THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, October 4, 2014 Initiating them into the world of light, self-reliance Staff Reporter print ยท T T inShare Braille Vidyarambhom organised in city for the visually challenged Writer Balan Pootheri inaugurating the Vidyarambhom ceremony organised for the visually challenged at the Regional Institute of Ophthalmology in Thiruvananthapuram on Friday. Writer Balan Pootheri inaugurating the Vidyarambhom ceremony organised for the visually challenged at the Regional Institute of Ophthalmology in Thiruvananthapuram on Friday.
In the background, a computer voice could be heard while a large, diverse group of participants interacted with one another, had tea and tried their hand at cooking sambar. It was a Vidyarambhom ceremony unlike any other. On Friday, when cultural centres and religious institutions across the city observed the ritualistic ceremony initiating children into the world of letters, 'Accessible Vidyarambhom' for the visually challenged organised by the Chakshumathi Charitable Trust at the Regional Institute of Ophthalmology (RIO) stood out from them. The trust has been organising the Braille Vidyarambhom since 2012. Life skills This programme offers a new beginning to those who have lost their sight due to an illness and to children born without the sense of sight. This time, Chakshumathi went beyond helping children punch their first words using a Braille pad. It focussed on initiation into skills such as mobility, communication, cookery and workplace rehabilitation that need to be carefully built as a back-up for adults who lose their sight, which invariably damages their self-confidence. Besides helping children trace words on rice grains, they were helped to type out 'Om Hari Sri...' on a laptop, which was read out loud by a screen-reading software. This exercise was carried out by all participants, some as young as three and a few above 80 years of age. Chakshumathi specialises in assistive technology for the visually challenged and the programme sought to impress upon the participants that they did not need to rely on another person to read and write. Inspiring tale Writer Balan Pootheri who inaugurated the programme stressed the importance of growing independent and not letting the condition govern one's actions. He lost his eyesight when he was studying for his master's degree in Malayalam literature and yet published over 125 books so far. Sreenidhi, 11, afflicted with cerebral palsy with visual impairment, came all the way from Kannur for the programme. He was quite proficient in using screen readers and voice recognition software to effectively use a computer, said Ram Kamal, managing trustee of the organisation. Most of the participants are regulars at Chakshumathi's rehabilitation centre at the RIO, set up around four months ago. Source: http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-kerala/initiating-them-into-the-world-of-light-selfreliance/article6470451.ece Comments to: [email protected] Copyright(c) 2014, The Hindu Register at the dedicated AccessIndia list for discussing accessibility of mobile phones / Tabs on: http://mail.accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/mobile.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 Disclaimer: 1. Contents of the mails, factual, or otherwise, reflect the thinking of the person sending the mail and AI in no way relates itself to its veracity; 2. AI cannot be held liable for any commission/omission based on the mails sent through this mailing list..
