Project XRCVC (Xavier’s Resource Centre for the Visually Challenged),
St.Xavier’sCollege,Mumbai
Background
Ourcollegehasalwayspursuedapolicyofhelpingthe less privileged. As partof thisphilosophyweencouragethevisuallychallengedtotakeanactivepartintheiracademiclife.Overthelastmanydecadesscoresofvisuallychallengedstudentshaveenrichedtheirlivesthroughstudyingin our institution.
Currently,notonlydowehavesomevisuallychallengedstudentsatdifferentlevelsofourcollege,butwhatismore,oursisoneofthefewcollegesoftheuniversitythathasemployedavisually challenged person who has been onthestaffforthelast16years.
Theneedtokeepstep with technology
Timesarechangingfastandthecomputerrevolutionhasmadeitpossibletoenter,process,retrieveandaccessinformationmerelybytheclickofabutton.Inthisdigitalrevolutionthereisadistinctpossibilitythatthevisuallychallenged,ifnotgiventherightencouragement,wouldface distinct deprivation.This wouldbeonaccountofthefactthatthedigitaldividewouldcreateanadditionalbarrierbetweenthemandthesighted.Thisneednothappen,asthenecessarysoftware and hardware is available.
Giventhedeprivedsocio-economicbackgroundofmanyofourvisuallychallengedstudents,theyalsoneedspecialguidanceandremedialhelp.Wewouldwanttothereforeprovideholisticeducationtosuchstudentsinvolvingtechnicaltraining,academicassistance,personalitydevelopment, vocational guidance, etc.
The first step
ThankstothesupportextendedbyTheSirDorabjiTataTrustandafewotherdonorswewereabletosetuptwodedicatedcomputersforthevisuallychallenged.ThesePCsdrawuponspecialized software which enables the user to do the following:
a.JAWS (JobAccesswithspeech)software:Thisis a screen reading software. It
speaksoutaloudeverythingonthecomputermonitor.Withitshelpthevisuallychallengedusercanaccesstheinternet,workindocuments,andpreparepresentationsandso on.
b.Kurzweil1000OCR(opticalcharacterrecognition)readingsoftware:Thisenablestheusertoscanprintedmaterial(books,articles,etc)andhearit readoutthroughthecomputer.Theindividualcanalsohavethismaterialeditedsothatrequiredportionsofthe samemay be embossed in Braille.
TheresourceroomforthevisuallychallengedhasalsoacquiredatalkingelectronicBrailler(MountbattenMBPro).Inadditiontothevisuallychallengedusingit,itcanalsobeusedbya
sightedpersonwhocantypeandgenerateaBrailleoutput.Thiswillbeusefulforcreatingnotesin Braille.
We have also acquired specialized software whichcan:
a)emboss Braille diagrams
b)teach keyboard skills
TheXRCVCalsooffersaninternetconnection.ThishasenabledourstudentstolearnhowtoexploretheWorldWideWeb and retrieve relevant information.
Other services offered at the XRCVC
a)Studentsequippedwithbasiccomputingskills,acquiredelsewhere,havebeenabletopolishandupgradetheirskills.Furthermore,studentswhohadstartedlearningcomputerselsewhere used the facilities for additionalpractice.
b)Ourfulltimeattendantintheresourcecentrerespondstotheirqueriestherebyproviding basic assistance.
PROBLEMS ENCOUNTEREDANDTHEIRRESOLUTION
DemandforthePC
Onoccasions,anumberofstudentshavewantedtoworkonthecomputersatthesametime.Intheshorttermweresolvedthisproblembyidentifyingpriorities.Inthelongtermwehopetoadd more dedicated PCs so that people can allworkat their time.
Language skills
GiventhefactthatmanyofourtargetstudentshavehadtheirbasicschoolinginMarathi,theyencounteramajordifficultywithdevelopingfluencyinEnglish.Wearetryingtoresolvethisproblemthrough special training. This programmehoweverneedstobefurtherrefined.
Personal insecurities
Adolescencebeingaperiodoftransition,mostteenagersexperienceinternalconflicts.Wehaveonaninformallevelworkedwithourstudentsinstrengtheningtheirdeterminationandguidingandmotivatingthem.Suchanactivityneedshowevertobeconductedonamorestructuredbasis.
Increase in number of students
Thisacademicyearhaswitnessedadoublinginthetotalnumberofvisuallychallengedstudentstotwelve.Thisisbecausewordhasspreadthatourcollegeoffersfacilitiesforthevisuallychallenged.Thesenumbershaveputastrainonthelimitedphysicalfacilitiesavailable.Weanticipate that in future years many more students would opt for this college.
Sporting activities
Withthehelpofthesportsdepartment,weorganisedafriendlycricketmatchbetweenthevisuallychallengedofRuiaCollegeandourstudents.Thisfriendlymatchwaswonbythevisuallychallengedofourcollege.Anotherfirstthisyearwasaspecialracerunbythevisuallychallenged students during the annual sports meet.