What’s New
Scholarship for visually impaired girls
Twentythree visually impaired girls studying in Coimbatore and Maduraireceived scholarships to continue their studies at a function organisedby UDIS Forum, a network that assists people with disabilities, at theBishop Appasamy College of Education.
Ex-All Black steps up to fight blindness in Pacific
Weeks after losing their long-time patron Sir Edmund Hillary, the Fred Hollows Foundation has launched its annual fundraising appeal with an All Black great stepping up to front it.
This year, Michael Jones fronts the campaign to raise money to fight blindness in the Pacific.
Jones presented the inaugural Sir Edmund Hillary Pacific Eye Scholarship in a ceremony in Auckland today as part of the official launch.
Zen PC concept is for the visually impaired
Take one part MacBook Air, one part Microsoft Surface and some 3D "z-axis" interaction and you have the Zen PC concept. The Zen PC is being labeled a sandbox PC. The unique nature of the tablet-like PC allows for users to operate the PC without the use of eyes because everything is done with an active surface that changes texture as you operate.
Braille Teacher to light up the lives of the blind
TwoQatari scientists have achieved a milestone by inventing a uniquelanguage tool for teaching blind people in Qatar and other parts of theworld.
Qatar'sAl Noor Institute for the Blind (NIB) unveiled 'the Braille Teacher', asimple learning tool for families to use for teaching blind person howto read and write Braille, at a ceremony held at Sharq Spa and Villagethis week.
Sharq Village & Spa adopts Al Noor Institute for the Blind
The Sharq Village & Spa, operated by the Ritz-Carlton Company, has adopted Al Noor Institute for the Blind.
The company said the move is a part of its efforts in fulfilling its corporate responsibility. With this decision, the Sharq Village & Spa reasserted its tradition that extends into the hotel chain's social responsibility programme, Community Footprints, which inspires to positively impact the lives of others through community outreach and corporate giving.
Disability cricket given timely boost
A special dinner held to celebrate the life and achievements of England and Yorkshire cricketer Fred Trueman has raised £3,000 for disabled cricket to help fund the England Blind team's bid to win the upcoming Ashes series for cricketers with visual impairment.
ECB National Disability Cricket Manager Ian Martin received the £3,000 cheque from Geoff Hastings, chief organiser of the dinner held in the Nursery Pavilion at Lord's in November where raffle prizes included a round of golf with Sir Richard Hadlee.
Welsh language technology to help blind in India
A UK University has come out with a speech recognition technology for languages used in India and Sri Lanka.
The Language Technologies Unit at the Bangor University, Wales, has adapted some of its speech recognition technology for popular languages of the two nations.
The technology adapted to various Indian languages would help blind people communicate better with the outside world as it converts spoken words into machine-readable input.
Trinidad to host cricket tournament for visually impaired
Visually impaired cricketers from the six Caribbean countries will get a chance to display their skills at a tournament organised exclusively for them and the best among them will find a place in a West Indies team.
Gift to visually challenged
Lakhs of visually challenged students, deprived of text books and magazines in Braille for years, will be a happy lot. The reason — a software called ‘Poornachandra Tejaswi Braille Kannada Thanthra msha’, developed by three IT professionals in Mysore. The software can translate 14 vernacular languages into the 172-year-old Braille script within no time. It converts convert data typed in Kannada fonts into Braille. However, the Government has not shown any interest in purchasing the software, which costs Rs 17 lakh.
Robot helps blind children find write way
A robot and special computer are helping New Zealand blind children learn to write for the first time.
The system works by combining a touch-screen computer and a robotic arm. As a teacher draws on the screen, a pen on the arm writes the shapes.
The children hold the pen in one hand, learning the motion involved in drawing the shapes, while their other hand rests on a tactile pad, bringing up the letter shapes for them to feel.
As they write, a computerised voice speaks the letters.
Gelman helps disabled students access library resources
Thanks to a donation and collaboration between Gelman Library and Disability Support Services, blind and visually impaired students can now access resources in the library with more ease.
Last month the library held a ribbon cutting ceremony in celebration of its two new assistive technology suites - study rooms that are equipped with speech, scan and read, magnification and voice recognition software that help blind and visually impaired students see text and use other library materials more easily. About 35 students, library staff and faculty attended the ceremony.
Sense and sensibility
EAR TO THE GROUND
Pioneering Eye Surgery Network Receives 2008 Gates Award for Global Health
In recognition of its groundbreaking work to prevent debilitating blindness and provide affordable, world-class eye care to the poor, the Aravind Eye Care System, based in Tamil Nadu, India, has won the 2008 Gates Award for Global Health. The 1 million Gates Award—the world's largest prize for international health—honors extraordinary efforts to improve health in developing countries. Founded by Dr. G. Venkataswamy in 1976, Aravind has saved millions of people in India from debilitating blindness.
Helping blocks for handicap
The visually-challenged commuters travelling on Western Railway (WR)will soon find it easy to locate compartment meant for handicaps, asthe administration has decided to fix special chequered blocks on allthe platforms. Earlier,platforms had no indications for the visually challenged to reach thehandicaps’ compartment. Many visually challenged people would countpoles at railway platforms to find their way.
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