I want to say that As a child goes to the school first he or she takes one
pencil to learn A B C D. So braille is a very necessary tool to teach.
Later, nondisable or disabled it is upto them whatever method they want to
use? So we can not forget the importance of braille.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Steve Boodram" <steveboodram...@gmail.com>
To: <accessindia@accessindia.org.in>
Sent: Thursday, January 05, 2012 4:25 PM
Subject: Re: [AI] For the visually challenged, internet opens up a new world
Well said Sir. But we must not forget that for soeone to properly understand
the things they do on the Internet basic literacy is need that could only
coe through reading the text for yourself. I think Braille compliments the
use of computers or vise versa.
----- Original Message -----
From: "avinash shahi" <shahi88avin...@gmail.com>
To: "accessindia" <accessindia@accessindia.org.in>; "jnuvision"
<jnuvis...@yahoogroups.com>; <sayeveryth...@sayeverything.org>
Sent: Thursday, January 05, 2012 6:03 AM
Subject: [AI] For the visually challenged, internet opens up a new world
For the visually challenged, internet opens up a new world
L Subramani
For several persons with vision challenge, the internet is the gateway
to a brave new world.
So, have they forgotten the raised dots, which Louis Braille -- whose
203rd birthday falls today, January 4 -- invented? Not really, but the
computer has opened up umpteen opportunities which did not exist
before.
Every day, Vijayalakshmi (25) opens her personal computer with a
reverence only accorded for ‘Thamburas’ and Harmoniums in her line of
work. As the synthesized voice of her screen reader rambles on at the
background, she locates the icon she wanted on the desktop and presses
the ‘enter’ key hard on it. With a ‘wooop’ sound, the world of Voice
Over IP (VOIP), better known amongst the ardent net users as ‘Skype’
opens up.
Skype is worth the hype for several visually challenged persons like
Vijayalakshmi, as it has become the lifeline –the way to use their
expertise and earn a livelihood. “I have been doing this for more than
three years,” says Vijayalakshmi, the Bangalore-based Carnatic
musician who uses Skype to teach nearly a dozen students, most of whom
are NRIs abroad.
“I can’t imagine living without Skype, or, for that matter, without
the internet. Not only it turns out to be a wonderful medium for us to
expand our professional and business horizons, but it is also an
amazing source of learning. YouTube, for instance, has so many videos
(related to music) which I refer to learn. As visually challenged, we
may not be accessing the content in any other method or format.”
While students get in touch with her through Skype to receive their
voice lessons, they transfer the fee to her account, sparing
Vijayalakshmi the arduous trips outside home or standing in the long
queues to deposit her earnings.
Similarly, there are several thousands of persons with vision
challenge who use the net to teach spoken English, creating web
content and do medical transcription, which would have made Louis
Braille proud.
Ten years ago, internet was merely a tool for learning and exchanging
emails. It had since evolved into a huge social medium that connects
the blind with several professional groups and provide them the best
opportunity to earn exposing only their advantages. Many of the
visually challenged have formed professional and interest based groups
in Facebook, while others have also taken advantage of Linkedin.
“In the last few years, web accessibility has become an important
feature for any website,” said Akhilesh Malani, who works as an
accessibility head for an online start-up offering testing services.
Several tools
“We test for the website’s ability to function with several tools
–like the screen reading software the blind use- to ensure they can be
used by everyone without feeling disadvantaged in any way. Thanks to
the internet, I, as a visually challenged person, am able to pursue
the rather difficult testing job and continue to learn.”
It came as a scare for many of them, when the news emerged in August
that government is targeting social networking platforms (Facebook,
twitter and Skype) to provide access to the user content. “(News of
Skype being the target) came as a shock,” admits Maria Durrani, a
visually challenged person from Mysore, who does combined shows for a
few online radio stations.
“We’re sure the government has several issues with social networking
sites,” said Akhilesh. “things like terror threats, objectionable
contents etc, were on the papers even a few days ago. We’ve nothing
against the government taking action against genuine offenders, but at
a time when the options of finding accessible websites (especially
those developed for Indians) is pathetically less, banning open and
free sites would spell doom for many of us who depend on them for
survival and sanity.”
Despite admitting the vital role internet has come to play in their
lives, the visually challenged also acknowledge the special place
Braille scripts have in their lives. “I know Braille, though I don’t
use it much,” said Vijayalakshmi.
“We’re still curious about the history of Braille, the way it was
invented (when young Louis became blind and created the first raised
dots from a similar set of military scripts used in French army).
There’s always the inspiration in it, like how people look at the old
typewriters and tele printers.”
“It’s the equivalent of writing long hand,” Maria pointed out. “We may
not use it much, but we still find it useful in situations where we
can’t use computers or electronic gadgets.”
Like many habits and practices that evolve with generational changes,
use of Braille seem to have reduced amongst the younger generation of
visually challenged who are used to working with computers and other
electronic gadgets.
“Braille has its most prolific users amongst the 30 and 40
somethings,” said Dr Rajdeep Manwani, a professor with Bagwan Mahaveer
Jain College in the city. “Braille has certainly been adored by one
and all (amongst the visually challenged community) for its simplicity
and availability, but when it comes to its application, it must be
said that the younger generation prefer electronic gadgets for the
dotted scripts. The fact that modern gadgets give them parity with
others –as computers are used by the visually challenged the same way
as the able-bodied peers save for the screen reader—certainly
influence their decision.”
source:
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/216568/for-visually-challenged-internet-opens.html
--
"The best things and most beautiful things in the world Cannot be seen
or even touched. They must be felt within the heart." — Helen Keller
Avinash Shahi
M.A. Political Science
CPS JNU
New Delhi India
Search for old postings at:
http://www.mail-archive.com/accessindia@accessindia.org.in/
To unsubscribe send a message to
accessindia-requ...@accessindia.org.in
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/accessindia@accessindia.org.in/
To unsubscribe send a message to
accessindia-requ...@accessindia.org.in
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/accessindia@accessindia.org.in/
To unsubscribe send a message to
accessindia-requ...@accessindia.org.in
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
