Vision-Aid announced that it is partnering with Voluntary Health Services (VHS) to establish a new Vision-Aid National Resource Center in Chennai, India. The center will be named the Srinivasan-Sundara Vision-Aid National Resource center, in honor of Shri. Srinivasan Varadarajan and Sundara Srinivasan, parents of the generous supporters of this center, Venkat and Pratima Srinivasan, residents of the Greater Boston Area.

A meet and greet event with the Vision-Aid program at the  Agra center was held on 18th Decemeber EST. This ceneter is run by Vision-Aid with the support from Vivek and Vandana Sharma foundation. The Agra center works with the local blinds schools and other organizations in Agra, India to offer a range of services to the visually impaired.

During the past year VIsion-Aid volunteers have been teaching blind and low vision students skills online during the COVID pandemic. People wonder understandably, how exactly such training works, and if this is really effective. 

Please take a few minutes to watch this video to see close-up how visually impaired students are learning complex Excel skills online during COVID. This video is from the Vision-Aid Resource Center in Aravind Eye Hospital at Madurai. The conversation is in Tamil, and thanks to Vision-Aid volunteer Kavalapar, for adding English subtitles to make it accessible to all.

Vision-Aid's Python Program, one of its flagship technology training program for the visually impaired, is 100% volunteer driven. For the past four years, Vision-Aid has been teaching Python programming to the visually impaired, all over India.

Vision-Aid is getting ready to launch its new 2021 program, which includes programming classes for adults, advanced project-based mentoring for more advanced programming students, and a special program in collaboration with Indic-AI, a Delhi based NGO which partners with Vision-Aid to mentor young blind programmers.

Even though COVID still  poses many challenges, Vision-Aid is already looking to brighter times are on their way. During this festive season, Vision-Aid would like to share with you some updates about programs in India. Several online programs are thriving, and in-person programs are gradually resuming across India, helping to bring light into the lives of the visually impaired we serve.

Vision-Aid launched its latest innovative initiative for the visually impaired – the Vision-Aid Digital Accessibility Testing & Training Center (DATTC)  on Oct. 18 2020. This Center will offer a comprehensive range of resources for Digital Accessibility Testing and Training.

Vision-Aid’s team uses leading international standards, highly trained, skilled and certified staff and state-of-the-art processes, technology and tools to deliver a high-quality program in both testing and training in this space.

Vision-Aid is happy to share their joy and pride on the achievement of Bharathan V.S., one of the Vision-Aid students, and also a Teaching Assistant in Vision-Aid learning programs. Bharathan has recently graduated from the Maharaja Sayajirao University, Baroda, with a B.E in Computer Science and Engineering, and has landed his first job as a Data Analyst at Shell Business Operations, Chennai, India.

Vision-Aid is set to launch it's Virtual Digital Accessibility Testing and Training Centre (DATTC). This important new initiative is being made possible by the generous donation of Ms. Sundari and Mr Samir Mitra of California USA, in the honor of Ms. Sundari Mitra’s parents, Sri Vissa Sahadev Rao and Smt. Kamala Sahadev of Bengaluru, India.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the team at the Vision-Aid Resource Center at Aravind Eye Hospital in Madurai has started online therapy session for children with special needs. Since In-hospital visits pose a significant risk of infection, and considering the vulnerable immune system of these children the Aravind team had to stop office-based therapy for such patients until conditions improve.

After the initial onset of the pandemic, and services had to be stopped abruptly, the team found that stopping services to the kids led to regression in vision and overall development in many young children who would normally have received in-hospital services. This raised apprehension among parents who began to request the Aravind team to find some way to help their affected children.

Teaching Spoken English skills to blind and visually impaired students is one of the core programs in the Vision-Aid model. Teaching English to the visually impaired requires special considerations. The primary one is that teachers cannot use “visual cues” to teach students. Most of the traditional Spoken English training relies heavily on visual cues (showing someone a picture of an object, place or person and using the picture as a teaching aid. Sighted students can also use reading and writing as a support to improve conversation and speaking.

Due to the pandemic our new Lachman Dass Gupta Vision-Aid center at Delhi, still continues to be on pause as our partner Shroff Charity Eye Hospital, is still operating on emergency mode only. However, just prior to pausing services due to the pandemic, they were already actively serving many visually impaired persons. Here are two reports sent to us by them which can help us understand the type of impact the center is already having in its early days.

Enable, Educate, Empower - The three ‘E’s encapsulate Vision-Aid’s mission, and guide its programs which aim to help the visually impaired and blind to live with independence and dignity, and to reach their full potential.