Pakistan Assistive Technology Foundation (PATF) is a non-profit organization. We are working for visually impaired persons in the field of assistive technology. Here in Pakistan such a unique and almost first project of its type launched by Muhammad Shahbaz Hussain in April 2010. Address patf.pk Thoughts Behind This project was launched with the thoughts of providing assistive technology training to visually impaired persons in our country. There are numerous institutions in world providing training, pod casts and tutorials all about the needs of visually impaired persons regarding assistive technology. A number of these are accessible through web but here in Pakistan we didn’t find such services. Therefore, we launched PATF to fulfill the needs of visually impaired persons in our society. Our motive is to break the barriers by providing different trainings and shaped their skills so that enabled them to take part as an active member in several areas of life, proof themselves among sighted peers and lead more independent life. ”What we doing? Currently, we are doing work in following areas Tutorials: We are providing free audio tutorials. Anybody, can download them or listen online. Library: We are managing free digital online library for visually impaired persons where different books are available to download. Library consists of two sections audio and text books. We are searching and find these books from different places so that make them accessible for blind/low vision persons. Online Classes : We are providing different courses through online classes. A number of students have been completed trainings. Blog: We are running a blog all about assistive technology. There we post different tips and tricks for using assistive technology. Software: We have a collection of useful software for mobile and computer. We searched them over the internet from different websites and try to make possible for screen reader users to get them easily. Be aware these are not our property, we just collect and make available with ease. Future We started from above steps but in futuristic point of view we want to achieve our objectives. We want to make an institute of assistive technology. Where we will arrange complete training programs. We will also launch short courses in different areas of country in this way we will able to make awareness about the use and benefits of assistive technology in upcoming era. Please read our objectives for more details. What is Assistive Technology? “Assistive technology is the technology used by individuals with disabilities in order to perform functions that might otherwise be difficult or impossible.” Advantages of Using Assistive Technology The advantages of using assistive technology by visually impaired people are numerous and indisputable. Integration into the workforce or classroom is the most important advantage. It enabled visually impaired persons to break the stereotypes and to work, along with their sighted peers. Fore example, visually impaired students can use the computer to type homework or to do internet research, and thus compete successfully with their sighted peers. By the use of Assistive technologies they can perform different tasks in daily living routine with confidently and independently. Various Assistive Technologies Screen Readers Enlargement Programs Optical Character Recognition (OCR) Software and Scanners Video Magnifiers (CCTVs) Electronic Notetakers Braille Displays Braille Embossers
Posted on: Wed, 22 Jan 2014 08:52:37 +0000
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