Rehabilitation for The Visually Impaired in Taiwan

With the beginning of 2020, TDTB has not let its footsteps pause. Although the climate in Spring is endless, and COVID-19 has caused global panic, TDTB still maintains a consistent and steady pace, and actively launches a series of activities to provide services for the visually impaired. Not interrupted by external influences. This year, TDTB also began to promote new-type programs. Through the links of local NPO and Corporate visits, we hope that more people can support us through understanding and make TDTB's visually impaired services better through your support. In the week of March 23-27, GlobalGiving held a Little by Little Campaign event. As long as you donate a small amount to this project (below $ 50), GlobalGiving will provide a relative amount of 50%, greatly improving your benefits of donations are welcome.

1. Board Meeting of TDTB (Feb.7)

The traditional Chinese Lunar New Year holiday has just ended, and TDTB has been busy and fulfilling for a year, starting with the board meeting. The Board members are made up of a group of friends who are enthusiastic about visually impaired services and those who have received the services of TDTB in the past. During the meeting, we discussed and established a consensus on the development priorities and future goals of this year. Through the meeting, provided a good starting point for this year's service.

2. Volunteer training (Mar.7)

To consolidate the friendship of the volunteers of TDTB and become an important supports of the visually impaired service, volunteer partners are invited to learn from the services of TDTB → Guided introduction for the visually impaired (Human-guides Techniques) + implementation → recognize DAISY audiobook → audio software/hardware introduction + Implementation → exchange of recorded works and conduct a series of volunteer training. In the first module in March, TDTB President of Board Dr. Wang Janli ’s explanation of  TDTB services, and the visually impaired social workers’ instructions on the guidance method for the visually impaired, plus the internship experience at a nearby famous spot, , not only allowed volunteers understand the service spirit of TDTB, and through activities make volunteers a strong linking for the Society.

3. Podcast program online (Jan.26)

In order to expand the promotion of visually impaired services, TDTB has added new online radio programs since January this year. It is based on the book “Blindness: What it is, What it does and How to live with it” by Fr. Thomas J. Carroll. In the chapter, different guests are invited to discuss the loss and rehabilitation of the visually impaired. The program is launched on the Podcast every Thursday and is also broadcast on the Youtube channel, reaching more audiences who want to know about visually impaired services through the power of the internet.

4. Cultural travel (Jan.18, Mar.14)

To allow the visually impaired to travel through culture, on the one hand, they have a better understanding of the living environment, and on the other hand, increase the interaction of the visually impaired through group activities and get out of the closed environment. Two different types of cultural tours were conducted this season. One was to visit the peeling raft and the local education center in the historical district of the Wanhua area so that the visually impaired could experience the development process of Taiwan's traditional culture through listening and touching. The other is an outdoor activity that leads the visually impaired to Xiangshan, a suburb of Taipei. Through contact with nature and the introduction of surrounding landscapes and plants, the visually impaired can stretch their muscles and improve their knowledge.

5. Organization visit(Feb-Mar)

To increase the local connection and expand the contact surface of the service object through contact with the relevant organization,  visited the , an NPO serviced for a nomad, and a group of 36 local NPOs in Mar.18).  besides, to expand our contact with relevant NPOs and enterprises, it was on Feb.5 and Feb.19 ITRI. Let services go out through visits and links.

6. National Open University Cooperation (Mar.4)

To serve more visually impaired people, we cooperate with National Open University (NOU) to produce an e-book of the school's publications and place it in the DAISY library of TDTB for students with visual impairment at the school to borrow and study online. Through this cooperation, TDTB has also increased the number of services for students with visual impairment. The ceremony of the cooperation agreement was signed on March 11th at NOU and was signed by the president of the university, Dr. Chen Songbai, and the chairman of TDTB, Dr. Wang Janli. The two parties started a new service milestone.

Links:

• We are NPO serving the visually impaired with technology

Dear donor of Taiwan Digital Talking Book Association (TDTB),

          With the weather turning chilly and the temperature dropping, 2019 is coming to an end. TDTB would like to thank you for your support that has propelled us throughout the year, empowering us with warmth and motivation to assist visually impaired.

          In this year, TDTB has strived to provide visually impaired with technology-related services and programs to ensure their accessibility to information. Backed by a strong and capable group of teachers and trainers, we have held one-on-one and group courses to teach the visually impaired to use NVDA screen reader and Microsoft Office Suites and services while offering distance education on our Visually Impaired People E-learning Platform (VIP e-learning platform). In addition, we have continued to expand the collection of talking books on Digital Accessible Information System (DAISY), a form of digital talking books, for visually impaired fellows who wish to read. So far, the collection has seen a total of 8240 books for them to download and enjoy.

          Moreover, because of your support, in this past year alone, TDTB has provided services to over 100 visually impaired. These services, besides the aforementioned, include pieces of training to use smartphones, support groups as well as individual and group counseling. And seeing that there was a strong demand for elementary school students to acquire information technology skills, TDTB specifically designed a group course for twenty children and individual courses for twelve. Following these courses, TDTB held the third VIP Talent Competition in October to encourage visually impaired students to utilize assistive information technology. We held the preliminary round on the VIP e-learning platform and the finals in Taichung for typing accuracy and Internet search efficiency. To our great satisfaction, the look on the parents’ faces when they were cheering their children on was priceless and made everything worthwhile.

In order to promote the concept of accessible web design, TDTB cooperation with seven universities and one NPO, with more than 200 people participating, including students and IT professionals, and held a prize-giving contest at Taiwan Normal University. Participate and interact enthusiastically, let everyone know more about the concept of accessible web design and its importance.

          In addition to the courses, pieces of training, and counseling, TDTB also endeavored to encourage the visually impaired fellows to step out of their comfort zone by organizing six cultural tours. Accompanied by the professional guides and volunteers, TDTB was able to take groups of visually impaired to visit the Puppetry Art Center of Taipei, Taipei Museum of Contemporary Art, Lin Yutang House, National Palace Museum, the Red House and the Western Temple of the Vow. These tours have not only allowed the visually impaired to experience the rich history and art of the Chinese culture, but they have also enabled the volunteer to better understand the needs of the visually impaired people and the work that TDTB does.

          Last but not least, TDTB also hosted five rehabilitation experience sharing events to encourage the visually impaired fellows to return to their normal life or workplace. Five visually impaired speakers, Yun-Shuan Lee(), Fan-Rong Lai(), Dianna Fu(), Yun-i Yang () and Jan-Li Wang(), shared their journey from vision loss to faith recovery. We also hope that these events would attract more volunteers to join us and help make the lives of the visually impaired better.

          Our ultimate goal is to assist visually impaired fellows to return to the workplace, empower them and transform them from recipients to the giver. Global Giving is holding the Year-End Campaign 2019 right now. If you are interested in supporting us at the end of 2019, you can respond to GG's plan and donate 4 times (recurrent monthly)by credit card before the end of the year. We sincerely hope and welcome you to sponsor us or join our volunteer team. If you wish to get more information, please click on the link: http://www.tdtb.org/ and get on our official website, or just kindly give us a call at +886 02-23894915. Your care and support is our most powerful momentum, and we hope to continue this journey with you in the coming year 2020.

Links:

• Taiwan Digital Talking Book Association