IAVH to expand E-Reading Centres for blind

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Dearth in the availability of braille books, voluntary readers, non-availability of sufficient braille books on academic topics, graphics, diagrams, charts in braille, lack of computer knowledge and access to Internet makes life difficult for partially blind citizen in the country desirous of earning a decent livelihood.

Now Indian Association of Visually Handicapped (IAVH) has found technological solutions to the problems faced by the handicapped and this has been found to be successful wherever it has been implemented, according to Ram Agarwal, President IAVH. At a press meet organized in connection with the launch of the fifth "Electronic Reading Centre for the Blind" of IAVH in the country in Thiruvananthapuram, Agarwal said that several of the technological aids for partially blind people are now brought together under one roof. The Electronic Reading Centre for the Blind is being set up in association with The National Association for the Blind (Kerala chapter) at a cost of Rs 5.9 crore, which was fully donated by State Bank of Travancore as part of their social banking activities. The other four e-reading centres are operational in Pune, Nagpur, Hyderbad and Mumbai.

The devices included in the E-Reading Centres include Text Book Reading Machine, Index Basic D Braille Printer, Talking Computers with JAWS and screen reading software. Galileo Text Book Reader, a textbook reading machine, is capable of reading aloud any text matter placed on top of the device. "The matter so read can be copied on a floppy and for subsequent reading the original printed book is not required and the system can read from the floppy," Agarwal said. Index Basic computerised printer is capable of taking brail copies of any text, graphics, maps and diagrams in English and various Indian languages. This will be a boon for partially blind people as there is paucity of brail books in various topics and brail publishing houses are finding it difficult to meet the increasing demand. Moreover, schools for the blind can set up their own question papers, test sheets and tabulate the results using the system. Talking Computers with JAWS is a software that enables visually handicapped people to learn computers and Internet, which are essential skills required for productive employment in any sector.

Agarwal said that the visually handicapped in the country could not go beyond the elementary education stage in the country because of the limited availability of braille books, voluntary readers and other factors. The concept of graphics, diagrams, charts, maps are not introduced at the school or college level. Therefore, it is difficult to teach mathematics, science, and geography to the partially blind. Due to these factors, they could not take up productive work later in life. "Now, with the spread of E-Reading Centres that bring together the technological aids at the door step of the blind, the visually handicapped can look forward to earn a better livelihood on their own and not depend on `donations' or charity any more," he added. Moreover, services at E-reading centres are totally free for the visually handicapped.