Tools and technology
In order for people who are blind to live life to the full as equal and participating members of society, they may need access to certain tools to help them do so. Providing these is an important part of our work.
White canes
Such a simple piece of equipment, foldable light-weight white canes can play such an important role in helping someone who is blind to circumnavigate their environment and move around freely. Used correctly it should be deployed in a wide sweeping motion, to gauge the surrounding area and detect whether the path ahead is clear.
Braille
Devised in 1821 by Louis Braille, this is a method used by blind people to read and write. Each Braille character is made up of six dot positions, arranged in a rectangle containing two columns of three dots each.
You read Braille by running your fingers over the dots, and it can be written by hand (by punching the dots) or using a machine called a Perkins Brailler.
Sightsavers often supports schools by helping provide educational materials in Braille to cater for blind students.
To listen to Ketan Kothari of Sightsavers in south India talk about Braille, click here:
Information technology
Trying to get a job with no IT skills is very challenging, and it’s no different in many of the countries where we work. However in much of the developing world, people with little or no sight are often left behind when it comes to IT. Sightsavers supports projects which make IT accessible to blind people, often providing technology such as screen readers that allows people to use computers. For example in Bangladesh we are partnering with BCC (Bangladesh Computer Council) which has committed to providing IT training to blind students.
What do you think?