The Innate Willpower
While many strides continue to be made in eye care to improve sight through refraction, surgery, and other interventions, it is an unfortunate reality that for many persons sight cannot be restored and they must cope with incurable low vision conditions or blindness, which can be a completely debilitating condition. For some, this can happen at a very young age even from infancy. It is the sheer will power of these persons and the support and love of their parents, and other society members around them, that help these young children overcome the numerous challenges visual impairment can bring.
The Technology Boon
It is in this context that technology has come as a boon to the benefit of the visually impaired population. Many assistive devices are constantly being innovated including digital magnifiers, smart canes, mobile apps, AI-powered smart vision glasses, tactile books, braille displays and many others. Technology has indeed come a long way to help the visually impaired population overcome day-to-day challenges and trigger their ability to lead a life of independence and dignity.
Other than the hardware-oriented devices stated above, software also benefits the visually impaired population to pursue education and employment opportunities. Use of screen readers (like JAWS or NVDA) is a very empowering and enabling technology along with many other software applications which can effectively substitute the sense of sight with audio, tactile and other sensory capabilities.
These kinds of technology advances have really made everything so much easier and the world a more accessible place for persons with visual impairment to function, enjoy a better quality of life and become contributing members in society. Technology has also enabled them to enjoy improved Social connections, and helped in nurturing hobbies like playing Chess, and entertainment activities such as online games.
The Vision-Aid Momentum
Technology is one of the core drivers for Vision-Aid programs and helps support our mission of “Enable, Educate and Empower the Visually Impaired” across India, in partnership with many other like-minded non-profit Institutions, NGOs and Eye Care Hospitals.
At Vision-Aid, we constantly strive to bring the best possible technology in this space at affordable (often free or at highly subsidised) prices to the poor and needy visually challenged through our partners who share our unified objective of giving the visually impaired the independence and dignity they deserve. Through its various programs, Vision-Aid has provided Mobile Devices, Electronic Canes, Haptic Torches, Camera Mouse, Digital Magnifiers, Camera CAT Classroom Devices and Smart Vision Glasses.
I invite you to be part of Vision-Aid’s journey, visit our websites, speak to our representatives, and get involved in transforming lives of those with visual impairment.
