For the student who wants to travel from classroom to classroom with minimal equipment, the Clarity Deskmate system offers a high-quality mobile video magnification solution. Deskmate combines Clarity’s Flex video magnifier with a 15” monitor for excellent visibility. Setup is a snap — just plug in and switch on!
A 26-year-old 100 per cent visually impaired student from Kolkata has battled all odds to make it to the prestigious management school - IIM.
The IIM dream, chased by many but realised by few. 26-year-old Suresh Reddy from IIM Calcutta belongs to the select club. He was 13 years old when he lost his vision. His parents asked him to quit studies, but Reddy fought on. Armed with new technology and helped by friends, he cracked the IIM entrance - the first person with 100 per cent visual impairment to get admission into the elite management school.
What’s common to Stevie Wonder, Surdas, Helen Keller and Siddhant Chothe, Nitin Dhaware, Sandhya Murkute, Sanghapal Bhowate and Vikas Waghmare? All of them are achievers whose visual impairment did not spell an end to their world. The latter five people form the Team TechVision, ‘a software writing firm’ at the Niwant Andh Mukta Vikasalaya in Pune.
Today we announced some of the updates we’ve released recently to make Google’s applications more accessible to the blind community. Google Calendar now has new keyboard shortcuts and better screen reader support for our blind users. Members of the blind community can now use JAWS, VoiceOver and ChromeVox to manage your calendars, create and edit events or simply browse your events. Here are a few examples of how screen readers and keyboard shortcuts work with Google Calendar:
Dragon Naturally Speaking is one of the best speech recognition softwares that makes business professionals' work
Maharashtra government on Thursday assured the high court here that it would immediately remove all barriers from public buildings to allow smooth movement to physically challenged and the elderly.
Striking a blow for blind and visually impaired citizens across Tamil Nadu and India, the Madras High Court on Friday refused to allow a school to sack a teacher who had lost her eyesight, and ruled that she be allowed to continue using the help of a companion to discharge her teaching duties until her retirement.
Imagine a robotic walker that can tell exactly how much and where your grandmother has walked on a particular day.
Or better still, imagine a game of air hockey that can be played even by blind people. City students have built robots that will improve the lives of the elderly and the visually impaired.
A group of students from international schools in the city have developed robots as part of the Sixth Indian Robotic Olympiad - Mumbai Chapter.
A group of 14-year-old students bagged the first prize in the open category.
Heinrich Wagner is a visually impaired man, one who has brazenly performed numerous feats that would reduce most 'normal' human beings to quivering, cowering messes. Apart from participating in several endurance-testing marathons, the Capetonian has broken two land speed records, sky-dived from a height of 10,000 feet and bungee-jumped from one of the highest bridges in the world. Apart from cycling solo for 39km, Wagner has completed the 2011 ABSA Cape Epic (regarded as the Tour de France of mountain biking).
As compared to its neighbours, Karnataka is not disabled-friendly. The state funds just 30 schools, a dismal number when compared to Maharashtra, which funds 900 schools, and Kerala, which supports 244 schools.
Making this incisive criticism, on Saturday, disability commissioner KV Rajanna said the commission is sending teams to neighbouring states to study how special schools are administered.
The reason for the government’s apathy is not absence of funds, said Rajanna.
A degree in physiotherapy may not be an option for some in the physically challenged category. Maharashtra Council for Occupational Physiotherapy (MCOP) has come out with draft guidelines holding visually, hearing and speech-impaired candidates ineligible for admission to Bachelor of Occupational Therapy (BOTh) and Bachelor of Physiotherapy (BPTh) courses.
Additional government pleader G W Mattos informed the Bombay high court on Tuesday that the guidelines are based on a report of a three-member expert committee. He submitted the report to court which
She may not be able to see. But that hasn't dented her spirit to live her life to the fullest. GN Sangeetha, 38, was barely seven when she lost her eyesight to a brain tumour. Her cornea was intact and she has now pledged to donate her eyes so at least two persons can see. Today, she guides and inspires many like her by sharing her experiences.
White canes will soon be passe. Now, visually impaired persons can depend on smart stick to guide them through hills and crowded roads. Fixed with sensors, it will alert the user about the lurking danger via vibrations and also inform about the size, shape and type of obstacles.
Developed by IIT-Delhi with the help of Delhi-based NGO Saksham, the first phase of week-long trials of smart cane for the hills involving six students, including three Class XI girls of local Portmore School, ended here on Friday.
In a major relief to a visually impaired employee of Chetna College, who was sacked by the college because of her disability, the state government has order her reinstatement by November 30 at the same post.
On Friday, government pleader GW Mattos informed a division bench of chief justice Mohit Shah and justice RS Dalvi about the state government’s decision to reinstate Nilima Surve as junior clerk.
The state government will provide a monthly scholarship of Rs 350 to the children of disabled persons, whose annual family income is below Rs 50,000. The post-matriculation scholarship will be given for 10 months in an academic year. But those already availing a state or central government scholarship are not eligible.
The Wadhwani Foundation on Thursday announced a tie-up with NASSCOM in which the foundation would assist around 2,000 educated people with disabilities in getting placed in the IT/BPO and software industries around the country.
In a press conference on Thursday, the foundation launched a 'Web accessibility handbook' which would provide insights to companies looking to provide information and communication technology accessibility for their disabled employees.
The University of Pune (UoP) is all set to improve accessibility for visually impaired students on its campus.
The department of education and extension, headed by prof Sanjeev Sonawane, is working on a project to install advanced sensors at various locations often accessed by students to help needy students navigate through the campus.
Department officials said the project, which took several months to develop, would take up to 3 months to implement.
We are about to see the release of the new Samsung Galaxy Nexus, the first mobile phone to come with the Ice Cream Sandwich version of the Android operating system installed. There are some well documented improvements offered by this new system such as unified applications for both mobile phones and tablet devices. There are however some features that are less well known and one of them is the support offered to visually impaired users.
With World Disability Day being observed Saturday, software major Micrsoft India introduced disabled-friendly tools for application in software of common use. It also announced special certification programmes for those with impairments.
"It is estimated that there are around 70 million people with disabilities in India. Ensuring that their needs are met with and that they have an equal opportunity is crucial to the process of inclusive growth in the country," Microsoft India Chairman Bhaskar Pramanik said.
In a room of Furn al-Shubbak’s press club Monday, students practice their radio voice with Antoine Mrad, the general manager of Radio Liban Libre, while some read sample lines out loud from their books.
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