Rehabilitation for The Visually Impaired in Taiwan

Happy Lunar New Year! The TDTB wishes you have a great time in the Year of Dog!

During the period from late 2017 to early 2018, the TDTB has drafted the 2018 Plan to provide its services to Taiwanese with visual impairment. With so many things in mind, but limited resources on hand, we surely need your continual supports, so that we could better serve VIP communities in Taiwan. Major activities/events in the Plan are highlighted as followed:

1.  Computer Courses: In the year of 2018, this Association plans to hold 13 group courses. In these courses, we will discuss with people with visual impairment about the use of the NVDA screen reader, Microsoft Office, Windows 10 Operation System, Chinese typing, and Internet surfing. More than 150 visually impaired participants will benefit from these courses.
2. Individual Training: In the 2018 Plan, the TDTB has allocated 1,000 hours of one-on-one courses to individuals who need our service. Contents in these tailor-made courses included screen reader NVDA, assistive devices, as well as smart phone applications for visually impaired people.
3. NVDA Screen Reader: NVDA Screen Reader is an assertive software used by people with visual impairment worldwide. In the last decade, the TDTB has been taking the lead in localizing this tool, so that it could have better performance among Taiwanese users. Through the year of 2018, the Association will dedicate itself into drafting a set of manual guide and tests regarding the NVDA. We will also make these lectures available online, so visual impaired people could conduct asynchronous learning without leaving their residences.
4. Information Education: We also plan to hold a competition on Chinese Dictation Typing and Data Searching in October 2018, in order to inspire attentions on correct Chinese typing among students with visual impairment. Champion of this competition will get a prize equivalent to USD 330.
5. Accessibility: From March to December 2018, the TDTB will hold a series of events to promote the accessibility of webpages for visually impaired people. We’re going to visit more than 9 universities around Taiwan, deliver lectures on this issue, and have discussions with college students who plans to choose webpage design as their career. There is an event to be held in December 2018 to inspire more attention on accessibility among VIPs as well as ordinary people.
6. Vocational Training: The TDTB vocational training is a nine-month project constantly held on an annual basis. From March to November 2018, we will equip 12 visually impaired people with vocational skills, such as computer file management, the use of Microsoft Office software, internet surfing, NVDA, DAISY books, and etc.
7. DAISY Books: Digital Accessible Information System, or DAISY, is a format of digital talking books for visually impaired people who wish to read. In recent years, we’ve accumulated more than 6,700 books in our DAISY Library, and have more than 1,000 VIPs download DAISY books from that Library each year. In 2018, this Association will add at least 800 more DAISY books into our collection.
8. Experience Sharing: People suffering from visual problems are more willing to take advices and learn lessons from people in the same situation. In 2018, the TDTB plans invite eight visually impaired speakers to share their life experiences on overcoming their visually disabilities. These seminars should to held from March to November 2018, and over 120 visually impaired people are estimated to benefit from these lectures.
9. Mental Health: In addition to computer skills, the TDTB also pay attentions to mental health of people with visual impairment. This association will provide VIPs with 240 hours of psychological counseling in the year of 2018. We are also going to organize 6 outdoor activities which allow people with visually impairment to explore the Taipei City. In addition, we keep contact with VIP communities around Taiwan through social media software, such as the Facebook. In last year, the TDTB had more than 1,000 trackers, and over 130,000 clicks on its Facebook. In the year of 2018, we’ll keep forming a closer bond with people with visual impairment in Taiwan.

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