My world is certainly not "just black", as Ms. Mohit describes it in this
article. As a blind person herself, she should refrain from making such
depressing comments.
As for the braille electronic voting machines themselves, how will the
polling officials determine where they should be installed? Do they have a
mechanism for identifying blind voters in a specific area?
Geetha
----- Original Message -----
From: "Renuka Warrier" <eren...@gmail.com>
To: <accessindia@accessindia.org.in>
Sent: Saturday, March 14, 2009 4:47 PM
Subject: [AI] Braille EVMs for visually challenged
The Hindu News Update Service
News Update Service
Saturday, March 14, 2009 : 1105 Hrs
Quest
National
Braille EVMs for visually challenged
Dehra Dun (PTI): Visually challenged voters can hope to exercise their
franchise in the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls if the Election Commission
goes ahead
with its plan to use Braille EVMs at some polling booths across the
country.
Designed by the National Institute for Visually Handicapped (NIVH) here,
the Braille EVMs were used by 150 visually handicapped people in the 2007
assembly
polls in Uttarakhand.
Chief Election Commissioner-designate Naveen Chawla, who recently visited
the NIVH campus here, had assured institute director Anuradha Mohit that
the machines
will be used at some polling booths in the country.
"We want that the machines are used in all the places where the blinds are
in large numbers.It will be a great gift to the people for whom the world
is
just black," says Mohit, who herself is blind.
The hallmark of the Braille-EVMs is that blind persons can cast their
votes secretly without any difficulty. The names of the candidates along
with their
symbols are written in Braille on these EVMs.
"Earlier there was no secrecy. Now they can cast their votes
independently," says Mohit.
Experts said there is still scope for further improvement in the
Braille-EVMs.
"If we install Voice Operated System (VOS) on these EVMs, then illiterate
blind persons can also vote," she said.
Quoting a report by National Sample Survey, she said Braille literacy
among the blinds is only 22 to 25 percent, and hence there was an urgent
need for
VOS-EVMs.
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