Reading the menu at a restaurant wouldn’t take much effort for most sighted diners. But for the blind and visually impaired, trying to figure out what to order and what the meal would cost could be a daunting experience.

Just ask Stephanie Jones, who had to rely on her children and friends to read the menu so she could order what she really wanted. “Whoever was with me would read the menu,” said Jones, the mother of five children. “I used braille menus in the past, but they’re not always updated. But you learn to work through it.”

A group of students from Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology builds a Braille reader to help the visually challenged to read, both printed and online

Chennai: Two low-cost devices that enable people with motor disabilities to access and use electronic and tech devices were launched by a city-based advocacy group for People with Disabilities (PwD).

KOCHI: A seeing App that can assist the visually impaired, a tool to prevent avoidable blindness, a data cruncher that can stop school dropouts and a program to help farmers tackle the vagaries of climate change - the power of Artificial Intelligence to solve real life and large-scale problems were detailed here on Friday by a man who is in the midst of some of the most exciting innovations in technology.

HYDERABAD: LV Prasad Eye Institute, Hyderabad, has developed Fittle, the world’s first 3D printed Braille Puzzle. Created in collaboration with Serviceplan and educational toy company Ravensburger to develop Fittle, the puzzle is for millions of visually impaired children across the world. Fittle models can be downloaded from the Fittle website and 3D-printed at almost zero cost, making Braille more accessible than ever.

Surat (Gujarat) [India], Feb 28 (ANI): As the exam season is inching closer, visually impaired students of Class 10 here are indulging in board exam preparations with the help of 'PlexTalk', a flash top specially curated for this section of society.

NEW DELHI: Collaborative research by the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, and Indiana University of the US has helped develop cost-effective designs for tactile graphics. The research, conducted over three years, will help improve the life of visually impaired people. Tactile graphics, which are also known as raised line drawings, are a means of conveying non-textual information to people who are blind or visually impaired, and may include representations of pictures, maps, graphs and other images.

New Delhi: A three-year collaborative research by IIT-Delhi and Indiana University in the US has led the team to new technologies and cognitive strategies that could improve the lives of the blind and visually impaired (BVI).

The collaboration has resulted in research for the development of a novel new design approach to tactile graphics. "Tactile graphics" -- sometimes called as raised line drawings -- are two-dimensional images composed of linear and textured design elements raised very slightly above a flat surrounding surface. 

With the assistance of visually impaired braille readers, Sporsho is helping visually impaired visitors navigate through their stall in an easier manner.

Sporsho, a braille book publication centre, has set up their stall at the book fair premises with the aim of satiating the book cravings of visually impaired people.

The distinguished publication house promotes itself with the slogan: “People are blind not because they are unable to see with their eyes, but because they do not have the knowledge to visualize life from within.”