Aadhaar enrolment drive for physically challenged in Guntur

Aadhaar enrolment drive for physically challenged in Guntur.

Collector Vivek Yadav has said that a special drive on enrolment of Aadhaar for physically challenged persons would be launched to help them avail all the benefits eligible under the government welfare schemes.

Recently, Mr. Yadav intervened to get a physically challenged woman to enrol for Aadhaar card at Nadikudi, an intervention which led to planning of a district-wide drive.

The Collector also finalised modalities for execution of the programme and assigned responsibilities to the officers.

NGO launches scholarship scheme for youths with disabilities

The National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People (NCPEDP), a leading cross-disability non-profit organisation, on Saturday announced a three-year scholarship for differently-abled youths for a career in the development sector.

The NCPEDP has joined hands with the Azim Premji Foundation for this initiative which will begin from September, the NGO said in a statement.

Donor to CMPRF receives assistance

THANJAVUR

A visually impaired person who had responded to the call given by Chief Minister M.K.Stalin to donate funds to Chief Minister’s Public Relief Fund for taking up COVID-19 spreading prevention exercise received financial assistance of ₹ 50,000 on Saturday.

Ravichandran (52) of Aazhivaaikkal near Thanjavur town suffering from partial visual impairment had on June 9 donated ₹ 6,000 after selling his two calves.

Education Ministry lays down norms for content for disabled children

Digital education resources must be perceivable, operable, understandable and robust: Centre

The Education Ministry has laid down new guidelines for producing digital education resources for children with disabilities, after a year in which the COVID-driven shift to online education has spotlighted the lacunae in such resources. However, the PDF document containing the guidelines does not even follow its own rules, making it partially inaccessible to the visually challenged, says an activist, raising concerns about effective implementation.

PwDs can use their unique ID card for registration on CoWIN

Soon, people with disabilities (PwDs) can use their Unique Disability Identification (UDID) Card as a Photo ID to register themselves on the CoWIN platform for vaccination, the Union Health Ministry said on Monday.

“This has been done to further facilitate the access to vaccination by disabled people and in this regard, the Centre has written to all the States/UTs to include it as a Photo ID for registration,” said a statement issued here by the Ministry. The necessary provisions for the same are being made and would be available in CoWIN shortly, it further stated.

Smart cane, powered by AI, navigates for the visually impaired

The life of the visually impaired has been improved greatly with the use of the WeWalk smart cane.

Designed by a start-up with offices in London and Istanbul, the smart cane can warn the user of obstacles, provide navigation assistance and information on public transportation.

WeWALK acts as a new handle when attached to any long cane and was designed to feel natural, allowing for normal cane usage.

Lockdown has been especially hard on Valley’s visually-impaired persons

Yam Bahadur Gurung is a visually-impaired man but he is gifted with a good singing voice. Until the Covid-19 lockdown started in March last year, he had a busy schedule singing at various functions besides a regular evening job at the Indreni Dohori Sanjh, a restaurant with traditional Nepali live music, at Koteshwor in the Capital.

An inclusive website offering COVID-19 data

A young trio designs it for the benefit of the neurodiverse and visually-challenged

Dynamic charts are an indispensable part of pandemic reporting. Take the one that tracks the daily case load in a geography. With a gentle glide of the mouse manifesting the data in chronological order, it presents an evolving picture with the minimum of fuss. However, without an accompanying audio feature, this prop means little to a visually-challenged user. Similarly, what is convenient presentation of information to a majority may be a challenge to someone on the autism spectrum.

First blind Chinese mountaineer climbs Mount Everest

The 46-year old Chinese Zhang Hong has scaled the tallest peak in the world from the Nepal side, becoming the first blind man in Asia and the third in the world to climb Mount Everest. "No matter if you're disabled or normal, whether you have lost your eyesight or you have no legs or hands, it doesn't matter as long as you have a strong mind, you can always complete a thing that other people you can't," Zhang told Reuters. Zhang completed the 8,849 metre-high Himalayan feat on May 24 along with three high altitude guides, and returned to the base camp on Thursday.

Nethrodaya opens a park for the visually-impaired in Chennai

Visually-impaired students currently residing at Nethrodaya now have a space to spend time at in the evenings.

An accessible, user-friendly park was inaugurated on the Nethrodaya campus a few days ago for these students.
“We have around 42 students who study in our school staying on campus and for them, this park is a welcome, accessible space. Owing to the lockdown, the students cannot step out anywhere as well and this space serves as their stress buster.,” said C. Govindakrishnan, Founder, Nethrodaya.

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