In a few days from now, even the visually challenged would be able to saunter into the District Central Library, Karur, and savour books designed for them and stored there through the medium of computers. In a pioneering move, the library here is all set to welcome the visually challenged visitors by becoming a blind-friendly library. The proposal that had been under consideration for sometime got a boost with Collector J. Uma Maheswari deciding to grant some funds.
The winners of the much coveted N.C.P.E.D.P. Shell Helen Keller Awards for 2009 have been announced. This is the 11th edition of these awards instituted by National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People (N.C.P.E.D.P.), to honour individuals and organisations who have been working towards promoting equal opportunities and providing gainful employment for persons with disabilities. The Awards will be given on December 2 in New Delhi.
Cambridge University Press is to provide free content to an Indian charity, giving millions of readers with a visual impairment access to a range of educational materials.
The academic publisher has signed an agreement with the Daisy Forum of India, a charity for the visually impaired. The Daisy forum turns books into digital content, which can be read aloud by special software in computers and laptops. CUP will allow the organisation to use the content in its books free of charge.
The first flexible retinal implant could restore some vision to people with certain forms of visual impairment.
Conditions such as age-related macular degeneration occur when some of the photoreceptors in the eye stop functioning properly. But as other parts of the eye still work, it should be possible to restore vision using an implant that mimics the photoreceptor layer, says Rostam Dinyari at Stanford University in California.
To achieve this, an implant needs to convert a light signal into an electrical pulse – in other words, perform like a solar cell.
Led by Punjab National Bank most banks in Delhi are flouting norms issued by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) pertaining to visually impaired people’s accessing banking services.
Registering their protest against the discriminative and unfriendly behaviour meted out to them, some visually impaired people have called for a legal action against the bank.
Modern technology has changed lifestyles; the invasion of new electronic gadgets has now questioned even the relevance of Braille for the blind in the present world.
On the occasion of 201st birth anniversary of Louis Braille, inventor of Braille language, Deccan Herald spoke to few individuals, who work for the blind and asked them about the importance of Braille in a blind person's life.
Government will bring an amendment in the Disability act in the coming budget session of Parliament to improve the lot of the differently abled. A draft of the amendment is ready with the social justice ministry. This was disclosed by the social justice Minister Mr. Mukul Wasnik at function in New Delhi to commemorate the 201 birth anniversary of Louis Braille.
The day is being observed through out the world as Braille day. The minister said that the procedure of giving grant to NGO's working for the betterment of blind is being simplified.
On January 4, Bangalore will celebrate the birthday of Louis Braille, the creator of the script for the blind with the rest of the world. Doordarshan Kendra will be observing this day in a unique way, Kannada News will be presented by visually challenged persons trained in Braille script.
Braille Script consists of six dots that are raised.
These six bumps are in different patterns, like constellations, spreading out over the page. They consist of numbers, letters, words.
A centre for disability studies is likely to be established at Pondicherry University. The Department of Social Work has submitted a proposal to the university in response to a communication from the University Grants Commission to start such a centre.
The Central Government Wednesday informed the Delhi High Court that equal benefits for postal life insurance will be provided to the differently-abled government employees with a maximum limit of Rs 5,00,000.
A computer training centre for visually challenged students was inaugurated in the city on Monday.
This computer training institute was established by the Milton Charitable Foundation with assistance from the Ganjam district administration. Its inauguration coincided with the birth anniversary of Louis Braille. The inauguration ceremony was attended by the Ganjam district Collector, V.K.Pandian, Berhampur Sub-Collector, Ajit Mishra, Gopalpur MLA Pradeep Panigrahy etc.
Three-month courses
CHENNAI: The tax-free State budget 2010-2011, presented by Finance Minister K. Anbazhagan in the recently inaugurated Assembly-Secretariat complex on Friday, contained a slew of policy measures for the differently abled.
Saksham has been able to finalise the purchase of Samsung N150 Netbook for a special scheme for university students with blindness or low vision.
The Netbook is being purchased at the cost of Rs.16500.
New research suggests musical talent and vision impairment are closely linked. High-profile and brilliant blind musicians such as Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder and Andrea Bocelli have long caused people to wonder if there is a link between music and blindness.
Now Professor Adam Ockelford, a musician and visiting research fellow at the Institute of Education, London, has some solid evidence.
He and his research team surveyed and visited visually impaired children who had been premature babies, at home and at school.
With just 2 per cent vision in both her eyes, Aditi Shah did not let her impairment come in the way. She scored 91.5 per cent in Maharashtra's HSC (Class 12, junior college) exams.
"I was expecting to score below 90 per cent. But when I heard I scored close to 92 per cent, I didn't know how to react," an elated Aditi said.
Born sighted, Aditi was diagnosed with Retinitis Pigmentosa, a disease which results in progressive loss of vision, when she was 10.
The visually-challenged could soon get a 24X7 companion in the form of a radio dedicated solely to education and entertainment for the blind. City-based Braillevani Education Radio Group (BERG) has been working on the concept and will approach HRD Minister Kapil Sibal with it in July this year. Once sanctioned, the group said, the project would be functional by the end of the year.
Even for brisk walkers, it takes a two-day trek from the Solukhumbu district headquarters in Nepal to get to Goma Rai’s village. “The walk is easier in the winter. In the summer, the rains make you slip. The locals do not slip, but I did,” Goma smiles.
She travels 85 km from her village to Bhopal to study for her blind daughter’s sake, spending Rs 250, every day — a huge amount for an underprivileged family like hers. But 29-year-old Govind Kunwar does not mind because her efforts are helping her daughter reclaim her confidence and live with dignity.
Kunwar, a woman with normal vision, is learning Braille so that she can help daughter Anita (7) cope with her studies.
Lighthouse International is participating in an exciting research project that holds great promise for helping people who are blind to see. It is the only FDA-approved, long-term clinical trial of its kind to determine the effectiveness of a new retinal prosthesis — and it is already yielding promising results. We’re not the only ones sharing the great news; CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta reported the story, as did The New York Times.
This prosthetic is a breakthrough in enhancing the vision — and life — of people with retinitis pigmentosa (RP) … people like Barbara Campbell.
He could not see it, but the thunderous, rapturous applause that will ring in Sanjay Jain's ears for a long time told him that he had earned it. Having just won the longest ovation of the ceremony, Jain stood up modestly, a big smile on his face.
For Jain, who is blind since birth, this was one of his life's best moments. He was awarded PhD in law during the 97th convocation ceremony of Nagpur University on Saturday. Interestingly, Jain's guide was head of law department Shirish Deshpande, who is also blind.
Facebook comments