Globally, about 285 Million people are visually impaired [1] and in Bangladesh, over 6 Million people need vision correctness [2]. In 2009, the American foundation reported that 93,600 students were visually impaired and among them, 55,200 students were legally blind! [3] As maximum visually impaired people live in low- and middle-income countries [2], we may guess how many visually impaired students are in Bangladesh.
Visually impaired students face difficulties in studying books, writing notes, etc. as they do not see the texts However, as far as I know, the support system for them is not available in the Bangla language. Therefore, I have developed an educational tool Light of Hope (আশার আলো) in Bangla for visually impaired students which may enable these students to become self-dependent. This in turn may increase their confidence to do something by themselves instead of depending on sighted people.
I started working on this project in 2017 when I was a student in the 2nd semester.You may watch the recorded video to understand the working procedure.
In each activity, there are only two buttons. The two buttons can be controlled using the volume up and down button. Upon pressing each button, at first, the app will tell what the button can do. Then, pressing it again for a long time (approx. 500 milliseconds), the button will work.
This app can automatically scan and read texts (e.g. books, hand notes). Therefore, students will be able to study whenever they want.
Students will be able to write notes by listening to the pressed key of the keyboard as well as through voice. They will also be able to save the note.
This project was selected to present and participate in a competition of IUT 9th ICT fest - 2017. I and two students of East West University (Tanvir Hasan and Mushfique) attended there as a team where I served the team as a leader.
Video: Working procedure of the app. I thank Tanvir Hasan for the recording.