Computer Training Program for Visually Challenged at CDAC, Kharghar, Navi Mumbai during July 23–August 4, 2012
About training In India, about 7-8 million people are suffering from full or partial visual impairment. Such people have to be provided with different kinds of support devices to access the world and to perform routine tasks like bill payments, banking transactions, reservations etc.. Now technology, either software-based or hardware-based, has made it possible for these people to access the world in their own way. But a large section of blind population is still away from advantages of modern assistive technologies. The main reasons for this gap are not only the lack of awareness about assistive technologies available and lack of hands-on practice to use it, but also the cost of technology. Free & Open Source Software (FOSS) tools/techniques play an important role in creating assistive technologies that are free-of-cost, available to all and easily maintainable for a large portion of population in a country like India. For visually challenged people, available co