By Monika Sharma
Ask people to describe a classroom situation and most would think of a teacher standing at a blackboard, chalk in hand, drawing diagrams and writing the lesson down for the students. Now look at the students, all busily copying the lesson into their books. But what if there is a blind or visually impaired student in the class? Even if they are seated right at the front, how much can they learn from such teaching methods?
A blind Tokyo masseur will put his healing hands to work as a volunteer at a facility for the physically disabled in Malaysia with the hope he can "pass techniques on and make a difference."
Saburo Sasada was due Tuesday to head to Malaysia on a two-year stint as a senior overseas volunteer for the Japan International Cooperation Agency. According to the agency, he is the first totally blind volunteer it has sent abroad for an extended period.
Learning material
HSBC Bank USA, N.A. today announced the availability of
audio-enabled or "talking" ATMs in more than 250 locations across the
U.S. The talking ATMs provide spoken instructions in English and
Spanish and allow individuals with visual impairments to hear
on-screen information when conducting banking transactions.
Here are some suggestions on how to begin:
Know the extent, intensity of blindness
Dorothy Nykiel stepped away from the polling machine set up at the Barnstable Unitarian Church satisfied with her choices: Strawberry ice cream, a Ferrari, Frank Sinatra and three-day weekends.
Nykiel, 88, who has limited vision and walks with the aid of a cane, took part in yesterday's demonstration of new voting machines for the disabled.
Large touch screen
The Leeds-based tour operator was born out of entrepreneur Amar Latif's frustration at the lack of options available to blind travellers.
When Amar Latif discovered that the sort of travel experiences he was looking for didn’t exist for blind travellers, he was faced with two options. He could either do without, or organise them himself. Not being afraid of a challenge he decided on the latter option and in April 2005 the Leeds-based tour operator Traveleyes was born.
scholarships : the government of orissa scholarship
The Government of Orissa scholarship
England's Graham Gooch and New Zealand's Martin Crowe have taken on junior blind cricketers in a friendly game at Rushutters Bay, Sydney.
The cricketing greats are in Australia to participate in the beach cricket tournament, but managed to sneak in a game against the vision-impaired kids organised by the Advanced Hair Studio.
The former English captain says he was astounded by the younger players' ability.
"They have a special ball which has a sort of bell inside of it, and you roll the ball along the ground," he explained.
The jury said on Thursday it was won over by Zappa's "Blind-Liecht" charitable foundation and its innovative gastronomic concept, which involves diners eating in the darkness and being guided through their meals by blind and visually impaired waiters.
The "Blind-Liecht" charitable foundation was set up in December 1998 by Zappa, a partially sighted psychologist, with help from three other blind people.
The British Computer Association of the Blind (BCAB) has launched an initiative called EyeT4All. The revolutionary initiative brings easy to use, affordable access technology to visually impaired people around the UK.
It has long been argued that the cost of access technologies, such as screen readers, is too high. The benefits of using a computer if you are visually impaired are undeniable. Far greater access to information and services, but getting all the right equipment can be an expensive process.
A do it yourself book on yoga for the visually-impaired has been written in Braille, but the language is Marathi.
The writer Mangala Sarda is a yoga instructor with 10 years of experience working with the National Association for the Blind.
Her book is an attempt to help her students, learn yogic postures better and to teach it to others like themselves.
''The instructions need to be simple so that they can grasp them. They need to follow my voice to do the exercises,'' said Mangala Sarda, Yoga Instructor.
Helping the visually impaired to reach out to the world was the motto of the day for The National Association for the Blind (NAB) who, along with Rotary Club of Bangalore, distributed around 1,000 FM radios to visually challenged persons at the NAB Rehabilitation Complex here on Saturday.
It is part of Rotary Club’s ‘Support the Challenged’ initiative, which in turn was supported by Mitra Jyothi and Matru.
scholarships : graduate scholarship for rehabilitation research in canada
Graduate Scholarship for Rehabilitation Research in Canada
Using technology he brought “sight” to hundreds of visually impaired students.
The amazing young Vietnamese man's name is Dang Hoai Phuc, aged 26.
He is the On-net Technical Initiative Project Coordinator, in charge of On-net’s Southeast Asian programs.
Phuc is a lecturer at the Regional Jaws Scripting Development Workshop, which gave IT-for-theblind training to seven IT teachers from Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines.
A daredevil woman who is gradually losing her sight is taking part in a charity skydive to raise money for the charity which gave her vital help when her life was turned upside down.
Francesca Davies, 42, of Great Waldingfield, near Sudbury, will fall two miles through the sky in the tandem dive with an instructor to support the West Suffolk Voluntary Association for the Blind, which was there for her when she lost the sight in her left eye 11 years ago.
A blind chemistry graduate student at Penn State is making an impact in how visually impaired students get involved in the laboratory. A story posted on the Penn State website explains how Cary Supalo went from hating chemistry in high school to majoring in it in college. What made the difference? Having a little extra help in the lab.
As part of his doctoral degree, Supalo is creating tools that will better equip the visually impaired student to participate in the lab. "Chemistry gives you the potential to discover something new that can change the world," he says.
Credit Suisse aims to become the most accessible bank in Switzerland. Therefore the bank is clearing obstacles: Steps are being removed from branch entrances, ATMs are getting a voice, and applications and web portals are being reprogrammed.
Dave Heeley, 49, will begin his Seven Magnificent Marathons Challenge on April 7, with the aim of increasing awareness of visual impairment around the globe and raising funds for The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association.
His gruelling week begins in Port Stanley, Falkland Islands (Antarctica), followed by Santiago, Chile (South America), Los Angeles, USA (North America), Sydney, Australia(Australasia), Dubai, United Arab Emirates (Asia) and Nairobi, Kenya (Africa).
The final leg will bring him back to Europe, where he will run the Flora London Marathon on April 13.
Facebook comments