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EDITORIAL

ASHOKE CHOWDHURY

 

The dim light at the dawn gradually brightens the eastern horizon with the rising sun. Similarly the Webel Mediatronics Limited (WML) promised to undertake to focus light on the dark facade of the visually impaired and with the initiative of the company there was dim light in the life of the visually impaired through inventive exploration. Needless to add that the initiative was taken by the then director of the company Mr. S. N. Goswami. The development of different softwares was made to this direction. As a result, print matter was converted to Braille and vice versa, through company’s indigenously developed software. In the Braille literacy programme, this software could be used to Braille the print matter in 13 Indian languages. Thus, one after another softwares were discovered for math Braille, for games and quiz, for self-evaluation and so on. In this way, the dim light at the dawn gradually brightens the eastern horizon with different accomplishment and development of information technology for the sightless, resulting in facilitating education and rehabilitation of the visually impaired. This was, in fact, an initiative by the sponsorship of the Department of Information Technology, Government of India, in 2002.

The period of sponsorship is over by this time, but the journey of the company is still going on to the cherished destination. Thanks to media Lab Asia, New Delhi. The company could proceed with triumphant march towards the goal.

The above organization sponsored 40 different special institutions for the blind all over India for supply, installation and commissioning of print to Braille and Braille to print system, audio-based screen reader, SAFA developed by Media Lab Asia and tactile reader and MOKSHA through Webel Mediatronics Limited (WML) within 2010. WML prepared a broad sheet of questions and mailed it to different institutions for filling in the questionnaires to be aware of the infrastructure of the institution together with number of sightless clients and teachers. On receipt of the filled in questionnaires, the representative from WML visited 40 institutions to verify the infrastructure and scope of installation of the above noted systems. As soon as the selection process was completed, two representatives from each selected institute were asked to come to WML and undergo the training on those computerized systems for the use of information technology to each school for the blind on optimum level. The teachers have been coming batch by batch to undergo the training in a continuous manner. The passage money, food and lodging for 7 days for each batch are being borne by WML with the sponsorship from Media Lab Asia.

Already 27 institutes for the blind are in receipt of the above systems and the installation has been done by one of the representatives from WML. The process is going on in a smooth way and it will continue until the training and installation are completed.

 

 

NEWS HIGHLIGHTS

 

1. Voice of world observed its anniversary at Indian Museum Hall on 25th November, 2007 and conducted a seminar in presence of galaxy of audience. Mr. Noro Motoyoshi, Consulate General of Japan, acted as a guest-in-chief to the occasion. The institute displayed musical presentation of ‘Ramayana’ with the help of the visually impaired students.

2. 3rd December, 2007 was International day for the handicapped. Rajya Pratibandhi Sammilani displayed a huge gathering of different categories of handicapped at Rani Rashmoni Road. Many handicapped candidates, who took part in Olympic games and won prizes, were felicitated. So many ministers, as well as, Congress Representative addressed the occasion. The programme ended with different musical performances by different group of handicapped individuals.

3. On the same day, the Department of social welfare (Govt. of West Bengal) observed the world Disable Day at Rabindra Sadan and felicitated many handicapped persons and institution for their remarkable activity throughout the year. The Governor of West Bengal, the Minister-in-charge of social welfare, the Minister-in-charge of Sunderban affairs graced the occasion by their august presence. Different institutions for the handicapped performed programmes in front of huge gathering.

4. The Calcutta Blind School, a century old institution, conducted Inter-School Sport Meet on 20th December, 2007 on its playground. The honorable Sheriff of Kolkata inaugurated the sport meet and many dignitaries witnessed the occasion with nice march pass with the band and banners of different institutions from five districts in the state. The sport continued throughout the day and many institutions won prizes on a competitive basis.

5. Webel Mediatronics Ltd., a Kolkata based company celebrated its silver jubilee at Uttam Manch on 22nd December, 2007 with pomp and splendor. This company produced different softwares mainly for visually impaired and other categories of handicap. It was a nice observance with musical representation, dance and recitation, with musical bands.

6. Blind Persons Association observed the completion of 200 years of the birth anniversary of Monsieur Louis Braille at Mullickpore on 4th January, 2008. Good number of blind persons took part in this programme for two days.

7. There was Prabhat Pheri organized by the concern on the 4th January, 2007 followed by opening of Braille library by important personalities. The 5th January, 2007 witnessed a beautiful cultural programme performed by different visually handicapped people as a part of observance.

8.  NIVH regional branch conducted Braille competition on a large scale at NIVH, Bonhoogly, where 50 blind candidates took part in reading and writing Bharati Braille, Grade I Braille and Grade II Braille. Mr. Ashoke Chowdhury and Mr. Keshab Sil were judges. In all, 18 candidates were awarded prizes by the officer-in-charge and two other judges. The local function was conducted by Mrs. Baby Dutta Chowdhuri, Principal officer of the regional branch on 4th January, 2008. This function was arranged in the auspices of the bicentennial birth anniversary of Monsieur Louis Braille on 4th January, 2008.

 

 

Society for the Visually Handicapped published Series 1 of SVH Project Deaf-blind titled SVH Bilingual Awareness Manual on Deaf-blindness in August 2007. The publication was fully sponsored by United bank of India.

 

SVH organized a workshop for Awareness and Sensitization on Deaf-blindness and Multi-sensory Impairment at Siliguri jointly with Sarva Siksha Mission, Siliguri Mahakuma on november 19, 2007. This workshop was particularly planned for the districts of North Bengal. The IED coordinators of Malda, Dakshin Dinajpur, Uttar Dinajpur, Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri and Coochbehar participated along with special educators on visual and hearing impairment. Special schools for the blind and the Deaf of all the 6 districts were also invited. But the participation came only from the districts if Jalpaiguri and Siliguri Mahakuma of Darjeeling district. One copy of SVH Bilingual Manual, Series 1 of SVH Project Deaf-blind, was handed over to each IED Coordinator and teacher/Principal of the special schools.

The programme carried a positive message to the participants and other guests when Zamir Dhale, a young man with deaf-blindness, who works as Advocacy Officer with Sense International (India) communicated his life experience before the audience through sign language and Sachin Rizal, his interpreter, translated the sign into language. Another Deaf-blind person was also present there. Plaban Mukherjee, a resident of Siliguri, did not have any formal training, but is self reliant, due to his father’s proper guidance from childhood days. The audience was mesmerized to watch the conversation between two deaf-blind persons (Zamir and Plaban) with minimum intervention by Sachin.

SVH represented at National Conclave organized by Sense International (India) in Delhi to observe World Disability Day on December 3, 2007. It was the occasion to focus on the rights of deaf-blind children and adults for their appropriate education and training in the light of UN Convention. India is a signatory of the said convention. Therefore, it is the duty of all to implement the policies laid down in Article. 2 teachers, parents and a young deaf-blind girl participated the event on behalf of SVH.

 

The forthcoming events of SVH:

Picnic at Science City Park on February 2, 2008. From last year, SVH has initiated this event to give the children the delight of winter outing. Time: 10 a.m.-4 p.m.

1. Cultural Evening at Tapan Theatre on February 7, 2008. Mohan Singh would sing and Anya Desh, a group theatre run by visually impaired persons, would stage a short play.

2. Annual Nature Camp at Lataguri, District Jalpaiguri on and from February 14-17, 2008.

  

GOLDEN MEMORY

(In the auspices of bicentennial anniversary

of Monsieur Louis Braille)

 

Drops of water make an ocean; grains of sand make a desert; six dots make braille alphabet--something inconceivable discovery from the night signal consisting of 12 dots by Charles Barbier, an artillery officer of Napolean Bonaparte. As soon as the war was over, Barbier considered that this dot base signal, which would help the soldiers at night might help the sightless in reading the script with the fingertip.

With this intention, he came to the first institution for the blind in paris and demonstrated the night-signal developed by him. “Inscruitable are the ways of God”. Monsieur Braille, a sightless teacher of the institution had to prepare himself as a teacher by traversing the path with ups and downs. He took the opportunity of experimenting this night signal, how this can be useful to the blind reader. Through trials and tribulations, he finally reduced the number of dots and based his experiment on 6 dots which can be easily perceptible within the purview of the fingertip.

Prior to development of this system, there was no reading facility of the blind learners. Moontype writing was in vogue in which Roman alphabets were in embossed form. There were also beads strung in a string for reading. Actually, all these systems were not at all helpful to the blind readers.

In course of time, the braille script developed by Monsieur Louis Braille, gradually popularised for its easy perceptibility by touch. Needless to mention, that Monsieur Braille, by permutation and combination of 6 dots, established 63 characters in Braille script. As the script consumes lot of space, contractions and abbreviations have been formulated to facilitate reading and writing in good speed. We must not forget that the braille alphabets are based on scientific guidelines. What a Herculean task it is to regularize the system on a scientific base! Six tiny cells have been divided into upper, middle and lower cells, while casting the dots letter wise. First ten letters, i.e. “a to j”, have been framed by using the upper and middle cells. Then, next ten letters have been framed by adding “dot 3” with the first line system and we are easily having “k to t”. Then, again, next five letters are obtained by adding “dot 3, 6” to the first-line system. In this way, braille alphabet stands on a solid scientific ground by seven-line system.

It is our great misfortune that Monsieur Braille, during his life-time, could not see the global acceptance of his developed script. In course of time, not only France, but also all the countries in the West could gradually feel the importance and significance of the script. The whole world, takes its hat off to the towering personality of Monsieur Louis Braille for his significant and unique contribution to the reading and writing system of the visually impaired.

The ongoing development of scientific research has developed braille-slate, Brailler machine with six keys of various type and braille press for braille printing to enrich the number of braille materials for the use of the sightless; but in recent time, the modern technology has developed computerized braille system, high speed Brailler, inter-pointing the pages with the minimal utilization of paper.

Thus, the research of Monsieur Louis Braille, is now-a-days a topic for modern technology. The lamp lighted by Monsieur Louis Braille, has been enlightening millions of blind people all over the globe with innumerable lamps lit-up by science.

Monsieur Braille is no more. This is the go of the world. Has he not immortalized his discovery that has been recognized and accepted by one all? If Monsieur was alive, he would have been awfully magnified to see the exploration of his developed script in so many unknown realms.

The golden memory of Louis is a permanent asset in the history of the education of the sightless. The memory will survive ever and ever like the constellation of stars in the blue sky. With our great adoration and encomium, we may put our laurel of honor, bouquet of flowers on the royal feet of Monsieur Louis Braille at his bicentennial anniversary. To conclude, we may quote, “We have lost, but heaven has gained one of the best the world contained”.

 

Ashoke Chowdhury

(Ex-principal, Calcutta Blind School)

(Guest Lecturer, University of Calcutta)

 

 

LONELY AMONG THE CROWD

SUDARSHANA DASGUPTA

 

“In secret pleasure, secret tears,

This changeful life has slipped away,

As friendless after eighteen years,

As lone as on my natal day”.

                                                                     --EMILY JANE BRONTE

In the present day society, when every one is rushing to achieve their own goal, there is someone who always feel lonely and aloof most of the time--it is the ‘me’, the ‘self’ which is present in all of us. No matter how much we achieve, no matter how much we get, we always try to taste a little bit of everything good in the world, to get something more. In this rat-race, we often forget ourselves as well as others and even hurt others to fulfill our dreams. We have no time to think about others--those who co-exist with us in this earth, but are not blessed like us to savour all the tastes and colours of life. They are those of our fellow brothers and sisters who are not ‘disabled’, but ‘differently abled’.

We all know that there are various types of disabilities as well as numerous government and non-government organizations working for the welfare of disabled persons, but if we ask to ourselves, “knowing everything, how often do we contribute for the well-being of these people who lack one or many of their senses”? The answer will be ‘never’, if we have the guts to accept the truth and say it. We, the sighted people can do many things to cope-up with loneliness--we meet new people, hang out with friends, go for movies and cultural programmes to enjoy every ray of hope, happiness and support that life brings to us. What about those who cannot see or have a very low vision? We always put the responsibility on others by saying, oh! there are NGOs working for them, looking after them and always doing something for their recreation. So, we need not take this headache. If we think deeply by keeping ourselves on the standpoint of our non-sighted peers, we will surely find that it is not true always. There are many people with visual impairments who have not heard about those organizations that work for them. It is our responsibility to ‘break the ice’ between them and us and provide them the required help to make then feel worthy and wanted.

We always reject those who are weaker than us--either mentally or physically or in any other respect. We tend to do this because we have always received this, but to make a protest against wrong, should one really need to repeat the wrong again? Can’t we stretch our helping hand to those who lack something that they ought to possess by birth? Yes definitely we can do the same, because we are human beings who still have humanity that teaches the lesson of brotherhood, co-operation and helping behaviour. It’s not always us that holds us back to put a step forward. It’s our egocentric nature that leads us to do non-cooperation with others. We always think, “I am the only person who is so much unfortunate to be lonely. Why it happened to me? Why me”? Thus, we always remain occupied with our self-created sadness, sorrow and loneliness. We find it better to remain sad rather than stepping out of the home and conversing and interacting with the old lady who has become blind due to her illness. We take defences by rationalizing that such a person who always remain in home by losing her eyesight is totally out of touch from the outer world and hardly knows anything about the present times. Thus, we label her as a ‘boring person’. Fostering seminar thoughts, we always overlook the talents and positive characteristics of a person that might catch our attention. Looking from the viewpoint of this person, we are much more formulate (to feel lonely due to conditions created by us) that her, who is lonely in the midst of a crowd as everyone rejects her and shows avoidance. Is this the way we should treat others? It might happen in no time, that we lose our vision, and then people will shows the same rejection towards us--without any differentiation between an ‘ugly, old lady’ and an ‘attractive’ youth.

Nothing can make us feel for others, if we don’t try to do the same. Instead of pushing a sightless person into further darkness, if we could bring him near and let him feel that he is also equally important, it will make a ‘lonely soul’ happy, which a monetory donation may often fail to do. Embracing others by removing the barrier of diffentiation between ‘normality’ and ‘disability’ will banish loneliness and welcome care, joy and belongingness.

“Well, well, the sad minutes are moving

Though loaded with trouble and pain;

And sometime the loved and the loving

Shall meet on the mountains again”.

                                                                   --EMILY JANE BRONTE

 

 

CUE communication

CUE communication: Beginning Communication with People Who are Deaf-blind.

by Sharon Barrey Grassick (West Australian Deaf-Blind Association)

 

WHERE TO BEGIN: Due to the severe shortage of training courses specific to deaf-blindness, many people working in the field are untrained. Support providers may begin their work with people who are deaf-blind with feelings of inadequacy and apprehensiveness simply because they do not have even a basic knowledge of how to make contact or communicate with an individual who is deaf-blind.

Perhaps the question most frequently asked is, “Where do you begin”?

Although the following practical guidelines have been written primarily for use with people who are congenitally, or prelingually, deaf-blind, steps 1-4 in particular can certainly be used with many other individuals who are deaf-blind.

APPROACH: The initial contact you make with a person who is congenitally deaf-blind is critically important--it may even open the gateway to communication and language development.

Consider the following: A person with hearing and vision is given many incidental cues about another person approaching him, before the other person ever says a word or comes within his personal space.

A person with hearing and vision may see another person approaching from quite a distance and may be able to tell by their height or demeanour whether it is a child or an adult. He may be able to tell whether it is a male or a female. He will see the colour and style of the hair and the clothing. As the person comes closer, he may hear the person speaking to someone else in the background and recognize the voice. He can see the facial expressions and body language which may indicate how that person is feeling or perhaps even guess what kind of a mood that person is in. He will certainly know whether the person is familiar to him or a complete stranger.

All of this information, and more, is available to the person with hearing and vision, before the advancing person makes any effort whatsoever to communicate their impending arrival.

The person who is deaf-blind will not have the advantage of this distance information that people who have hearing and sight take for granted.

How can we provide meaningful information to the person who is deaf-blind?

ASSESSMENT: A person diagnosed as congenitally, or pre-lingually, deaf-blind may be difficult to assess as to just how much vision and/or hearing the individual has. Accurate assessment of functional vision and hearing can be even more difficult if the person has additional disabilities.

Until such time that reliable assessments can be made, the person must be given the ‘benefit of the doubt’. In other words, we must never assume that a person who is deaf-blind knows we are approaching, or knows who we are once contact is made.

The person must be approached appropriately.

This means offering useful, meaningful information in the most non-threatening way possible.

 

PRACTICAL STEPS TO COMMUNICATION-or ‘CUE’ communication!

This simple, but structured, technique of approach can be used with very young children, as well as adults.

Note: Before making any contact with the person who is deaf-blind, it is important to consult with parents and service providers to gain information in regard to types of communication that have been used, any sign names that may have already been introduced and preferred activities.

Remember, ALL people who are deaf-blind are individuals, and some of the following steps may need to be adapted to suit individual needs and preferences.

To be effective, the following guidelines are recommended to be used consistently, by all people who are involved with the person who is deaf-blind, and in all settings.

1. Before making any physical contact with the person, approach from the front, if at all possible, and move to the side as you come closer. This gives the person the opportunity to use whatever residual vision he may have, whether it be central or peripheral vision.

2. Talk naturally as you approach, saying the person’s name, and saying who you are, e.g. “Hi Joe. It’s Sharon here”. This gives the person the opportunity to use whatever residual hearing he may have.

Come to within about 20 centimetres of his ear, and continue to “chat” naturally, using his name and yours. Speak clearly and use good voice inflection and intonation. Never shout. Shouting only distorts sound and may cause discomfort.

At this close proximity, even if the person is profoundly deaf and/or unable to comprehend speech, he may gain important information from intonation, pitch and/or breath stream. He may also be able to smell shampoo, perfume, after-shave or garlic from last night’s dinner! If perfume or after-shave is worn, try to always wear the same kind, as this may give the person a valuable cue as to who you are.

Do not wear strong perfume or after-shave. This can be very offensive to some people, as can the smell of cigarette smoke on hands or breath.

Good hygiene is very important, as you will be in close contact with a person who is deaf-blind.

  3. Now you can introduce yourself.

Gently place the back of your hand against the back of his hand (as you would if offering someone sighted guide). Leave your hand there until he initiates further contact, such as moving his fingers or feeling your hands for rings or a bracelet.

Be patient. Wait for the person to make the next move.

If there is a piece of jewellery that is always worn, or a distinguishing characteristic such as a beard, guide his hand to it each time. If this is done consistently, he will eventually seek the cue himself.

Never grab or force things into the palms of the hands, as these are the 'eyes' of a person who is deaf-blind.

  4. Say “Hello”.

If he offers a palm you may make a circular movement onto his palm to say “hello”. This gesture can also be made onto the back of his hand, if he does not offer the palm. Some people are labelled ‘tactilely defensive’ if, at contact, they pull their hands away, retract their hands into fists, or refuse to touch something. ‘Tactilely selective’ may be a more accurate term. Perhaps many episodes of having things forced into his hands with no warning or introduction has resulted in his choosing to be selective about what, or who, he will touch.

  5. Initially use only one letter or sign as a sign name for the person.

Combined letters or signs may only confuse at this early stage. A possible sign name would be to fingerspell the first letter of his name, e.g., “hello J” and direct his hand to point to himself, and say “You are J(oe)”. Then guide his hand to point to you and to touch your personal distinguishing cue as you say your name, “I’m Sharon”.

Then guide his hand back to point to himself and to fingerspell ‘J’ into his hand. Repeat the procedure. (At a later stage you can introduce your sign name in the same way, e.g., guide his hand to point to you and to feel you making your sign name; then guide his hand back to point to him and make his sign name; then guide his hand back to point to you and to make your sign name.)

Always give the person enough time to initiate a response. Sometimes we are too eager to ‘help’ and we shape or prompt the person’s hands into a response before they have had enough time to process their next move. Not only is this frustrating for the person, but it also develops learned helplessness.

  6. You can now proceed with an activity.

(Consultation with people close to Joe would have already taken place to establish what kinds of activities he likes.) Take Joe’s lead. Respond to any communication attempts.

If he indicates preference for a particular activity, respond accordingly. At this stage he may wait for you to initiate an activity.

  7. Give him meaningful information about the forthcoming activity.

Never assume that he understands what you expect him to do, or what you plan to do with him.

Consistent use of a meaningful object, or cue, presented before the activity can help the person to develop an association with and to anticipate that activity.

Make sure that the object, or cue, you choose is meaningful to him, and that everyone involved with him uses the same object, or cue, for that particular activity.

Remember to choose objects for characteristics that will appeal to the individual person, being particularly attentive to the texture and/or smell of the object if there is little or no vision.

If it is time for an activity, take a piece of the activity to him. He can then carry the object to the activity to indicate where he is going.

If this is done consistently he will build up associations and will begin to anticipate the related activities when presented with the object.

If it is time for morning tea, take the empty cup to him for him to carry to the table. This will give him a cue as to where he is going and what will happen when he arrives there.

Don’t just drag him to the table and assume he knows where and why he is going.

If it is time to go in the car, take a set of keys to him. He can then carry the keys to the car. If this is done consistently, he will develop an association between the keys and going in the car.

The object goes with him and stays with him during the activity, perhaps in a pocket or on the table next to him. When the activity is finished, he can then place the object in a particular container. The container could be the object to indicate the concept of ‘finished’.

Natural gestures and iconic signs can be paired with the objects, e.g. moving the arms to indicate swimming; hand to mouth to indicate eat; hand on head to indicate a hat for going outside, etc.

Always use your voice and tell him what is happening. Never assume that he cannot hear you or will not understand what you are saying. Give every opportunity for language input.

Eventually, he will be able to make a choice, given two objects, as to which activity he would prefer.

A zippered waist bag, sometimes called a ‘bum bag’, is a great place to keep the objects handy. The bag can be worn to keep the hands free. When the person begins to make his own choices, he can be encouraged to wear the bag himself, to always have the objects available to him. However, discourage play with the particular objects in the bag, as they may lose their symbolic significance if handled frequently without meaning.

If the person likes to have something to explore or play with, an alternative to the contents of the bag could be different objects or textures affixed to the outside of the bag.

If the person is in a chair, never move the chair in or out without first indicating what you intend to do, e.g., tap the back of the chair or the handles (if it is a wheelchair). Always let the person know who is there.

Just imagine yourself being propelled through space to an unknown destination by an unknown person for an unknown reason!

8. Make a conscious effort to say “hello” and “goodbye”. The person who is deaf-blind will not see you coming or going, nor will he hear you saying “hello” or “goodbye”, so you must approach him to give him this information.

Give the person who is deaf-blind the same respect and courtesy you would expect from anyone who enters or leaves your own home.

9. If you must leave the person for a short period and will be returning to him soon, indicate this by telling him and accompany it by a touch cue (perhaps a gentle squeeze on the shoulder). Whatever cue is used, make sure it is used consistently, and that it differs from what is used to indicate ‘goodbye’, when you leave for the day or for an extended period of time.

Always let him know who you are when you come back to him, even if you have only been away for a minute.

It only takes a few seconds to follow the steps outlined above to let the person know who it is. Never assume that he knows it is you and don’t play games like ‘guess who I am’?

10. Give the individual a reason to trust you and a reason to want to communicate with you.

11. Approach is really nothing more than good common sense. Use it consistently and it will become automatic. Although it is a structured method, it takes only seconds to apply, so the old excuse, “We just don’t have the time to do it” just doesn’t work here!

What is important in effective communication is not so much the variety of communication methods and number of signs you know, but how you use that knowledge, and respect the communication that is used and understood by the individual who is deaf-blind--“the attitude of communication”.

Sharon Barrey Grassick--Perth, Western Australia, 1997.

 

REFERENCES and RECOMMENDED READING:

Beukelman, D. and Mirenda, P. (1992). Augmentative and Alternative Communication. Baltimore, Paul H. Brooks Publishing Co.

Bloom, Y. (1990). Object-Symbols: A Communication Option: Sydney, North Rocks Press.

Bloomberg, K. and Johnson, H. (1991). Communication without Speech: A Guide for Parents and Teachers. The Australian Council for Educational Research.

Fraiberg, S. (1977). Insights from the Blind. London, Souvenir Press.

Freeman, P. (1975). Understanding the Deaf-Blind Child: London: Heinemann Medical Books.

Mamer, L. (1996). Toys and Manipulative Materials to Enhance Sensory Awareness in Individuals who are Deaf-blind. Paper presented at the Conference on Deaf-blindness LIVING AND LEARNING: A Lifelong Adventure; Vancouver BC.

McInnes, J. M. and Treffrey, J.A. (1982). Deaf-Blind Infants and Children: A Developmental Guide: The Open University Press, Toronto.

Nielsen, L. (1990). Are You Blind? Promotion of the development of children who are especially developmentally threatened. Sikon, Denmark.

Van Dijk, J. (1991). Persons Handicapped by Rubella. Swets and Zeitlinger, Amsterdam.

This article is by Sharon Barrey Grassick (West Australian Deaf-Blind Association).

Sharon Barrey Grassick e-mail address is: grassick@iinet.net.au

 

FROM DR. P.C. SENGUPTA, TITVH

Some relevant information about the advancement of technology to facilitate the education of the visually impaired children in the context of inclusion-oriented education:

 

INCLUSIVE EDUCATION: On the 25^th March, 2005, Mr. Arjun Singh, the Minister-in-Charge, MHRD, presented a scheme, described as “IECYDP” of “Inclusive Education for Children and youth with Disability” following the Salamanca Declaration of 1994 and Dakar Declaration of 2000 A.D., for the inclusion of all children in the national system of education. This is, of course, a part of the great movement “Education for All” and “Equal Educational Opportunity for All”, initiated by UNESCO long ago in 1961. The paramount principle is that “Where Home cannot come to School, The School will go to Home” so that every education may reach every child at every corner, irrespective of ability and disability. Therefore all advancement in modern techniques and technology should be geared to fulfill the needs of the “special needs children” in the context of IECYDP as pronounced by MHRD as stipulated above.

It is not denying the fact that the rapid advancement of technology in every sphere of life, has also a great impact on the teaching and education of the blind. It may be noted that the modern trend is to provide the visually impaired the printed parallels as far as practicable as it is not always possible to provide them with tactile Braille materials. As such, several attempts have been made to provide some such technological devices as would enable the V.I. children to have an access to the regular print material. This would augment their informational level which is inevitably hindered by loss of vision. To this effect, Speech-plus and Vibro-tactile technology have been used in all possible cases; the paramount purpose is to represent the printed books to the blind without taking recourse to the laborious task of brailing them.

The following are some examples of the such efforts:

1. Optacon: (optical to Converter):- It is about the size of a dictionary. It weighs about 8 pounds and operates on batteries. The probe performs much like a television camera. It helps the blind read the printed materials with the raised forms of the printed letters. The use of this machine is found among the college students mostly in the USA.

  This is an instance of Vibro-tactile technology.

2. Text-Reading machine: the Australian company, Robotron, is now selling a comprehensive user-friendly reading machine, Galileo, It is a combination of the computer and the text-reader with clear English accent and in-built hard disks and floppy disks and floppy disks drive. It reads all sorts of printed texts, books, magazines and stores twelve thousand pages of scammed text, transfer the same to a floppy or records it into an audio-cassette. It has the ability to read multiple languages and Indian languages can also be introduced along with English as soon as the Indian-Language-Software is developed--this is an instance of a wide use of multifarious technologies, principally the Speech-plus technology or Synthetic Speech.

3. Braille-operated portable taking computer ARIA is of the size of a video-cassette and has features like Word-processing, Note-taking, Clock and Calendar, Diary, Telephone Directory (with Tone-dialer). It uses a PCMCIA memory-card and has serial and parallel ports for Modem and printer.

4. Electronic Brailler: MOUNTBATTEN is the product-name for electronic brailler. In India, the integrated and inclusive education is gaining fast momentum. The M.B. Brailler is an ideal solution for Integrated education system for visually impaired children. Right from per-school to higher classes, this machine is useful in teaching Braille, learning maps, charts and diagrams. It converts Braille to print when attached to a standard printer and print to Braille when attached to a PC. The student will now be able to type his examination papers in Braille and take a normal text print-out so that his teachers who generally would not know Braille can have access to him along with other children who are visually normal and can also prepare Braille copies of the question papers.

It may be noted in this connection that this device endeavors to mitigate the problems relating to the Scribe System of Examination, making the evaluation of the achievement of the V.I. examinees more authentic than ever. On the contrary, by presenting the reading figures to the Braille-readers from the very beginning it eliminates the problems of reverse figure while writing Braille with the help of Braille writing frame. Experiments show that the use of brailler in the case of the beginners makes it easier for learning Braille on the part of the blind children.

5. Superbraille: BLACKSTEEN AND ASSOCIATE a US company is marketing a computer that has forty characters Braille display and eight-dot Braille. Superbraille is designed to provide information in Braille on all the computer commands.

6. Screen reading software: The Jaws and other screen reading software have made an easy access to computer on the part of the blind, which also facilitates some important rehabilitation occupations for them like medical transcription and such other jobs related to internet surfing.

7. Braille embosser: Everybody is now aware of the important tasks performed by the help of Braille embosser which can emboss myriads of sheets in to Braille.

8. Talking calculator: We are also conversant at present with the talking and Braille calculator making an easier access to the mathematical world to the blind needless to assert, wide use of these would definitely make the blind free from the laborious tasks of doing mathematical work with the help of Taylor mathematical device or Abocus.

The above are some important information about the advancement of inclusive-oriented technology for the purpose of making learning easier the blind and there are several others, information about which may be obtained from different website.

Braille O’ Speak 2000: It provides text to Braille and Braille to text conversion and is especially meant for the deaf-blind individual.

Digital Talking Diary: It is just about the size of a pocket diary and may maintain a memory system of about 3000 words that can be searched out digitally.

Talking Cell Phone: Today everybody is quite familiar with the use of cell phone of mobile phone. Talking software can be loaded in the memory of a cell phone to make it talking for the blind. In Britain and in other western countries, ready made talking cell phone can be obtained from any departmental shop. For loading this software, 6 M.B. memory card is needed and it matches well with NOKIA 6300, 6080.

Adaptive Braille Writer recently, a Japanese, manufacturer has brought into market an Adaptive Braille Writer with Adaptable Keyboard, the user may convert the keyboard into Perkins or Daisy keyboard according his/her convenience.

Transicon: The scientists of Warwick University, Britain, are Expending their earnest efforts to bring about a device which would transliterate printed letters into Braille so that the blind can read the printed books directly without the help of any talking software.

(Source: Advancement of Technology for the Education of the Blind—George Hervert—Texas Publication).

 

 

Foresight Prevents Blindness

Prof. (Dr.) Sankar Pal, MBBS; MS; DO; FORCE; F.J.K.A.I.S.

Head of the Deptt. of Ophthalmology

S.S.K.M. Hospital, kolkata

 

Eyes are probably the most precious sensory organs amongst the others present in human beings. But the reality points to the fact that so long one is not suffering from any eye ailment one is very little bothered about them. Of course, of late, the scenario is little different. In spite of this, today, I shall talk about something, which may be fruitful to some extent to the non-medical personnel.

1. When a child is born, he is born with slight PLUS power. As he grows the eyeballs also grow in size up to a certain period of time. For this, the plus power goes away and MINUS power starts developing if the eyeballs do not grow proportionately. So one should get one’s child’s eye checked up as soon as possible (preferably before 5 years).

2. White appearance over the center of the black areas of the eyes may be the early feature of a childhood cancer. Be aware of it. Any white reflex from the center of the black areas of the eyes should receive immediate attention.

3. Is the child squinting? It is not a good sign, as it is commonly believed. Whatever be the onset consult an eye specialist. It may be a cancer also.

4. Timely intervention may save the vision of the eyes of a child. Otherwise, a squinting child may lose vision in one eye permanently.

5. Is the black area (the “cornea”) appears a bit bigger than the usual? It could be case of congenital glaucoma. So in such circumstances, one must consult and eye specialist. Otherwise, the blindness tragedy may ensue.

6. If a child is a night-blind--don’t consider it to be as simple as that happens in “Vit. A” deficiency.

7. A child remains engaged with playing most of the times. Parents should remain cautious so that a child doesn’t play with sharp objects. Even games like “Cricket” “Badminton” are not always safe.

8. Blowing of half-ignited crackers should always be prohibited.

9. If child is born with low birth weight (as low as 1500 g) or in premature stage who needed oxygen in post natal stage his eyes must be checked by a Retina Specialist to exclude “Retinopathy of prematurity”. A blinding condition sometimes.

10. If due to any reason a white spot on the cornea develops in a child before the age of 5 years one must get it checked up by an eye specialist right then.

Otherwise, if consultation is made later, as it often happens for a female child in particular, it becomes too late to get any result in spite of all efforts for visual recovery.

11. If a child prefers reading or writing in dim light that can also be a serious condition. Take care of it.

12. If you are a diabetic for more than 10 years get yours eyes checked up. At least Glycosylated Haemoglobin and lipid profile are to be checked.

 

 

VISION 2020 THE RIGHT TO SIGHT

Dr. Santanu Sen, MS, Ph.D

Fellow--International College of Surgeons (U.S.A.)

Member--Asiatic Society, Kolkata.

Member--Sri Sri Bijoykrishna Ashram Relief Society.

 

It is a matter of great regret that even in these days of twenty-first century, in an era of high surgical skill, improved surgical innovations and overall advanced scientific achievements, one person goes blind in every 5 seconds in this world. More deplorable fact is that a child becomes blind in every minute. In fact, about 37 million people are blind all over the world and 124 million people have low vision-as per an estimation of World Health Organization in 2004. Every year the number of totally blind people is increased by 1-2 million. The condition is worse more in developing countries and in poor countries. In India, about 12 million people are blind contributing about one third of the total number worldwide. 90% of the blind people are of poor countries.

To alleviate this worse condition regarding vision of common people, World Health Organization (WHO) has launched a global initiative, jointly with International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) in 1999 entitling ‘VISION 2020--the Right to Sight’. This global initiative aims to help eliminate avoidable blindness by the year 2020, with an International coalition of government agencies, non-governmental organization, institutes and corporations, all committed to the prevention and management of blindness Worldwide (WHO--Geneva convention). World Health Organization hopes that over two decades VISION 2020 will prevent 100 million people from becoming blind. It is interesting to note that about 75% of blindness is treatable and or preventable. Vision 2020 seeks to eliminate the main causes avoidable blindness, in order to give all people in this world, particularly the millions of needlessly blind, ‘the Right to Sight’ (WHO).

The target disease areas for Vision 2020 are the five major causes of avoidable blindness--Cataract, Trachoma, Onchocerciasis, childhood blindness, Refractive error/low vision. According to the latest global assessment, Cataract is responsible for 48% of mild blindness which represents about 17.6 million people. Although Cataract can be surgically removed, in many countries surgical services are inadequate.

India has committed itself for ‘Vision 2020--the Right to Sight’ initiative. It is the first country to launch National Programme for Control of Blindness, which is a national endeavour where government, voluntary and private organizations, panchayet raj institutions, community and religious leaders and people themselves comes forward to co-ordinate and support.

Cataract still remains the main cause of blindness (58%-70%) in India. This is followed by refractive error, glaucoma, corneal diseases, diabetic retinopathy. Truly speaking, we are still in a darkness about the exact number of blind people in India. To fulfil the aims of ‘Vision 2020’ of WHO completely, our country should have a reliable ‘population-based survey of blindness’ with adequate methodology by competent teams comprising of Ophthalmologists, epidemiologists, sociologists, economists and bio-statisticians, although the process is very expensive.

 

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