Tamil Nadu - Chennai   

Model resource centre for persons with disability

— Photo: R. Ragu

DISABLED-FRIENDLY: Union Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment D. Napoleon inspects the facilities at the model resource centre for persons with disability at Loyola College in Chennai on Tuesday. Principal Rev. A. Albert Muthumalai is in the picture.

CHENNAI: The National Institute for the Visually Handicapped (NIVH) on Tuesday launched the first model resource centre for persons with disability in the country at Loyola College here.

Inaugurating the facility, Union Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment D. Napoleon said that similar resource centres would be established in other States.

According to an agreement signed between the NIVH, which is under the Disability Division of the Ministry, and the College in June, financial assistance, Braille appliances and equipment had been provided by the government for establishing the resource centre. As per the agreement, Loyola College has the obligation of providing space and other required infrastructure free of charge.

The coordinator of the centre, computer instructor and assistant would be appointed by the college. The implementation and monitoring of the project would be done by the NIVH Regional Centre, Chennai, said I. Arivanandham, Regional Director (incharge) of the Institute.

The facilities at the Centre include screen reading software, OCR software, Franklin language master, one-hand keyboard software, Braille transcription software, DAISY player software, speech recognition software, speaking spelling, J-Say, talking typing teacher software, dragon professional dictation software, literacy software one WYNN plus Kurzweil 3000 and pen friend for learning disabled students.

B.Bala Nagendran, a visually challenged student of Loyola College, said the resource centre would help him gain the mental satisfaction of doing things on his own.

Loyola College gives opportunity for the students with disability to excel in studies and extra-curricular activities, according to its Principal Rev. A. Albert Muthumalai. It has 78 students with disability, he said.

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