Margha

A way of light ………..

 Our Motto

“We shall show the way of light, for a bright

tomorrow”
-- MARGHA
Venue
Devnar School for the Blind
1-10-125 , Mayur Marg
Begumpet
Hyderabad
 Current Status of the School…

 It is a secondary School for visually impaired people.

 The School offers residential facility.

 It provides evening classes for college going students.

 At present they use Braille books and audio cassettes for learning purpose.

 The school has a library which maintains a good collection of Braille

books.

 The computer lab has 10 computers.

 They run a vocational training centre at Marredpally which helps those

who are not academically inclined .
 Active participation in sports i.e chess, cricket, volleyball and cultural
events i.e dance and music.
 Can a visually impaired person learn computers ?

Can a visually impaired person participate in sports ?

The Answer is yes……

But how ?

They need additional software and accessories to accomplish that.

 Software for Blind

 The school is using mainly 3 software :

 JAWS : It is a screen reader software. It helps visually impaired users

to use Microsoft Windows. It is kind of text to speech recognition
software.

 Kurzweil : It converts printed material or electronic text into speech .It

need additional hardware i.e scanner for scanning the printed material
and later converting into audio format.

 Duxbury : This helps in printing Braille books. It is mainly known as

DBT ( duxbery Braille translator)
 Software for Blind cont.

 Audio Converter Software : They use various audio converter

software i.e Goldwave

After text to audio conversion , the final output must be in mp3 format so
that it can be easily played on a CD Player.
 Sports for Blind …
 Visually impaired people can participate in sports like chess , volleyball,
cricket.

 Chess : All the Black squares are raised about 3-4 mm above the white
squares. The player can feel the raised or the lowered squares to figure out
whether the piece is on a black or a white square.
Through touch and feel, the player can determine whether the piece is a
Pawn, Rook, Bishop, Knight, Queen or King. All the Black pieces have a
pin fixed on their heads. The touch of the pin on the pieces helps the player
from distinguishing a white piece from a black one.
 Volleyball : The ball rolls under the net instead of over.
 Cricket : The team consists of 11 players. The team is selected in such a
way that some of them are partially blind, some are completely blind while
2 of them should have normal vision.
 The School is facing problems in …

 The school is planning to have a digital library which will use CD’s for
audio books.

At present they are using cassettes which get worn out with time. Also it
takes 6 – 7 cassettes to record a standard text book. A CD can record the
entire data.
CD’s are more reliable and compact in comparison to audio cassettes.

The computer lab has only one CD writer.

 The school needs volunteers for audio recording of text books for various
subjects.

They are planning to do it for class X followed by IX & so on ….

Volunteer may not be physically present there for recording , it can be done
at home also.

A format has to be followed for recording i.e speed, tone ,accent etc.
Volunteer must ensure an uniform recoding.

The School has conducted a workshop for the same.

 The Computer lab needs CD writers, headphones, UPS ,pen drives.

The School is using trial versions of all the software. The license fee for
some of the software is 60000 /- for three installations.

The School needs volunteers for teaching physics, chemistry to

class IX & X.

They are also looking for volunteers who can conduct sessions on
personality development.
 What we can do ……..
 Volunteers for audio recording of books. A audio recording workshop will
be conducted for volunteers those who are interested for recording.

 Volunteers for conducting sports and cultural events. We can give them a
chance to perform in Nexus.

 Volunteers for conducting personality development classes.

 Donation of computer peripherals i.e CD Writers , Headphones , UPS, Pen

Drives etc.

 Counseling the blind.

 How far we have reached ..

 The Team had visited the school twice.

 The School has conducted a workshop for audio recording on 30th July.
 Participants :
1. Anjali Desai (Talent Transformation)
2. Oleti Srinivas Rao (Talent Transformation)
3. Subhadeep Sarkar (2005 Batch)
4. Chandra Shekar G (2003 Batch)
5. Devdatta Chakravarty (2005 Batch)
6. Ritesh Joshi (2006 Batch)
7. Punit Kumar (2006 Batch)

Test recording by Anjali Madam.

 How far we have reached cont.

 Inspection of kitchen and sanitation facilities.

 Distribution of toffee
 Discussion with class X students on the format of recording.

After the discussion the following issues came up :

1. How can a volunteer do recording for formula i.e F=GMm/r2 ?
2. How can a volunteer do recording for graphs ?
3. How can a volunteer do recording for Tables ?
4. How can a volunteer do recording for Figures ?
5. How can a volunteer do recording for Maps in Geography?

 Discussion with Faculty.

 Immediate objectives …….

 31st July is observed as Disability Awareness Day.

The Team is planning to conduct a sports and cultural events at their
location. The events will be conducted on 28th July ( Saturday)

 Donation of computer peripherals

 Do’s and Don’ts
Help the Blind. While doing so take note of the following reminders :

1. When you guide a blind person ask him to hold your arm just above the
elbow. Don't push him. Don't pull him. You, as a guide should be one step
ahead of the blind person.

2. When you talk to a blind person address him directly by name or by

touch.

3. When you meet a blind person after a long gap, please disclose your
identity. Don't put him into an embarrassing situation by asking him to
guess. Similarly, when you leave a blind person let him know that you are
leaving.

4. Remember the way he is facing. Your right may be his left.

 Do’s and Don’ts cont ….

 5. To the motorist : when you see the person with a white cane trying to
cross the road stop the car. Let him cross.

 6. To the pedestrians : when you see the person with a white cane trying to
cross the road, ask if he wants your help to cross.

 7. In a crowded place like bus depots or on railway platforms never say

"walk straight" to a blind man, just give your hand as far as you can.

 8. At the railway platforms, the blind commuters may need your help in

a. Locating the special compartment for the handicapped

b. Knowing the destination of the train
c. Locating the foot-over bridge and entrance to go out.
 Food for Thought…

There will always be studies

There will always be work
There will always be friends
There will always be, never any time
There will always be, all the time
It’s all a matter of will.

Howsoever we may be busy in our work and business, a little social work
is our obligation.
Thank You