Tech gap for disabled people

Of the 80 million disabled people in the country, hardly one per cent has access to technologies that will make their life easier and less dependent on others.

The two day seminar cum and exhibition that opened up on Monday at the India Habitat Centre, New Delhi focussed on technologies to make India a more inclusive society.

For instance, have you ever spared a thought how difficult for a person on a wheel chair to use a lift in most commercial buildings that have a short flight of stairs to enter?Or how difficult is it for a visually challenged person to visit a corner book store?

In a country like India where barrier free infrastructure is a struggle how do people with disabilities shop for books, movies etc.

One could find some answers to some of these questions and others at the Techshare 2012 organised by BarrierBreak Technologies, National Centre for Promotion of Employment of Disabled People (NCPEDP), Royal National Institute of Blind People (UK) and sponsored by Microsoft.

Even as a few foreign firms had displayed a few gadgets that could make learning, mobility and communication easier, it came at a high cost.  

Saksham a leading NGO working for disabled have been Importing quite a few basic stuffs like talking calculator (Rs 300) etc.Dipendra Minocha was able to convince Swedish firm to part with a talking software to slash the price from Rs 12000 to remarkably low figure. So much so Nokia C-5 is fitted with the software and is sold for only Rs 8100.

But Shilpi Kapoor, Founder, BarrierBreak Technologies offers a perspective into problem.

“What makes these gadgets costly in India is high customs duty. It is as high as 25-30 per cent.If government is serious making India an inclusive society then it should bring down the duty on these technologies to make life easier for disabled,” she told The Sunday Indian.

Javed Abidi, who was elected World Chair of Disabled People International in October 2011 and honorary director of NCPEDP: “The biggest boon that technology has brought worldwide is in the lives of people with severe disabilities. Yet the vast and exciting work of augmentative and alternative communication is not just unchartered in India but is mostly relegated to labs with no plans of up scaling or mass production.”

Further whatever little is available is so expensive that it is beyond the means of average family."Can they afford these gadgets? I doubt. See they are all from poor families. Even within a family, the priority of a normal child will be met first by parents.”ask Seema Choubey, a teacher of Janata Adarsh Andh Vidyalya who came to the event along with a half dozen high school students.

But things are not so gloomy as well when one visits the stall put by Hyderabad based Sri Vishnu Educational Society that wants to see a smile on face of challenged people. 

The society established by Dr B V Raju, well known industrialists runs engineering colleges that are trying to produce tools and equipments for challenged people in their Assistive Technology Labs. Over 400 students are involved in these labs at Narsapur and Bhimavaram are working in 60 projects.

Some of their display includes Smart Stick of Visually Challenged, Smart Belt for Blind, Talking Calculator for the Blind etc.

B Rakesh one of the students working at ATL explained stick is provided with an ultrasonic sensor unit and a buzzer interfaced with microcontroller. The ultrasonic sensor unit consists of ultrasonic sensors to identify the presence of the obstacle within a range of 30 cm to 1m. Whenever obstacle is detected by the sensor it will provide an output pulse, which activates the buzzer to alert the person. The cost will be around Rs 800.

Whether the Society is planning to go in for commercial production, K Padma Vasavi Associate Professor in charge of the ATL said that “We have distributed to a few people in our state. We are getting a feedback from end users. We have been approached by many firms. But Commercial applications will be finalised by Dr Raju.”

Even as more than dozen seminars were held to battle out issues and strategies, a visually challenged Deepika who done his schooling from Springdales and later in LSR college and worked in Vodafone had one practical suggestion for integrated learning."Kids learn from each other more than from teachers".

The knowledge Commission website clearly states that India is planning to set up 54,000 libraries over the next two years. Will libraries have dedicated sections to cater to persons with disabilities?

Hope our policy makers and educational planners do not plan deaf on such simple advice!