COOL BLIND TECH

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New Program Connects Visually Impaired People with Employers

George Quarcoo is an intern at CNIB Foundation and is part of the non-profit’s new Come to Work program. The program aims to pair blind or visually impaired job seekers with employers.

The North York resident, who lost the majority of his vision when he was nine, wants to take his passion about robotics and apply it in the aerospace engineering field.

“I always wanted to be an astronaut when I was a kid, but since I lost my vision I can’t do anything,” the 23-year-old said. “I can’t get into it per se, but I can do things related to it like programming.” read more

CNIB Launches Phone It Forward

The CNIB Foundation has announced the launch of its newest program, Phone It Forward, a initiative that is the emblem of an exciting new direction for the century-old charity.

With millions of smartphones gathering dust each year as users upgrade to newer models, Phone It Forward gives Canadians a unique opportunity to donate their old phones, receive a tax receipt and empower people who are blind in the process.

“Forty-six per cent of Canadians who are blind don’t own a smartphone, at least not one that’s advanced enough to help them in their daily lives,” said John Rafferty, president and CEO, CNIB Group. “Phone It Forward lets us put an all-in-one communications and accessibility solution into their hands that will help reduce barriers and drive independence.” read more

UK’s First Braille Treasure Hunt Launched for People with Vision and Hearing Loss

Walthew House, a charity for people with vision and hearing difficulties , has launched the trail, which is believed to be the first of its kind in the country to utilize braille. Lasting around two hours, the aim is to solve clues on a circular route of approximately two miles, incorporating plaques, signs, statues, monuments, images, engravings or any other unique features found in the area.

As well as utilizing sales of the trail to raise funds, the charity will encourage its service users to take on the challenge of the full trail accompanied by sighted guides. It also plans to host British Sign Language-interpreted events for deaf people who want to participate in the trail. read more

How Alexa Users Can Donate to a Charity with Their Voice

Amazon has added a new skill for Alexa that lets users donate with their voice. The command is, “Alexa, donate $20 to the Blind Cat Rescue & Sanctuary” and the smart assistant will pull that money from your associated account. Alexa uses a four-digit voice confirmation code to help users from making accidental purchases.

Amazon also says it shares users’ name, email and address with the organization, but not credit card info. Users will also get an email confirmation of the donation and can track that info over at Amazon Pay. read more

Construction of New 70,000 Square-Foot CNIB Facility Gets Provincial Approval

First proposed in 2016, the extensive rebuild of the CNIB building now has provincial approval and construction is expected to begin this spring or summer.

The announcement was made on Monday morning — the 100th anniversary of the Canadian National Institute for the Blind, a registered charity that provides services to Canadians with vision loss.

“We are pleased that we’ve received approval from the Provincial Capital Commission to have a rebuild on this site with our partner Brandt Developments,” said Christall Beaudry, executive director of CNIB Saskatchewan Division. read more

RNIB Loses Millions

The blindness charity Royal National Institute of Blind People made a loss of £12.6 million in the year to 31 March 2017, the charity’s latest accounts show.

The accounts, which were released on the Companies House website at the end of last week, show that RNIB’s total income for the year was £119.2 million, compared with expenditure of £132.8 million.

The charity made net gains of £1 million on its investments, leading to an overall loss of £12.6 million.

A spokesman for the charity said £4.3 million of the overall losses related to exceptional costs for the restructuring and reorganization of the charity, with the remaining operational loss of £8.3 million for 2016/17 “a £1 million improvement of £9.3 million on the previous year”. read more

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