an online magazine from eyeway.org
an online magazine from eyeway.org
issue 1 
september-october 2004
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Headlines : India News
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Visually impaired boy makes headlines on Akashwani
Express News Service; Ahmedabad; December 31, 2003
Visually impaired people are rarely given the opportunity to show their talent and abilities. Given the chance, they prove, however, that they are second to none. After a successful attempt to read news on television, the Blind People's Association (B.P.A.) now plan to go ahead with reading out news on the radio. For the first time, a visually impaired person - Ranchod Soni - read out regional news on Akashwani on January 4.
Soni says, "That a visually impaired person is reading news either on radio or television should not be seen as a personal achievement. We are trying to open avenues for future generations by proving that visually impaired people are capable of handling all kinds of assignments."
"The experiment has been successful on television and by moving on to read news on the radio, we are trying to gain entry into another media," he says.
Regarding his job, Soni says a sighted newsreader gets a routine printout of the news while a visually impaired person gets a Braille printout. "Reading the news is a task full of responsibility. A slight error can lead to a major problem."
Soni has also read news on television.
Jasubhai B Kavi, Principal of secondary and higher secondary school of B.P.A., says: "By such experiments we are trying to establish that through Braille, a visually impaired person can function as efficiently as a sighted person. Visually impaired people are rarely given the opportunity to show their talent and abilities. Through such examples we are trying to establish that visually impaired persons can be news readers and announcers and anchors for any programme on radio or TV."
Other India News stories in this issue:
Keyboard Braille brings hope for blind users
Low-cost reading aid
One man's vision...