Accessible reading materials for the students with visual impairment (DAP)

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Project Title: Accessible reading materials for the students with visual impairment.

Geographical Coverage : Chittagong City Corporation Area.

Duration of the Project: September 2018 to August 2019.

Supported by: Australian High Commission (Direct Aid Program).

Brief description of the Project:

The period of last four and half decades, after independence, has witnessed a significant expansion of educational opportunities for visually impaired citizens. Article 17 of the constitution of Bangladesh says about the free compulsory and inclusive education which has already been enforced by the government of Bangladesh. As a result, Lots of Visually impaired students are now studying at schools, colleges and universities and this number is going up every year.

On the other hand, it is also true that these students are facing a severe lack of accessible study materials. As a consequence, thousands of visually impaired students are experiencing discrimination in the field of education. So there progress in this field is more humble than the able bodied. Thus, these youngsters are failing to keep pace
with the accelerated tempo of educational activity. That’s why we are making relentless effort to resolve this problem. Yet they are not getting enough accessible materials.

Therefore, the drop-out rate of the visually impaired students from educational institution is very high in comparison to their normal counterparts. To considering this situation YPSA has approached this project. The project will develop visual accessible reading materials for university/tertiary education going students. 2000 Students of 10 institutions will cover at this project in Chittagong City Corporation Area. After the project this contents will published at online which will free and common access. By this project YPSA will be able to fulfil the dream of hundreds of visually impaired boys and girls by availing them with enough accessible study materials.

Objectives of the Project (what will be achieved by the project?)

  • To produce digital talking book (DTB) for Tertiary Education
  • To disseminate the materials to the print disabled people
  • To increase the capacity of student with visual impairment for accessing
    reading materials

Background of Proposal/Current Needs:

Persons with vision impairments and others with print disabilities face discrimination and challenges in obtaining an equitable education in the traditional sense, as reading materials are frequently inaccessible to them. There is a severe lacking of adequate study materials and books for them both in markets and libraries and also there is no deliberate policy and initiatives of the Government and Non-Government Authorities to ensure accessible study materials for visually challenged students. Therefore, they are always lagging behind in their studies and receiving information. In many cases, the absence of such reading materials is resulting in ignorance and lack of action or sole reliance on the assistance of a third party. But UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities stated that, “People should have rights to education and equal access to information and knowledge regardless of disability”.

Therefore, this project will address the immediate need to provide students with study materials in accessible formats. YPSA has quiet enough experiences on developing accessible materials for visual impaired person. Currently, YPSA, along with Access to Information program (A2I), Prime Minister Office Bangladesh, has produced books in DAISY format for school level students which has proven its accessibility and cost effectiveness compared to the paper books for the students with visual disability, print disability and learning disability.

Activities:

Activity Indicator Methodology Frequency Responsibility Source of Information Current Status
1. Conduct Survey to select content and finalize the content Report Generation Survey and Secondary Information 01 YPSA-KM4D Survey

Report

Complete
2. Published Report and Outreach Report publication Report publication 01 YPSA-KM4D Report Complete
3. Selection of Individual and Institution for Book Distribution Students and Institutions are selected Survey 2000 students and 10 institution YPSA-IRCD Report Complete
4. Production of Multimedia Talking Book

 

Production of Digital Talking Book DAISY

Standard, Audio only and Full text full audio

200 Title

and

30,000

Pages

YPSA-IRCD Report Complete
5. Developing an online portal for accessible book sharing online

portal

Web based 01 YPSAIRCD Website Complete
6. Uploading digital contents on online portal Online availability of digital contents Web and

internet

01 YPSA-IRCD Website Complete
7. Distribution Book Among 2000 end-user Soft

version

2000 end-user YPSA-IRCD News/ Report Complete
8. Organize 10 Orientation for 10 Institutions Orientation Report Participator

y Meeting

10 Orientation YPSA-IRCD News/ Report Complete
9. Network and Linkage Meetings with relevant Stakeholders Meeting Report Networking Meeting 10 Meeting YPSA-IRCD News/ Report Complete
10. Popularizing digital contents Social Media Post Social Media Post 60 YPSA-IRCD Social Media Complete

Impact of the Project/Expected Outputs

  1. 2000 students of college and university level are directly benefited from this project.
  2. Ten institutions was covered by this project
  3. This project has enabled visually challenged college and university students to get their text books in DAISY format.
  4. It enhanced the literally knowledge of the beneficiaries which made them more confident to achieve their aims and objectives of life.
  5. It inspired blind students on pursuing their education and the drop-out rate has reduced.

How were the beneficiaries of the project involved in developing it?

80% of the project stuff will be persons with disabilities and most of them are women and total book production procedure will be run by them, who will at the same time access these reading materials. Beneficiaries will be consulted during the different phases of the project. They will be engaged in the social media campaign. Students with visual disabilities will be engaged as peer groups to distribute books among each other.

Impact on the environment:

As most of the activities will be conducted electronically; therefore, it will not pose any threat to the environment by any means.

Survey Report 
Cover Page
Survey Report of the current situation and necessity regarding reading materials of the visually impaired students studying at tertiary level in Bangladesh.
File type: PDF.
File size: 377 KB.
Download

Web Portal for Accessible Digital Talking Books www.accessiblebookbd.org