In alignment with the UN theme of “Transformative solutions for inclusive development: the role of innovation in fuelling an accessible and equitable world” Vision Empower has come forward with a special experience center at the Bengaluru International Airport on the International Day of Persons with Disabilities which is on 3rd of December 2022, With support from Microsoft India, Sankara Eye Hospital, Kempegowda International Airport Limited and Young Indians, VE and volunteers engaged with passengers while they await their flight announcements. They had the unique chance to be sensitized about the numerous transformative possibilities being made available to children with visual impairment to pursue Science, Math and Computational Thinking education at the Special Schools for the visually impaired.
“Computational Thinking (CT) is predicted to be a fundamental skill used by everyone in the world, just as reading, writing and arithmetic. Microsoft India in partnership with Vision Empower initiated the project VICT (Computational Thinking for persons with Visual Impairment). The aim of the project is to create accessible toys and games that are designed in such a way that children playing these games will acquire CT skills as a side effect.” shared Dr. Swami Manohar, Principal Scientist at Microsoft Research.
Anitta M, Head Vision Rehabilitation, Sankara Eye Hospital Bangalore, “It has been our effort to ensure that Visually Impaired have the same access as sighted counterparts. We look forward to this awareness session becoming a trigger for STEM being adopted. We help students with assistive devices and partner with Young Indians on the storyteller project to convert books to audio formats”.
About Vision Empower:
Vision Empower (VE) is a not-for-profit trust incubated at IIIT Bangalore in 2017. To empower children with visual impairment through inclusive education, VE conducts research and designs programs to make Science – Technology – Engineering – Mathematics (STEM) and Computational Thinking (CT) education inclusive and accessible for students with visual impairments. VE creates inclusive, modular and fun-filled educational solutions for STEM and CT subjects while catering to the diverse linguistic groups and the large number of persons with visual impairment in India.
