Very good news.  Is there any cafe like this in India?
Renuka.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Geetha Shamanna" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "Access india" <accessindia@accessindia.org.in>
Sent: Friday, December 15, 2006 10:29 PM
Subject: [AI] Fwd: Pakistan's first-ever Internet Café for the visually
impaired


>ISLAMABAD . Pakistan's first-ever Internetcafé
>for the visually impaired has been inaugurated.
>
>The project has been funded by the World Bank
>and the Pakistan Foundation Fighting Blindness (PFFB).
>
>The WB granted Rs1.5m to the facility that
>promises to help bridge the technological gap
>between the blind and those blessed with the
>eyesight. The café would also link national and
>international blind communities.
>
>IT Helpline Project Director Zahid Abdullah said
>the café involved the use of the JAWS software
>that provides voice output for every command
>given to the computer, enabling the blind to
>know what their fingers are doing.
>
>Aqil Sajjad, the first visually impaired
>Pakistani pursuing his PhD at Harvard,
>introduced the software in Islamabad in 1999.
>The software was developed in the US 20 years ago.
>
>The café is absolutely free and is equipped with
>the latest computers, scanner, printer and DSL
>connection for fast Internet browsing.
>
>Officials said the facility would remain open
>from 4 pm to 7 pm Abdullah said the education
>and technology were two major levellers in the
>life of a visually impaired person. He hoped
>that students and professionals would make good use of the café.
>
>Special Education Director General Sarfraz Ahmed
>asked the PFFB to submit proposals for the
>government to consider setting up more such
>facilities. He regretted that his directorate
>was established 38 years after Pakistan's
>creation and the first policy for the disabled was formulated only in 2002.
>
>Maqbool Ahmed, director of PFFB's medical and
>research project, said 100 members of one family
>in Pakistan had been diagnosed as suffering from
>Retinitis Pigemento (RP), a genetically
>transmitted disease that causes progressive loss of vision.



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