ComBank helps vision-impaired undergrads
A project by the Commercial Bank of Ceylon to help undergraduates
with vision impairment by providing them with specially-designed laptops
and software has benefited another 20 students of four universities.
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Some of the undergraduates at the presentation of the
laptops by Commercial Bank. |
The presentation at the Kandy Teaching Hospital recently, takes the
number of undergraduates who have received laptops from the Bank to 40.
The Bank said the widescreen laptops have a software program titled
'Jaws' installed by the Centre for Sight (CFS) Kandy, which reads out
what is being typed on the keyboard, enabling users to correct their
mistakes.
The first group of vision-impaired students to receive such laptops
from Commercial Bank in 2014 were students from the Ruhuna, Peradeniya,
Colombo, Sri Jayewardenepura, Kelaniya and Jaffna universities.
Managing Director, Commercial Bank, Jegan Durairatnam said, "We have
heard that these laptops have removed many barriers to their education.
These students use the laptops for recording lectures, planning and
typing their theses, making presentations and searching for
information." Before they received the laptops with Jaws software,
students with visual impairment made audio recordings of lectures,
listened to them and took notes.
However, ambient noise resulted in indistinct recordings, and their
lecture notes were rarely complete. Using the laptops donated by
Commercial Bank, they could download recorded lectures, achieving
improved clarity and better notes, he said.
Most of these students used braille for their presentations and
theses and read them aloud to friends who were not visually impaired,
who then wrote the assignments for them. |
