Georgetown : 34 visually impaired persons were the latest beneficiaries of laptops as the One Laptop Per Family (OLPF) initiative continued its Region Four distribution drive today at the Guyana Society for the Blind at St Phillip’s Green.
The laptops possess the computer software; Job Access with Speech (JAWS) that allows for the visually impaired user to read the screen of the laptop using either a text-to speech output or a refreshable Braille display. A keyboard and a headphone each were also given to the beneficiaries.
Minister of Human Services and Social Security Jennifer Webster was present during the distribution yesterday.
Minister Webster said that the provision of a second round of laptops to the Society showed,Government’s commitment to ensure that all those persons in our society who are vulnerable, have access to facilities that are being offered.
“I think that it is time that vulnerable persons have more exposure, and this is an area where I feel there are more training opportunities being provided to the vulnerable to be able to do a lot more. We are happy, and we are proud to be providing, and to be given these opportunities through the OLPF project to the Guyana Society for the Blind,” she said.
The Guyana Society for the Blind has been associated with the OLPF initiative since its inception and the President; Cecil Morris said that the collaboration has made the work of the Society much easier and more successful.
Ganesh Singh of the Guyana Council for Persons with Disabilities will conduct the training in the use of the laptop. He explained, “The reason that it is more than the mandatory 10 hours training is that we would teach them the keyboard so they learn to touch type, so we take about six hours to teach them the key board, then we get into Microsoft words and internet use,” he said.
“Once they know the keyboard, which they have to know by memory that is when we move on to the other steps. If you cannot memorise the keys, it is very difficult to teach a blind person anything else after, you cannot just tell them look at ‘F’ and look at ‘G’, they have to know it by feel,” he said.
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