Vision Empower
Providing accessible solutions in STEM education for children with visual impairment
Vision Empower (VE) is a Not-for-Profit enterprise which empowers children with visual impairment through inclusive education. VE is incubated at IIIT Bangalore.
WHY we do what we do
The Reality
One fourth of the world’s blind population lives in India. In fact, 30% of India’s blind lose their eyesight before the age of 20 and many become blind before the age of five. Given their special needs, children with visual impairment need special resources to have the same opportunities in education as their sighted counterparts. Of the 68% of blind students who go to school, 11.5% eventually drop out (Source : "Population Enumeration Data (Final Population) in Census of India. Derived from here).
While like every other child, a child with visual impairment has the right to education, the current Indian education system and a stark lack of resources leads to majority of blind students being denied the opportunity to learn Science and Math after class 7. Therefore they cannot pursue STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) careers. In the state of Karnataka, of the 45 schools for the blind only one offers these subjects in high school.
A child with visual impairment is debilitated by a ‘wall’ on her road to STEM education.
WHAT we do
Vision Empower seeks to shift the present statistic, making STEM accessible to students with visual impairment.
Learning Resources
VE, in collaboration with its partners, is creating STEM content for students in the form of Braille books, audio books, tactile diagrams and other accessible content for each topic at all grade levels.
Anubhav : Experiential STEM Learning Programme
Anubhav is VE's flagship experiential STEM learning programme with the aim to develop the scientific temperament among children.
Pragya : Teacher Training Programme
VE teacher training workshops equip school teachers, both with visual impairements and sighted, with the methodologies that aim to make STEM lessons interesting and effective.
Ananda : Hand-holding Programme for Students
VE volunteers work with students to reinforce STEM learning through after-school engagements.
Assistive Technologies
VE has initiated several research projects to design and develop assistive technology to enable students with visual impairment to learn STEM concepts on par with their sighted peers.
WHO We Are
The Empowering Ecosystem
Team VE, along with our partners, collaborate to create accessible content, instruction kits and technologies to assist the teaching and learning of STEM for children with visual impairment.
Team
People at the heart of VE
Know More
VIDHYA: Visually impaired since birth, Vidhya overcame immense challenges to become the first blind student to study math at the higher secondary level in Karnataka and the first blind student to pursue a computer science major in her university. She is the motivation behind Vision Empower and aims to break down barriers in STEM education for the blind.
SUPRIYA: an IT professional with over two decades of experience is the powerhouse behind Vision Empower. Her experience in volunteering as a teacher to children with visual impairments since 2015 provided an impetus to conceive Vision Empower.
AMIT PRAKASH: is an Associate Professor at IIIT Bangalore. He actively engages with the notion of inclusion in designing digital technologies and democratizing social systems for his research and consulting endeavours.
Our valuable core team of ADITYA, RAJ, SHILPA, mentors and student interns who help build / steer the vision with more ambitious projects, connects.
Know MoreOur Partners
Big dreams, great ambitions need superstars to complete the ecosystem. These are our star partners and collaborators.
Vividha Trust
Matru Chaya Trust
Mitra Jyothi Trust
XRCVC
Tactile Center, Assistech Labs, IIT Delhi
IIITB
Touchétech Labs
VE Supporters
IIITB
WIPRO
Samsung
Let's Tag On
Omega Healthcare
Elektrobit
Volunteers
Make a difference to your life. We have such heartwarming stories to share!
A journey with VE is enriching and rewarding...
Take Maruthu, who enjoys learning/playing along with our 5th grade Prajwal, every saturday at SRMAB, or Nalina who helped with Maria or Biswesh who was a participant in the hackathon.
If you are looking for a meaningful way to contribute to society and wish to join us in this endeavour, we would be more than happy to hear from you! There are myriads of ways you could help us. Please write to supriya@visionempowertrust.org
The BUZZ
News & Events
MoU with Enability Foundation
VE and Enability Foundation incubated at IIT Madras signed an MoU on 6th of August 2019 to collaborate on creation of tactile diagrams using Tactograph, a product designed by Enability. The two teams will work on making more tactile diagrams available to VI teachers and students for Science and Math. The team at Enability Foundation…
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Pragya 2019 Teacher Trainings
Vision Empower organized the Pragya 2019 Teacher Trainings in collaboration with Canara Bank Relief and Welfare Association (Matruchhaya) from 26th June 2019 to 28th June 2019. Science and Mathematics teachers from 8 special schools for the visually impaired attended the training on directives from the Department for Welfare of Differently Abled and Senior Citizens, Government…
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I for Inclusion
I for Inclusion was organized by Vision Empower for its staff, researchers and volunteers on 20th May to 22nd May 2019. The event was intended to create awareness among participants on the realities of visually impaired persons, bust myths about their limitations and provide teachers with the knowledge of the accommodations required to teach them…
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Stories
PRAGYA 2019: REFLECTIONS AND EXPERIENCES
By Aishwarya
The teachers training program, Pragya 2019, conducted on the 26th, 27th and 28th of June, served as a platform for many science and math teachers in the state to come together for 3 days of learning and fun. The event offered an opportunity for teachers to brush up their skills, learn through the experiences of other teachers in the group, and also get to know one another closely, creating a community that enables its members to learn from one another.
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Publications
ICT Trends : United Nations Asian and Pacific Training Centre for Information and Communication Technology for Development (APCICT) created for inter-governmental organizations
CodeTalk: Improving Programming Environment Accessibility for Visually Impaired Developers
“We can go anywhere”: Understanding independence through a case study of ride-hailing use by people with visual impairments in metropolitan India
YOU & VE
Volunteer with Us
Students with visual impairment do better in smaller groups and with individual attention. Volunteers like you can play a crucial role in filling the gap and making STEM accessible to students. If you would like to know more about our volunteering opportunities drop us a line at admin@visionempowertrust.org. We’ll be happy to talk to you.
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