School students take a look at one of the assistive devices to aid children with disabilities learn better, at the ATA Expo, which began at Bharathiar University in Coimbatore on Friday.
*****************************************************************************
The three-day exhibition in Coimbatore also has stalls put up by companies that provide job opportunities to those with disabilities.
Making education inclusive for the differently abled did not just mean
giving them an opportunity to study in higher educational institutions,
but also meant making all systems associated with education accessible
and affordable for them.
This was the focus of the three-day exhibition on ‘Assistive Technology
and Accessibility (ATA) Expo’, organised by the Department of Social
Work of Bharathiar University, which took off at the university here on
Friday. With the theme ‘A Way Forward for Inclusion’, the expo, being
held in association with the South Asian Regional Office (SARO) of CBM,
Bangalore, was expected to create awareness on recent trends /
developments in the field of disability services, assistive
technologies, and higher education and employment opportunities for the
differently abled.
The expo, inaugurated by Vice-Chancellor G. James Pitchai, had on
display various assistive devices and software accessibility tools and
aids that could be used by those with visual, hearing and locomotor
disabilities.
There were also stalls put up by companies and institutes that provided
work opportunities to those with disabilities. Craft and creative items,
made by children with disabilities, were on sale.
Another highlight was that the expo focussed on motivating children with
disabilities to take up higher education, and also enrol students in
affiliated colleges of Bharathiar University.
M.N.G. Mani, Chief Executive Officer, International Council for
Education of People with Visual Impairment, said that any new technology
should ensure that it was assistive and accessible by all those with
intellectual and physical disabilities. “The technology should be
inclusive even at the developmental stage. If this is ensured, then
there need be no difficulty in making it adaptable after it is
developed. Affordability should also be taken into consideration,” he
said.
There was a need to make more students take up higher education by
attracting them with assistive technology that was accessible and
affordable, he added.
Material preparation centre
A Multimodal Material Preparation Centre for the differently abled was
also launched at the Bharathiar University here on Friday.
Sara Varughese, Regional Director of CBM SARO, inaugurated the centre
and saw the various systems that were installed to aid persons with
disabilities to learn better and independently.
The centre had advanced softwares installed in computers for those with
low vision, locomotor disabilities, cerebral palsy, and visual and
hearing impairment.
The centre can be used by students of all institutions on working days from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. free of cost.
Ms. Varughese said that there must be increased awareness among all
strata of society on how students with disability could successfully
take up higher education. Appreciating colleges and universities that
enabled the differently abled get access to education, she said: “Each
and every part of the educational system should be made accessible to
those with disabilities. This would mean, making all campuses, courses,
programmes and convocations, accessible to the differently abled”.
Lamenting that less than five per cent of children with disabilities had
access to primary education, she attributed this to reasons such as
lack of teaching material, distance in travelling, ignorance of
teachers, etc., and called for increased use of modern technology to
facilitate education. A. Sethuramasubbiah, Head of the Department of
Social Work, said that a similar establishment would function on the
Nirmala College campus to facilitate better use by students with
disabilities staying in the city.
Honoured
Three universities and five colleges – Sankara College of Science and
Commerce, PSG College of Arts and Science, Nirmala College for Women,
CSI Bishop Appasamy College of Arts and Science, Government Arts
College, Coimbatore, Kalasalingam University, Avinashilingam University
for Women, and Ramakrishna Mission Vidyalaya, - were honoured for
adopting and promoting inclusive practices on the campus.
More than 10,000 school and college students, special educators, parents
of children with disability and members from Government and
non-Governmental organisations working for disability were expected to
visit the three-day event that will end on July 21.
Sessions
Sessions focussing on higher education, accessibility, employment, and equal opportunities for people with disabilities were also being organised simultaneously.
Source : The Hindu , 20th July 2013
Source : The Hindu , 20th July 2013
No comments:
Post a Comment