THIRUVANANTHAPURAM : A few students on Kerala University’s Kariavattom campus have come forward to give their voice to a noble cause by recording audio textbooks for blind students as part of an initiative dubbed “voice donation”. Aishwarya Ashok, an MSW student on the campus, volunteered to read out a chapter for an audio book on Information Technology. At Government Blind School in Jagathy here, 116 more Kerala University students have registered for a voice donation programme. “Recording your voice demands not just time but the heart to do it. It is as difficult as any other donation programme. Hence the name voice donation,” said Jishnu who coined the term “voice donation”. Jishnu is the co-founder of the NGO Nava Kerala Mission, which helps the Jagathy school enrol more volunteers for the programme. Sugunan C, a partially blind social science teacher at GHSS Chavara who has spent years poring over Braille literature, is very delighted to own audio textbooks. “One has to constantly depend on another person to read out textbooks or wait for the Braille books to come. The audio books are so nice. I sometimes play audio books in the class. I have even seen children keenly listening to audio books,” he said. The term may be new, but the idea of getting volunteers to record audio books has been in currency for some time now. Eight months ago, the youth wing of the Kerala Federation of the Blind started Daisy Production Centre. The centre has been mailing books, mostly literary works, for free to every person who comes asking. And Chakshumathi, a non-profit organisation for the visually impaired, publishes a monthly audio magazine. Naufal T N, a partially blind editor with Chakshumathi, said: “Apart from students, several retired officials have also come forward to help.”

Source: http://www.newindianexpress.com/states/kerala/Students-%E2%80%98Donate%E2%80%99-Voice-for-the-Cause-of-the-Blind/2014/11/03/article2505682.ece