Rehabilitation for The Visually Impaired in Taiwan

Recording of Digital Talking Books
From July to Sep., we finished recording two books and twelve web broadcasting programs.  All books and broadcasting programs are produced in DAISY format.  DAISY format is the best way to read and the best way to publish for the visually impaired (According to the DAISY consortium).  These books and broadcasting programs are made especially for visually impaired people, and we will give these books to the visually impaired for free when they make an order.  We also put our web broadcasting programs on TDTB’s website.  The website of web radio programs is: http://www.tdtb.org/information_2.aspx. The broadcasting programs are about topics of Health, Travelling, Book reviews and Interviews.  In the future, we will continue recruiting volunteers and recording daisy digital talking books and aritcles.

Enlarging the DAISY Library continually. 
This Online library is constructed in 2010, and visually impaired people could join to be a membership from that time.  This library has 250 members and 2,900 DAISY books till now.  Next year, the rotary club of Tienmu will cooperate with TDTB to enlarge the scale of DAISY Library.  The model of Taiwan DAISY library mainly referred to a famous organization called Bookshare.org in USA.  From 2007, Bookshare.org acquired a subsidy about 32 million dollars from the Special Section of Education Department of U.S.A. in five years.  With enormous fund, Bookshare.org had more than 120,000 books and 150,000 members in 2011. 
TDTB tried to build a DAISY library from the successful experience of Bookshare.org.  TDTB not only provides DAISY books but also provides computer training courses, which make this library accessible for visually impaired people.  This year, TDTB will cooperate with Rotarians to expand DAISY library.  TDTB will continue to make DAISY books and recruit members.  We will especially focus on visually impaired students.  We will try hard to improve their reading ability and computer ability.  With your help, TDTB will continually make good DAISY books for the visually impaired.

Computer Courses
With your support, we have held many kinds of computer courses.  We have hold the group class (internet, facebook), and the music editing group class.  Other computer courses include introduction of software--screen reader (NVDA), basic computer information, music editing software (such as Goldwave, My studio PC), Microsoft Office and Youtube, blogs and surfing the internet, E-mail, operation of windows.  We also planned a new class for the visually impaired.  That is photography class for the visually impaired children.  If we have enough funds, we can hold the new class.
  In Sundays, we hold a seminar called “life experience sharing.”  The seminars will continue to hold until December.  We invited many visually impaired people to share their valuable life experiences.  Topics of sharing are abundant, range from investing, exercising, traveling to learning English.  TDTB also provide psychological counseling services.  Our social workers will talk to the visually impaired one by one and know their needs.  Also we hire professional counselors to help the visually impaired.   

Links:

• official site of TDTB

The following is an e-postcard from Ana Calvo Langdon, a GlobalGiving Representative in Taiwan.

"Since I came to TDTB I’m not hidden anymore, my life has changed. Now I know there is a lot I can do for other people like me” stated Evelyn, one of the visually impaired members of staff in Taiwan Digital Talking Books Association (TDTB). Evelyn started out by attending computer classes at TDTB and a few months later, she joined the staff because she wanted to share her experience and help other visually impaired people.

TDTB is an organization dedicated to the development and the adoption of technology in the production of digital talking books for people with disabilities. On August 6^th, Sandra and I met with the very dedicated staff of TDTB: including the chairman, secretary general, and the Project Leader. All of them were so welcoming. After learning about the organization, they gave us a tour of the office - the computer room where a group lesson was taking place, the room where the staff work (out of the 18 people in staff, 11 are visually impaired), a room where the books are recorded and the “counseling room”. They showed us how to record a book and how a NVDA reader works. We even recorded a little message for them with Evelyn’s help - next time we will try it in mandarin!

Apart from the teaching courses on how to use a NVDA screen reader (an awesome pocket-size tool for the visually impaired), how to browse a web page and communicate with friends online, TDTB produces books and translate magazines into an electronic format. They proudly showed us some of the books they published as well as the different apps on the iPhone for the visually impaired. They are at the forefront at technology!

TDTB is committed in giving visually impaired people equal opportunities, empowering them, and preparing them to fully participate in society.