Pam Boss works as a communications skills instructor at the ‘Clovernook Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired’ (U.S.). She is legally blind, and so sometimes relies on others to help her pay bills.
Boss' situation is not unique among blind and visually impaired people. The Clovernook Centre hopes to change all of that by offering a financial education programme that would enable people like Boss to handle their finances independently.
In U.S., twelve visually impaired high school students got an opportunity to explore careers in rocketry as part of a partnership between N.A.S.A. (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) and the National Federation of the Blind.
The students were part of a weeklong rocket science camp, from July 14-22, 2006, at the federation's Jernigan Institute in Baltimore and N.A.S.A.'s Wallops Flight Facility, Wallops Island, Virginia.
The main objective of Visually Impaired Children Kit for Inclusive Education (V.I.C.K.I.E.) project is to develop a technical solution for a better integration of the visually impaired pupils and students in the mainstream education.
The project enables visually impaired people to read books in digital format via a dedicated computer that translates book files into Braille or audio format.
Nance Eldridge Coffaro focuses the camera on the wig, watches the monitor, and begins to work out the style. Once that's done, "I can do a lot of it by feel," she opined, "I'm amazed by how much I do by feel.”
Coffaro had been styling hair since she was a teenager. But was forced to give up salon work due to her blindness. She was diagnosed with a genetic disorder that causes the optic nerve to atrophy.
She is able to make out light and shadows within a few feet.
When he was appointed to the school, many students and guardians had made representations to education department authorities, saying they felt a blind man might not be able to do justice to the job.
Two years down the line, he has become the most popular teacher in the school. And, those who expressed apprehensions about his ability are now glad that they have been proved wrong.
Suresh Biswal, 37, who was born blind, teaches at the ‘Pranakrushna Upper Primary School’ in Gagoei village (Orissa).
The first batch of 156 people in Beijing have completed an online training and pass
The tactile map uses different pieces of textured paper to delineate obstacles like railings, bushes and fences. A legend on the side of the map helps visually impaired users determine not only what each piece of texture represents, but also the colour. Although confident in her own long-cane skills, Lois Lawrie, president of the Tactile Colour Communication Society (Canada), said blindness usually creates problems.
In an era of increased corporate responsibility, more and more businesses are keen to see their workplaces reflect the diversity of their employee base. In the past, blind people were left out, but things are slowly changing.
"Employers are definitely becoming more interested in diversity and they are paying to come to our assessment days, because they want to see how they can adapt their (recruitment) tests," said Genevieve Herga of ‘Blind in Business’ (U.K.).
The ministry of information technology has embarked on a programme to provide job-oriented training in information technology (I.T.) to visually impaired students. The programme will include training for jobs at call centres.
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