Rehabilitation for The Visually Impaired in Taiwan

"It was the best of times. It was the worst of times." It was the worst of times. During this period, the world experienced the new crown epidemic (COVID-19). The cities were closed and borders closed, and the economy was also greatly affected. As of 5/23/2020, more than 5.3 million people have been infected globally and more than 340,000 have died. Such an era can be called the worst era? However, the more difficult the environment, the more witness to the noble side of mankind. Many countries in the world have cast aside their past differences, faced the epidemic situation together, and worked together to find solutions. NPO also does not give up its responsibility, continue to provide services. The Audiobook Society holds this attitude. Even if the donation is reduced, we cannot interrupt our services and we cannot give up our purpose. I hope that the epidemic will gradually slow down and let everyone gradually return to normal life. Share with you the hard work of TDTB this season

1. The 48th issue of Quarterly-Sound Journey) (April 15)

TDTB Quarterly-Sound Journey is a garden that provides a voice for the visually impaired. Every season, TDTB invites visually impaired people and volunteer partners to express their opinions on the activities handled by TDTB and any issues related to visual impairment. It is a great exchange garden. To serve visually impaired friends, TDTB produces a voiced version of the delivery and also welcomes the use of visually impaired friends.

2. Radio interview with National Open University (April 8)

To let more visually impaired students and special education teachers know TDTB's service resources, the National Open University specially invited TDTB to the Education Radio Station for an exclusive interview. The host said after the visit that the TDTB service is not unique but also very helpful to the visually impaired students. She hopes that TDTB will be able to accept the interview in the future, which gives us great encouragement.

3. Podcast program for visually impaired people 

TDTB's new online radio program takes a book “Blindness: What it is, What it does and How to live with it” as the main axis, and adopts the way of a book club to invite guests such as psychological counselors, social workers, and computer lecturers to discuss together various losses of visually impaired people. This program will be broadcast on Podcast and Youtube channels at 5 pm every Thursday. Welcome to join us and to share your opinions.

4. Cultural travel (May 16)

When the hot summer arrives on the Island, TDTB specially arranged the visually impaired to go to the Neihu() mountain trail, walk along the cool stream, and the waterfall, to enjoy the rare and refreshing travel in the hot summer days. Each cultural trip, in addition to understanding the living environment of Taipei City, also provides volunteers with the opportunity to further interact with the visually impaired. Through the contact of nature and the introduction of surrounding landscape plants, the visually impaired have a wonderful experience.

5. CRM enabled

NPO is a group of people who are enthusiastic about public welfare. The purpose is to combine the power of the public and provide services to people in need. To improve the quality of service, TDTB specially introduced a member management system (CRM) to manage the data of members, service cases, donors and volunteers most efficiently, and also added an online donation system to allow donors to easily use the online function of credit card achieves the situation of mutual benefit and win-win between the donor and the association.

6. Extraordinary Board Meeting (April 17)

TDTB has trained many visually impaired people to become computer lecturers for many years, bet a lot of effort on the training of information aids for visually impaired people, and also cultivated many cases of a successful return to work. To commend the achievements of these teachers, TDTB specially convened an extraordinary meeting of supervisors and rigorous recruitment, and finally selected a computer teacher to participate in the selection of the Government Golden Eagle Award.

7. Volunteer training (April 25, May 23)

Even if the epidemic continues to heat up, TDTB continues to provide services without interruption and regularly launches volunteer training courses every month. To avoid group infections, Online teaching is used in particular, so that volunteers can learn the majors related to visually impaired services, laying the foundation for future volunteer services.

8. Vocational training 2.0

Returning to the workplace for the visually impaired has been one of the priorities of TDTB's efforts, and has recently made some breakthroughs. After the selection of personnel, a meeting was held to evaluate, and the final selected students began to take classes in March. This vocational training 2.0 course adopts individualized design and implements training according to the needs of individual cases. It also matches related industries and conducts a simulation

interview to increase students' psychological and practical preparation before employment. There is already a successful case, which particularly lets us feel exciting.

9. Rehabilitation sharing meeting (May 23)

In this sharing session, a social worker of the Keelung City ()Government, was invited as the keynote speaker. He was a patient with albinism since he was born. Due to his special appearance, he was discriminated, bullied, stumbled all the way, and because of visual inconvenience. Lack of self-confidence, can not find the meaning of life. Today, he is a helping worker engaged in social work, serving more people with his major and enthusiasm. TDTB specially invited him to share his story with his visually impaired friends, and encourage him to go his own way.

Links:

• official website of TDTB
• Facebook of TDTB
• Podcast of TDTB

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