My progress to this point includes completion of a technical
project with Agastya Foundation to help the organization automate their program
tracking capabilities; and recently starting work with Samarthanam Trust for
the Disabled on their Techvision project.
Samarthanam is an NGO headquartered in Bangalore dedicated
to empowering the visually-impaired, disabled, and disadvantaged through
educational, social, economic, cultural and technical development programs. It
has several initiatives, focusing on providing technical and professional skill
training to visually impaired students via its Techvision program. Samarthanam
also has an environmentally-responsible corporate recycling program, provides
education and housing for disadvantaged women and children, mid-day meals to
impoverished youths, and encourages culture, sportsmanship and active
lifestyles with nationally and internationally-acclaimed sports and dance
teams.
Late last year, Samarthanam opened a new Techvision office
in Dharwad and is providing professional skills training to visually-impaired
and disabled members of the communities in Dharwad district. From the very
beginning, I’ve had the chance to see what great work Samarthanam is doing, and
am aware of their need to increase visibility and community awareness of the
Techvision services in Dharwad. My current focus is to work in collaboration
with the Director, instructors, and other stakeholders at Samarthanam –Dharwad
to develop a realistic and workable digital outreach strategy for the Sandbox
region, including villages and outlying areas of Dharwad; and to connect with possible
donors for some aspects of the project.
Having the opportunity to travel to the Techshare 2010
conference in New Delhi this week helped me to better understand some of the
requirements of the community and types of technology available to make an undertaking
such as this possible. Working with an organization that focuses heavily on
technical solutions for the visually-impaired and disabled is new for me, so
the conference was definitely an enlightening experience.
It can be easy to forget how most everything in the world is
automatically made “accessible” for sighted people and those without
disabilities. Techshare 2010 highlighted new technologies and efforts to level
the playing field to ensure accessibility for those without sight and those that
are differently-abled – but it was also blatantly clear that there is still a
long way to go, and that much work is yet needed to make society just as easy
to navigate for the visually-impaired and disabled populations. Samarthanam is
doing its part to make this happen and I’m glad to be involved in such a
challenging effort.
More on Samarthanam next post…
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