Amar Ekushey Boi Mela
<i>Joy for visually impaired </i>
A visually challenged girl reads a book in Braille at the stall of Sightsavers, a non-government organisation (NGO), at the Amar Ekushey Boi Mela yesterday. Photo: Palash Khan
Once the Amar Ekushey Boi Mela did not mean much to Jannatul Nayeem, a visually impaired student, except hearing the buzz of bookworms and visitors on the Bangla Academy premises. This year the fair has brought something for her. She now has the choice to get into the amusement of reading stories, poems, and other books, as a stall has brought 15 titles in Braille for visually impaired people. “This fair should not be the place of excitement only for normal people…scope should be preserved for visually impaired persons like me”, said Jannatul, an honours student at the city's Eden Girls' College, who was visiting the fair yesterday afternoon. Sporsha Braille Corner, a voluntary organisation, has created such scope with a set of Braille books covering different sections of literature. "Many visually challenged persons visit our stall everyday and read these books here”, said Nazia Jabeen, one of the patrons of the organisation. “But this is not enough. Only 15 books in Braille in the world of literature are nothing in reality”, she added. She expected that other publishers would bring out books in Braille. A non-government organisation (NGO), Sightsavers, has come up in the fair with various equipment for the visually challenged as part of its effort to raise public awareness about these special needs people. It also has brought books on primary level education in Braille. “Our target is make both the visually impaired and others familiar with the equipments available for the visually challenged persons”, said Mahbubur Rahman, one of the staff at the stall. The stall has also created the scope for using computers with a special screen-reading-software, he said. “With this software, visually impaired people will hear everything on the computer screen and then they will be able to use the computer”. Meanwhile, a total of 112 new titles hit the fair yesterday.
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