PRESENTATION – PART 1 : LITERACY

INTRODUCTION

I MAKE THIS PRESENTATION IN TWO CAPACITIES :

FIRST, AS CHAIRMAN OF VIDYA VRIKSHAH, IN WHICH CAPACITY I DESIGNED THE SOLUTIONS PRESENTED HERE;

AND SECOND, AS CONSULTANT TO WORTH TRUST, WHICH DEVELOPED SOME OF THESE SOLUTIONS INTO PRODUCTS.

VIDYA VRIKSHAH IS A NO-PROFIT SOCIAL SERVICE ORGANIZATION IN INDIA THAT DESIGNS AND IMPLEMENTS SOLUTIONS AND STRATEGIES

TO BRING LITERACY AND EDUCATION TO THE DOORSTEP OF

BLIND CHILDREN AT NO COST

WORTH TRUST IS AN UNUSUAL NO-PROFIT INDUSTRY IN INDIA THAT RECRUITS, TRAINS AND EMPLOYS DISABLED PERSONS TO MAKE DISABILITY PRODUCTS

AND OFFER THESE TO THE

DISABLED AT A NO-PROFIT LOW COST

BRAILLE-BASED LITERACY AND EDUCATION

THE SPECIAL NEEDS OF THE THIRD WORLD

MOST OF THE WORLD’S BLIND POPULATION LIVE IN THE THIRD WORLD. MOST OF THEIR BLIND CHILDREN CANNOT COME TO SCHOOLS BECAUSE OF DISTANCE, DISABILITY AND POVERTY.

BLIND SCHOOLS IN THE THIRD WORLD ARE FEW AND FAR BETWEEN AND HAVE A SMALL INTAKE. MAINSTREAM SCHOOLS, THOUGH MORE IN NUMBER, OFTEN DO NOT TAKE IN BLIND CHILDREN. THEY PLEAD THAT THEY DO NOT HAVE THE KNOWLEDGE OR EQUIPMENT TO TEACH THE BLIND.

THE CRYING NEED THEREFORE, IS TO PROVIDE SIMPLE SOLUTIONS THAT WOULD ENABLE ANY LITERATE PERSON TO LEARN AND TEACH BRAILLE TO THE CHILD AT HOME, OR FOR LITERACY AND EDUCATION TO BE BROUGHT TO THE DOORSTEP OF THE BLIND CHILD AT NO COST.

I NOW PRESENT OUR SOLUTIONS FOR ACCOMPLISHING THIS.

OUR SOLUTION FOR LITERACY

THE UNIVERSAL BRAILLE KIT (UBK)

Our basic solution for Literacy is the Universal Braille Kit (UBK) This is a set of simple inexpensive devices, some existing standard ones, and some new ones that I designed.

These devices can be used by all children, blind or sighted, to acquire

the basic functional skills of braille based literacy of how to

Read And Write, Count And Calculate And Draw And Measure.

The Kit is supplied to blind children free of cost. Simple instruction manuals in the local language are provided that enable any literate person, preferably the mother, to teach these at home. If the mother is illiterate, she too could thereby become literate.

LET US NOW LOOK AT THE FULL UBK

	THE UNVERSAL BRAILLE KIT The UBK is comprised of 8 devices as in the images below (All images, except Taylor Frame, are animated in this presentation)

REACHING THE UBK TO THE CHILD

Worth Trust makes the devices of the UBK to international standards and supplies the UBK at a no-profit low unit price, currently fixed at INR 550 OR US$ 13.50

Vidya Vrikshah for its part, mobilizes public donations, which have so far enabled distribution of the UBK free of cost to 20000 blind children in India and 2000 in Afro-Asian countries.

THIS IS AN ON-GOING PROGRAMME.

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