[gui-talk] Fwd: Article: Pakistan’s first-ever Internet Café for the visually impaired

[Steve Pattison]

>From: Jeffrey junkmail at ozemail.com.au
>To: vip list vip-l at softspeak.com.au
>
>Hi group. found this which maybe of interest. 
>Perhaps Vision Australia could look at something like this.
>
>ISLAMABAD • Pakistan’s first-ever Internetcafé 
>for the visually impaired has been inaugurated.
>
>The project has been funded by the World Bank 
>and the Pakistan Foundation Fighting Blindness (PFFB).
>
>The WB granted Rs1.5m to the facility that 
>promises to help bridge the technological gap 
>between the blind and those blessed with the 
>eyesight. The café would also link national and 
>international blind communities.
>
>IT Helpline Project Director Zahid Abdullah said 
>the café involved the use of the JAWS software 
>that provides voice output for every command 
>given to the computer, enabling the blind to 
>know what their fingers are doing.
>
>Aqil Sajjad, the first visually impaired 
>Pakistani pursuing his PhD at Harvard, 
>introduced the software in Islamabad in 1999. 
>The software was developed in the US 20 years ago.
>
>The café is absolutely free and is equipped with 
>the latest computers, scanner, printer and DSL 
>connection for fast Internet browsing.
>
>Officials said the facility would remain open 
>from 4 pm to 7 pm Abdullah said the education 
>and technology were two major levellers in the 
>life of a visually impaired person. He hoped 
>that students and professionals would make good use of the café.
>
>Special Education Director General Sarfraz Ahmed 
>asked the PFFB to submit proposals for the 
>government to consider setting up more such 
>facilities. He regretted that his directorate 
>was established 38 years after Pakistan’s 
>creation and the first policy for the disabled was formulated only in 2002.
>
>Maqbool Ahmed, director of PFFB’s medical and 
>research project, said 100 members of one family 
>in Pakistan had been diagnosed as suffering from 
>Retinitis Pigemento (RP), a genetically 
>transmitted disease that causes progressive loss of vision.


Regards Steve
Email:  srp at internode.on.net
Skype:  steve1963
MSN Messenger:  internetuser383 at hotmail.com