Voice of the Blind
Fortnight e-bulletin
(Collection of news and informations of and for the blind)
Compiled, Edited and circulated by National Federation of the Blind Karnataka
#S-372, Bharathnagar 2nd Phase, Near Karnataka Bank, Magadi Main road, Bangalore-560091
Ph: 080-23484794,
Email ID:
website:
62nd issue
Period from 1st to 15th February 2018
Table of Content
1. Editorial
2. Appeal for contribution
3. News from far & near
1. Union Budget: Disappointing for disabled
2. Inclusive Valentine’s Day celebrations for children with disabilities
3. Video calling feature making positive impact on lives of people with hearing impairments
4. Disabled community gives a thumbs down to Budget 2018
5. Delhi HC asks RBI & government to check accessibility of new notes for visually impaired
6. WhatsApp message to collector helps disabled woman get tricycle in a day
7. Sports dept to start special coaching for blind athletes in city
8. Bengalureans soak in Republic Day spirit; visually impaired students win hearts
9. Book download and end users report for the month of January 2018 of DFI
10. Chandigarh district courts starts setting up signboards in Braille
11. Tai Chi training helps blind people to learn balance and flexibility
12. Smoking can damage the eyes
13. Arun Jaitley's usage of word divyang in Budget speech upsets disability rights activists
14. Disabled kids in Chandigarh made to wait for hours to meet Union Minister Rajnath Singh
15. Top players to show their moves at National Chess Championship for the Blind
16. Disabled, orphans, martyrs' kids to get 5 lakh for higher education in Gujarat
17. High Court rules for lifetime ECHS benefit for disabled ex-servicemen’s
18. Disabled people showcase amazing talents at Pune event
19. BCCI shows interest in giving recognition to Blind cricketers
20. Amputee from Indore out to set world record on cycle
21. CavinKare Ability Awards honor achievers with disabilities
22. workshop held on impact of earthquakes on disabled & elderly
23. Bombay court refuses to allow child with autism to take class 10 exam from school
24. NGO Astha sets up higher education scholarships for children with disabilities
25. Activists working for disabled sore with poor allocation for schemes
26. 7 heritage sites in Tamil Nadu to get disabled-friendly, part of Model Monuments scheme
27. Family seeks PM's nod for euthanasia, says can no longer afford to care for disabled kids
28. Shows on Broadway in New York now accessible to the deaf thanks to an app!
29. This Kashmiri teen gives a voice to sportspersons who cannot hear
30. U.S. state launches visor cards to enable police & deaf drivers to communicate
31. Senior eye doctors tend to miss signs of glaucoma, says survey
32. Filmmaker Amrita Dasgupta looks at the education system through the lens of special needs
33. This disabled man from Maharashtra is leading the campaign for safe sanitation in his district
33. India's 1st adaptive skiing trip for disabled promises to be epic in more ways than one!
34. Racket in issuing of disability certificates in Telangana district under probe
35. Haryana to give compensation to construction workers left disabled in workplace accidents
36. Dolls with disabilities spark off awareness about inclusion in this Canadian school
37. Disabled lawyers in Hyderabad forced to quit due to lack of accessibility
38. Lack of wheelchair could block this disabled athlete's dream to compete in Asian Para Games
39. Skills training program started by Madhya Pradesh government for blind fails to live up to promises
40. Heritage sites in Kochi to welcome disabled people
41. ‘Serial’ illegal traveller in disabled coach arrested after 2 complaints
42. Chandigarh railway station to become disabled -friendly
43. How I Found Strength In The White Cane
44. How one blind man's love for colour helped start a successful business
45. Govt course tailored for visually impaired students in MP fails to teach practi...
46. MLAVI Denounces ‘Differently Abled’ Tag
47. The world’s largest online accessible library is glad to offer free membership to all print disabled individuals in India
48. Film on online dating is a big draw at festival that aims to end stigma towards disabled
49. How to protect eyes from macular degeneration
50. 4-time national blind chess champ Kishan Gangolli may quit the game, cites lack of support
51. 14 municipal agencies slammed by Delhi High Court for neglecting tactile paths
52. Kathmandu gets its first disabled-friendly bus
53. 13-year-old blind judoka wins gold at national championships
54. Sachin Tendulkar lends support to ongoing blind chess championship
55. Talking prescriptions for the blind made mandatory in the U.S. state of Nevada
56. Kerala government starts Anuyatra helpline for info on schemes for disabled
57. Jitendra Pathkar- India’s first disabled basketball player
58. Disabled to manage traffic in Varanasi in a new initiative started by the police
59. Country’s first park for the blind has nothing to touch, smell, taste or hear
60. Visually impaired man gets PhD in Kannada
61. 7-year-old with autism is the youngest yoga teacher in China
62. Grand Master Vidit Gujrathi is brand ambassador for Indian blind chess, pledges to promote the game
63. Blind student wins hearts at felicitation ceremony
64. India win 1 silver, 2 bronze medals in Asian Para Cycling Championships
65. President of India to inaugurate camp for disabled in Madhya Pradesh
66. Chandigarh all set to give 4% job reservation to disabled
67. India's blind cricket captain gives pep talk in Mumbai college
68. Film to create awareness on disability a huge hit among kids
69. Cos Disability does not mean inability!
70. She scribed 657 exams in 10 years for the disabled
71. Virat Kohli should play a blind fold match with blind players: CABI proposes
72. Apps that help disabled kids learn sign language
73. Karnataka government ignores member of world cup winning blind cricket team
74. Old ambulances to be used to rescue disabled destitute
75. Nagpur medical college students develop rehabilitative devices for people with disabilities
76. Will not tolerate exclusion of any section of society from accessing public facility: HC
77. IIT-Delhi, Indiana University collaborate to help visually impaired
78. Once a model for the world, today Hyderabad's oldest blind school is starved for attention
79. Indian Consulate honours India's blind cricket team in style at Dubai
80. Hyderabad eye care centre ordered to compensate elderly patient for vision loss
81. Mother writes to Defence Minister seeking job for disabled son
82. Visually impaired to spearhead Heritage Week car rally
83. A venture that is training the disabled for the job market
84. Airports using technology to become accessible
85. V-Day celebrated with cyclothon for disabled people
86. Relief for elderly, sick, disabled at Vadodara station
87. Teacher training website to facilitate disabled persons
88. Government drops Gyan Prabha scheme for differently abled as many similar ones exist
89. Disabled people seek help with public transport
90. Climbing meet for visually impaired from March 27
91. Kerala: Government Engineering College comes up with unique initiative to appreciate special talents
92. Important decisions announced at 1st meet of advisory board on disability
93. Battery-operated cars at Vadodara railway station for elderly and disabled travelers
94. Bombay High Court directs government to set up committee to implement welfare schemes for disabled
95. Amitabh Bachchan & Kangana Ranaut to act in biopic on amputee Arunima Sinha
96. Online seminar on disability awareness by National Institute of Speech & Hearing
97. Disabled man on a mission to make India clean
98. Over 8,000 in Trichy get aid for learning disability
99. DFI Secured century
101. Statement of All India Confederation of the Blind (AICB) on its petition fileing Delhi high court in regard with the problem faced by Visually impaired persons to identify the currency notes and coins.
102. European Union votes to ratify Marrakesh Treaty
Announcement
1. Udaan Matrimonial Meet 2018
2. Trainer Certification Course on Teaching Computers for Persons with Vision Impairment, March 2018 at Enable India
3. Weekend Computer classes at NFB Karnataka
Information
1. Techpedia India, a new mailing list for blind users started
2. Microsoft Windows 10 & Office 365 - Here is a list of all the accessible features
3. Access the Disability Information Line for news about benefits for the community
4. Appointment of V.S. Basavaraju as the state commissioner for persons with disability in Karnataka
5. Some Facts about Blindness and Visual Impairment
Employment
1. Recruitment for Andhra Pradesh Postal circle
2. Recruitment for Davanagere City Corporation Karnataka
3. Recruitment for IDBI for its various State branches
4. Recruitment for KPSC Karnataka
1. Editorial
Dear readers,
We are happy to place 62nd issue of the voice of the blind in your mail box
Friends, in this editorial you may refer below reproduced message of general secretary NFB Karnataka on completion of one year of passage of the RPD ACT 2016.
Message:
Dear all,
as you are well aware that the passage of RPD Act 2016 has already completed one year. This act is no doubt a comprehensive and progressive. The central government has already notified its rules to carry out the act and already constituted the central advisory board in term of relevant provisions of this act.
Even the mostof state governments are also in process to notify their rules for due enforcement of the act.
However, No state could be able to notify the rules within the time line of 6 month as specified in the act. But I take this opportunity to draw your attention to this universal fact “how good our act, policies and programs might be, but their benefit cannot reach to the common beneficiaries, if they are not effective in their implementation”
I would like to alert you that real battle for the right to full citizenship and active participation of persons with disability is ahead and we are to go a long way to win this battle.
I would like to warn all those forces who had been vigorously demanding enactment of law, not to think that the job has been concluded.
Now we need to ensure that the act be implemented in schools, colleges, factories, workplaces, transportation, shopping centers, temples, education, employment, family, community, villages, towns, metropolitan cities, daily living and so on.
We will have to ensure that the every persons with disability and his/her caregivers, can come to know that the rights and remedies available to them for their socio-economic empowerment in term of this act
We will have to remind ourselves that we are living in such a under developed country where the resources are less than their demand. Where the distribution of the limited resources is not fair, resources are allocated not as per the real needs, but they are allocated in term of the influence of various section of the society on our economic and political system.
We also need to understand that our bureaucracy is not sensitive towards our progress, our political leaders have no time and interest to pay much attention towards our concerns because their entire action and reaction depend merely on mathematical calculations of their vote banks and unfortunately we have nothing much to contribute in making and spoiling their carriers.
Even the modern media including print and electronic, public and private are not in our support to promote our self help movement.
After the passage of the Right to persons with disability Act we have seen two budgets of the central government and various state governments for the financial year 2017-18 and 2018-19 respectively.
And we did neither find any mention of specific schemes for us in accordance with the mandate of the act nor any additional allocation of the fund in proportionate to the increased number of the persons with disability after recognition of 21 categories of disabilities in compare to previous 7 categories in both the budgets.
with all these facts in mind, the only solution that I see, is the aggressive and intensive intervention of self help groups and organizations representing all specified disabilities to improve our own lot.
Sustained and coordinated efforts are required. we need to keep in mind that in spite various laws and rules passed by the government for wellbeing of peers, very little has been done so far on ground to integrate them in society.
There is a huge gap between the facilities meant for us and their real availment. If we can work unitedly, we can meet many challenges. I therefore call upon all self help organizations across the disability sector to include the self and effective advocacy in agenda of their activities, so that the good schemes and programs may be implemented fasters. Let us all commit over selves to work our best for wellbeing of our children, women, youth and elderly persons, students and working persons with disability.
Let us all together take vow that we will sphere no efforts to work together until creation of a inclusive society where our concerns will not be neglected forgotten and overlooked. But they will be respected, protected and promoted.
I would like to conclude my thoughts with this hope and trust that our peers with disability, their caregivers and their self-help organizations will certainly understand their contribution and future role of sustained self advocacy for common upliftment of entire disability sector.
with best complements
Editor
2. Appeal for contribution
We appeal to all readers of this e-bulletin to share the relevant stories, news, events and development of and for the blind across the globe for this news bulletin so that we can report you the best on your success and development of the sector.
Dead line for coverage of the content provided by the readers for the next issue is 27th February 2018
Please send your submissions in English and e-format to above given mail id.
3. News from far & near
1. Union Budget: Disappointing for disabled-
Statement of National platform form the Rights of the Disabled
The National Platform for the Rights of the Disabled (NPRD) has issued the following statement:
The Union Budget 2018-19 comes as a big disappointment to the disabled community in the country. It seems as though the disabled do not figure in the Finance Minister’s “fast growth economy” trajectory.
The passage of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act 2016 (RPD Act) had ushered in great hopes and expectations among the disabled community who continue to be on the margins. However, the miserly outlays for the various positive provisions contained in the Act point to the utter lack of sincerity on the part of the government to implement its provisions.
The total outlay for the department for the empowerment of persons with disabilities shows a marginal increase of 215 crores as compared to last year.The allocation towards Schemes for the Implementation of the Persons with Disabilities Act (SIPDA) is a mere Rs. 300 crores. This includes provision for the much touted “Accessible India” campaign under which the target set is for making 600 public buildings accessible, 600 official websites accessible and making transport systems accessible among others. It is another matter that the campaign excludes from its ambit the vast majority of the rural areas.
As for railways, the last few budgets have seen grand announcements being made of rail transport and stations being made accessible for all including the disabled. Given the number of unfortunate incidents reported in the media it was expected that the government would respond adequately.While there is no mention about the progress in the implementation of the announcement made last year of providing lifts and escalators in500 railway stations, this year the Finance Minister has announced that escalators would be provided at 600 stations having a footfall of 25000 and above. Lifts which can be used by the disabled do not find mention in his speech. Also missing mention is about fulfillingthe commitment made in the 2016-17 budget to provide accessible toilets at all railway stations.
Further, no new scheme has been announced or any substantial increase in allocation for existing schemes been made despite the mandate of the RPD Act. There has been no upward revision in the amount of disability pension and it remains stagnant at Rs. 300/- for the past many years.
While the Finance Minister lauded the outcomes of various insurance schemes, and also announced the launching of the National Health Protection Scheme, ironically the central government has not been releasing money for the Swavlamban Health Insurance Scheme launched in 2015 for persons with disabilities through theNew India Assurance Company Limited.The insurance company has now stopped collecting premium from beneficiaries. It is also disturbing that even while talking of health care the Finance Minister maintained complete silence on Mental Health. This despite the enactment of the Mental Health Care Act in 2017.