Hi Vetri sir, Retina India is an organisation for persons with all vision challenges ranging from low vision to total blindness. And Retina India never excludes any kind of vision problem from it's activities. Our forthcoming projects like "scribes and readers" do intend to cover all kinds of vision challenges.
Coming to the conference, it had varied types of speakers. The first session by experts from NGOs explained the concept of inclusive education an it's importanfce to the society. The second session explained various assistive devices useful for visually challenged ranging from simple magnifiers to screen readers and audio books. These people are low vision experts and councilors for visually challenged. Since the teachers present in the conference wouldn't have knowledge about vision challenges, they had to be made aware of means of reading and writing used by visually challenged people. The third session, moderated by a parent of a visually challenged person, included the recollection of a mother's struggle to get admission for her totally blind child into main stream school. In the afternoon, all the experts including moderators were people who are totally blind or people who have lost vision gradually due to deteriorating vision conditions. They explained how they coped up with demands of main stream schooling despite their vision challenges, and how the teachers cooperated with them during their schooling. An expert recollected how he was made to read and write in Braille to prove that he could read and write like others for getting admission into a college. And there was a the discussion where all the experts unanimously agreed upon the importance of Braille being taught to school kids right from their primary education. I hope the above points would clarify your doubts about Retina India. Please let me know if I have to clarify anything else. On 12/8/11, Adhimoolam Vetrivel Murugan <[email protected]> wrote: > I wonder how many experts of such conferences are either partially or > totally blind. If such conferences deal with only people having low > vision, then I am afraid that they are neglecting a considerable > percentage of the visually challenged population Please clarify me if > I am missing something here, but the impression I get from the > forwarded message is that the south-Indian conference conducted on > November 26th was focussed only on issues specific to low vision > population. If my impression is correct, then I am afraid that I have > to agree with the reservations expressed by many members of the forum > on Retina India. So I guess the million $ question is how inclusive is > this organization when it comes to the general development of visually > challenged persons in India????????? > > Vetri. > > On 07/12/2011, Vamshi. G <[email protected]> wrote: >> South India Regional Conference on Inclusive Education >> >> The South India Regional Conference on Inclusive Education organised >> by Retina India on Saturday November 26, 2011 at The Presidency >> College, Chennai, discussed the issues and concerns in implementing >> inclusive education, particularly in the context of children afflicted >> with retinal disorders or any retina related conditions. Experts who >> participated in the conference spoke on the concept of inclusivity and >> how it is enshrined in the laws and conventions. >> >> The morning sessions, viz, explaining Inclusion as a concept, Low >> Vision aids and parents perspective, provided teachers the idea of >> inclusion. Ms Rajul Padmanabhan, Director Vidyasagar and Ms Vaishnavi >> Jayakumar, Founder The Banyan, spoke respectively on how inclusion has >> impacted the planning of our educational system and social attitude >> towards persons with disability. Ms Deepti Bhatya, Deputy Director of >> Vidyasagar also spoke on how inclusion is a win win situation for >> children and society at large. >> >> The session on low vision aids and accessibility described the >> various devices used in a classroom context which would help children >> access study material and learn on their own. Dr Krishna Kumar and his >> colleague Ms Sarika, who spoke on the session explained about various >> low vision aids through videos and how they can be accommodated in >> schools. Parents session, moderated by Prof Kalyanaraman, saw an >> emotional recollection of a parent’s struggle in finding a school for >> her son, who has now educated and become a lawyer. >> >> In the afternoon session, a string of role models, Mr Vijayakumar a >> Lawyer, >> Mr. Sriram a Research Scholar with IITM, Ms Abinaya a RJ, Mr. Sriram a >> Lecturer with Presidency College Chennai, who have come through the >> inclusive education system, explained to teachers how their own >> schools have managed them and what they could learn from inclusive >> environment. The overwhelming message was that an inclusive education >> environment is conducive for overall growth of children with visual >> challenge. >> >> During the final session, which was an open forum and moderated by >> Mr. L Subramani, teachers spoke on the challenges in implementing >> inclusive education and the wish that conferences such as SIRCIE to be >> conducted in their own cities. Retina India, while explaining the >> reasons for focusing on inclusive education, also agreed to work with >> the teachers who attended the conference from Chennai, Ongole, >> Tiruchi, Coimbatore etc to help them spread the message of inclusion >> amongst their fellow teachers and also speak about it in their >> schools. >> >> This is the first step in creating a platform for inclusive education >> in which Retina India would work with schools and take efforts to >> create model schools in different regions. >> >> >> -- >> Vamshi. G >> PH No. : 0877-2243861 >> Mob : 9949349497 >> E-mail ID: [email protected] >> Skype ID : gvamshi81 >> >> www.retinaindia.org >> From darkness unto light >> >> >> Search for old postings at: >> http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ >> >> To unsubscribe send a message to >> [email protected] >> with the subject unsubscribe. >> >> To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, >> please >> visit the list home page at >> http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in >> >> > > > Search for old postings at: > http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ > > To unsubscribe send a message to > [email protected] > with the subject unsubscribe. > > To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please > visit the list home page at > http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in > > -- G. Vamshi PH Res : +91 877-2243861 Mobile: +91 9949349497 E-mail ID: [email protected] Skype: gvamshi81 www.retinaindia.org >From darkness unto light Search for old postings at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ To unsubscribe send a message to [email protected] with the subject unsubscribe. To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please visit the list home page at http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in
