Australia FIT/IP in Action for Accessibility: Nepal
August 8, 2018
Our series on Australia Funds-In-Trust for Intellectual Property (Australia FIT/IP) in action for accessibility focuses on the end beneficiaries of our funding that supports accessibility initiatives in the Asia-Pacific region.
Jaldeep
Jaldeep is a 14 year old boy from Nepal who benefited from the Accessible Books Consortium (ABC) project through ADRAD, a not-for profit organization in Kathmandu, Nepal that works with print-disabled persons.
Jaldeep is in the 8th grade and attends an inclusive school with both blind and sighted students. He received a Galaxy Tab 3 to help him further his education, by giving him the possibility to obtain more books. Previously he read only using Braille or with the help of friends and sighted readers.
The tablet helped me to complete my assignment through research and studies using the Internet.
He also received training on the use of different reading apps. Jaldeep would like to become an IT professional in the future.
Seema
Seema is from Nepal. She is 17 years old and a ninth grade student in a school for the blind. Through ADRAD – ABC’s partner in Nepal – Seema was loaned a Samsung Galaxy tablet, which was preloaded with her school textbooks. These textbooks were produced by ADRAD, with funding provided by Australia FIT/IP.
Students or their families provide a small deposit to ADRAD for the use of the tablet, which they are loaned for a period of 20-30 months. Previously, Seema used to read only braille books, or with the help of sighted friends who would read to her.
Seema received training on how to use the tablet and she now uses it to read her school textbooks, as well as for leisure reading. She also records her school lectures with her tablet and conducts research for classes on the Internet.
Seema would like to be a lawyer when she grows up.
