About the Project

The Roshni Initiative has employed a four-pronged approach to help visually impaired students in underserved communities. The first prong is providing resources that the community can utilize to achieve their educational and employment goals. In this vein, we are curating a comprehensive database with detailed information on opportunities for pro-bono relief and support, skills training, and employment. Moreover, the project seeks to set up a computer laboratory equipped with second-hand computers and laptops at the affiliate NGO centre. With these resources in place, we hope to motivate and encourage young individuals to attain a higher quality of education. 

As part of the second prong, we are working on developing a unique voice-activated digital assistive technology modelled around the needs of visually impaired students. The assistant is a refined version of an already existing technology, emphasizing voice recognition and text-to-speech algorithms to help these individuals navigate their coursework. This technology will be installed in all computers at the Edu-Start Computer Laboratory, free of cost. To provide financial support to these individuals, we plan to host a fundraising event through which proceeds will be collected to buy Braille books and audiobooks and donate them to the NGO, as a means to boost alternate forms of learning and promote enhanced educational standards.

Lastly, at Roshni Initiative, we believe that education is empowerment, which is why we are authoring a series of articles on Medium to educate and inform the public about developments in assistive technology for disabled individuals as well as the societal problems this community faces.