised a one-day career counselling guidance session for visually impaired students appearing for class X and XII examinations.

Students from remote villages of Tamil Nadu got an opportunity to study various government and private schemes and other career options.

The speakers who motivated the students were also visually impaired. These included, Veerakumar, advocate, Mani, stenographer, Jalal Ali, musician, Kasi Mani, vocal training instructor and Dakshinamoorthy an English teacher.

Eberhart Zrenner, executive director of the Eye Hospital at the University of Tübingen, announced at a recent press conference the findings of the test, the first of its kind.

The researchers conducted surgery on seven blind patients between 26 to 58 years of age, and implanted a three-millimetre-square chip behind the retina of one eye in each of them. They found that the chip had restored limited vision to three of the patients.

Manufactured for the convenience of blind customers, the updated ATM now makes it possible for individuals to hear all options in addition to seeing them.

Installed in Oslo's Nordea bank, the machine is manufactured by Norwegian Association of the Blind and Partially Sighted. Aftenposten quotes official Kristin Ruud, from the organization as saying, "All messages from cash machines used to come via the screen. This has made it impossible for the blind to use the machines."

A two-judge bench of the Supreme Court has stayed the Madhya Pradesh High Court order that barred a visually challenged student from studying medicine.

The road to becoming a doctor is finally clear for Nitin Mantri. This visually challenged student in Khandwa in Madhya Pradesh now has the permission of the Supreme Court to finish his medical degree.

Mantri says, “I will fulfill the dreams of my parents and family members. They wanted me to be a doctor and now that the Supreme Court has endorsed our stand I will become a doctor."

Easy Walk consists of a two-buttoned mobile phone, a Bluetooth Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver, software that converts text to speech and a call centre, the BBC reports.

The first button on the phone connects to the GPS system to inform the user of their precise location - including house or building number - while the second requests assistance from the call centre, which then phones the user to help them navigate their way.

BBC NI recently teamed up with the RNIB NI, the IFA’s Grassroots Department and the George Best Foundation to introduce the initiative at Northern Ireland’s home internationals.<br><br>A competition was run to find two people to become professionally trained commentators at Northern Ireland games.<br><br>Jackie Fullerton and Joel Taggart had to judge entries of five-minute commentaries describing the imaginary moment your team scored the winning goal in the 2006 World Cup.Robin Peake from Portrush and Brian Elliott from Newtownards won the competition.<br><b

Kerala State Institute of Educational Technology (S.I.E.T.) recently launched audio C.D.s of class 10th syllabus in a condensed format for visually impaired students.

Titled `S.S.L.C. Topper', the C.D.s are dubbed in English and Malayalam and will be given free to all visually impaired students. They’re of 28-hour and 20-hour duration respectively.

The C.D.s were devised as an alternative learning methodology, as it was found that a majority of the visually impaired students lacked the speed and skill to decipher Braille literature.