Apps for productive purpose - Corona season well utilised!

"Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere" - Albert Einstein

Imagination...why control it when it is going to be productive for the society. Our imagination for society's support is the trend to set this world a better place. Well, imagination, need not be always referred to Disney, or any common generic examples, but everyday, in every task imagination... visualization of the process is the bridge to success. I guess enough on imagination now, this article is not just about imagination, it's about someone's vision for the benefit of the inner visionaries. 

The brighter future's not so far away with Assistive Technology...Lit the light is proud to introduce you all to Ms. Kiruthika Adhi a geeky, assertive smart girl. She is a recent computer software engineer graduate from MIT, Tamil Nadu. She wishes to pursue her master's abroad sooner. This article is a detailed description of her realization... imagination... visualization... of an assistive technology aid, as an app for the visually challenged

Kiruthika, is also volunteer for visually challenged. She's a good role model for students these days, on how to effectively utilize the time to spend time for community's benefit. She has always been volunteering as a Scribe and a Reader for visually challenged students since her college days through YRC (youth red cross) organization. 

Kiruthika's volunteering experience gave her an vivid idea on the difficulties faced by the visually challenged students for learning since most of the textbooks are not available in the braille or audio format, the students had to depend on the readers. Hence this experience sparked an idea to create an app "InstaReader" using assistive technology to help these students get independent and confident. 

 

During Kiruthika's final year in college, she along with a team of friends, for a Hack-a-Thon project developed a basic protocol of an app, she intended to develop. After completing her engineering, she got busy with job and so couldn't complete the app then. The starting of 2020, she took a break from her work to start preparing for competitive exams to pursue her Masters. The COVID-19 situation, unfortunately delayed her process to Masters, but rekindled her motive to develop or complete the app. However, unfortunate this pandemic period gave her the time to stay home and indulge in her passion to develop the app to support the visually challenged. 

 

Her words for her inspiration "I understood that... Disability is not a problem. The accessibility is the problem"... So to make reading accessible to the students, then she developed the Android application "InstaReader". InstaReader can convert and/or create audio books from photos of textbooks and PDF. The audiobooks will be saved in the app and the students can listen to the audio files anytime. By using this application the visually challenged students can read independently and whenever they need. Currently, this app supports English and Tamil languages... more languages will be added sooner. 

 

We are providing the app link here, please share it liberally with all your contacts who might be benefited by this app.

 

Click to download:

 

 https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.suyam.instareader

 

Steps to learn to use the app - User manual Tutorial 

 

Tutorial Links:

Using talkback: https://youtu.be/3Y9uZb-1Tc0

Without using talkback: https://youtu.be/0sEiq6_zLcg

This is the first version of this app. Thanks to Grassroots for introducing Kiruthika to Lit the Light. Lit the Light is a non profit organization to support exclusively the visually challenged. Lit the Light is proud to promote the app developed by Kiruthika. Lit the Light appreciates Kiruthika's time, interest, efforts and dedication to support the visually challenged community. We sincerely thank her and her interest to volunteer for us and our purpose. 

Lit the Light requests you all to try the app and share your valuable comments and feedback to improve the app, to make it anymore user friendly. Please share the app to your family and friends who would be benefited by the same. Let's share and do our part, so it reaches all the visually challenged community and support them to perform independently in the mainstream.

For further information regarding the app and our Lit the Light Organization, contact us through the links given below. Lit the Light appreciates all our Well-wishers support!

Website: https://www.litthelight.org

FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/LitTheLight/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/litthelight/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lit-the-light-trust-691b59114/

In this pandemic situation, for our safety and others, please follow the safety restrictions. Stay Safe! Wishes from Lit the Light

 

He can...He will...and He is doing it...Doing it better...Irwin, the Magical Singer !!!

Disability is a Matter of Perception...Being Positive is the attitude to be!!!

SINGING PEARL FROM THE CITY OF PEARLS – IRWIN VICTORIA

Born on 21 – Dec – 1989 to Timothy Victoria and Vasanthi Victoria, Irwin Victoria was identified as a singer by his Mother when he sang during school days. His Elder brother’s name is Ivan Victoria. Since childhood, he was always inclined towards music and he started playing keyboard when he was very young. Currently, he is pursuing Carnatic Music under ‘Sesha Nambi Rajan’ at Tuticorin. He has performed over 1000 stages to date. He is very much known as one of the Top 10 contestants of Airtel Super Singer Season 5. He recalls the journey of Super Singer from June 2015 to March 2016 as the best part of his life as he had an excellent opportunity to learn from legends and his peers. The following are the accolades and not forget he has more to achieve:

• “Young Achiever Award” by Tuticorin Rotary Club in the year 2016
• One among top 10 contestants in Airtel Super Singer Season 5  (June 2015- March 2016)

He has about 1668 followers (and still counting) on Instagram, which proves he has definitely taken a place in people’s heart with his mesmerizing voice. On asking about unforgettable memories in life he says “When I performed ‘Chaiya Chaiya’ in front of Shah Rukh Khan Sir in Mumbai for Super Singer, he danced along with us. Also, I was much appreciated for my performance of ‘Kadavul Amaithu Vaitha Medai’ song ”.   When asked about his favorite musician's list he goes on stating that “A. R. Rahman Sir as favorite Music Director, S. P. Balasubrahmanyam Sir, Mano Sir, ChitraMa (K. S Chitra) and Shashaa Tirupati as favorite singers”. He has completed his MBA ( in Business Administration and HR), M.Phil. and currently pursuing his Ph.D. Apart from these, he along with his friends now own a foundation at Tuticorin named “Aagam Conservatory of Arts” which teaches not only music but the various form of arts. When asked about the motive of the foundation, he elegantly states with utmost modesty that “I always love to teach and spread the little knowledge that I have to others, so that it benefits all”. His family has always given him permission to perform music. He also adds on saying that friends are his backbone for his success. Almost for every concert, he is always accompanied by any one of his friends for supporting him.  Looking back on his journey he is highly thankful to all his friends, Super Singer team and Vijay TV for providing him the wonderful opportunity. On asking about what change he would like to bring in this society for visually challenged people, he states”Sometimes, the opportunities we get are dropped off for no reason. If people can just look at the talent and provide opportunities, we would be highly grateful. If we are said we should improve in certain aspects of music, we are ready to improve in those aspects. But we are neglected for some other reasons, which is quite disappointing. I wish the society could give us more opportunities based on our talent”. We also hope the same.

On this note, we wish him the Best, wishing him more success, happiness, and good health. People like Irwin Victoria are more than an inspiration, for they have proved that if you work hard, then you can achieve more.

Irwin Victoria stands tall as an inspiration to each one of us. For providing more feast to your ears, tune in to hear his voice through the following links to his social website:

• Facebook page: www.facebook.com/ss5irwinvictoria
• Twitter: www.twitter.com/irwinvictoria
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/Irwin_victoria
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/frankirwinvictoria

Article by R.Sujatha.

Ramesh - Our Scriber...Our Volunteer...Our Pride

Mr. Ramesh - Our Dedicated Scribe Coordinator 

Any event can be an inspiration or give someone the required push to get out of one’s comfort zone and begin something. A Similar incident happened for Mr. Ramesh on the day of his bank exam 6 months ago: A visually challenged (VC) person couldn’t give his exam that day due to non-availability of scribe. In frustration that person tore up his hall ticket and left the center. This incident created an impact in Ramesh and he is now totally committed to the cause of helping the VCs in every possible way.

Ramesh started as a scribe initially but now is part of the team in LTL that arranges scribes for the exams of VCs. He has also begun and moderating a WhatsApp group where the VCs can post their requirements and the respective Leads of LTL will make sure that it is taken care of without the VCs wondering whom should they approach in case of any requirement. While we were chatting for this article Ramesh emphasized how significant is the contribution of volunteers for helping the VCs. He quoted one of the incident where he was running short of 1 scribe for exam that noon. Seeing his requirement message a person volunteered to scribe for that requirement who was otherwise planning to get back home taking off at work.

Ramesh is in the mission of creating awareness among the society about the VCs which would drive more and more opting in to volunteer for them.

Author’s note: It is saddening to know that difficulty of getting scribes to write in Tamil is really difficult. People fear of making spelling errors and ends up not turning up. I sincerely request every Tamilian to be in touch with your writing skills at least to help our VC friends if not for the love of language. 

We need more dedicated volunteers for the cause, if interested, please contact us at 

https://www.facebook.com/LitTheLight/...

Please like our page and comment us your suggestions and contact us to be part of our Team. 

Leelavathy- Our Volunteer...Our Pride - Lit the Light's Scribe Army

Mrs.Leelavathy Sekar, Our Tireless Scribe Coordinator

Every Visually Challenged (VCs) student needs scribe to write an exam for him/her; they wouldn’t be able to write the exam otherwise. There are lot of requests that come to us on a daily basis for scribe requirements. The challenge here is to arrange required scribes each day coordinating with the students and the volunteers and Mrs. Leelavathy is a pro who has been doing it for almost 10 years now.

Mrs. Leelavathy started as a scribe back in 2008 when she received a forward message requesting for scribes. After scribing couple of times she started receiving calls directly from the students themselves requesting her to arrange scribes for them. That’s how her journey as Scribes coordinator started. Later in 2014 she started arranging scribes on behalf of Lit the Light. Our Leela's motto is "No visually challenged student should be denied to excel in education, because of no pair of eyes"... she thrives to find those eyes that can support the path to success for every student's request we get.

When I asked her about the experience she said- “While it is easy sometimes it’s equally difficult to get a scribe. I really feel bad sometimes when I am not able to arrange a scribe though it is not under my control. At times finding just one scribe would be the toughest task”. “People who have flexibility at work; freelancers; housewives should contribute more to combat this problem” added Leelavathy. 

Leelavathy is indeed a role model for many new volunteers joining us, she leads a way to legacy of Lit the Light's Scribe team. Thank you Leela, for being a part of us.

Author’s note: It is saddening to know that difficulty of getting scribes to write in Tamil is really difficult. People fear of making spelling errors and ends up not turning up. I sincerely request every Tamilian to be in touch with your writing skills at least to help our VC friends if not for the love of language. 

We need more dedicated volunteers for the cause, if interested, please contact us at 

https://www.facebook.com/LitTheLight/...

Please like our page and comment us your suggestions and contact us to be part of our Team. 

A leader, in the making – Swarnalakshmi Raviduraikannu

“Mam, would you mind using the word “Progeny”? Progeny not only means children, but offspring of animals, plants and anything alive. My suggestion to use this word was well received when I spoke on Inclusive Education for children with disabilities, in the UN last year (April 2016). And inclusiveness is a broader term and my understanding of the same is evolving”. 

The above is the reply of 18 year old Swarnalakshmi, to my question on inclusiveness, who has represented India for the fourth time in the UN and who is currently pursuing her second year B.A Political Science in MCC Chennai. She is also the PM of Inclusive National Children’s Parliament (INCP) and member of Youth Parliament, which is in its Council stage.

For Swarnalakshmi, inclusiveness is not a mere term, but a journey of several years. Her first seed for inclusiveness started from her. “Disabilities cannot retard me in any way. I always think “What next?” in any situation. And I never want to be viewed special or pitied for being visually challenged”. Her self-esteem exudes as she talks.

2014, was a year of struggle for her. She wanted to pursue her studies taking political science in a main stream school. But the then CM of Pondicherry would rather make any other school of her choice a special one. She politely but firmly declined the offer.

She said, “With 92% marks in my 10^th Standard, I decided to choose Political Science for further studies. But getting admission in the main stream school was not easy. Can a person with disability, be prevented from doing mainstream education? While speaking to the CM, I mentioned about the law in the constitution that allows children with disabilities to have mainstream education. This strengthened my question, “WHY no inclusion?” Finally her wish was fulfilled.

Her leadership travels to the UN started off with zest, after she was rejected in the Mauritius Common Wealth Interview, in 2012. Her honest answer to the question, what if she was not given a seat while she was travelling in a bus, made her lose the opportunity. The answer was “No difference”, true to her conscience.  She might have failed to impress the judges, but not her mom, Lakshmi Devi, who foresaw, a big opportunity. And her mom was right! Starting from 2013 till last year she had been the special invitee to the UN, to give talks on inclusive education. Swarnalakshmi relates this incident as one that turned over a new leaf in her life. It gave a larger perspective of her life.

Public speaking is an art that requires good language and communication skills. While Swarnalakshmi attributes her language skills to her father Raviduraikannu, she attributes her confidence to her mother. As part of Children Parliament and the Youth Parliament council, she and her team have addressed various social issues.

“Thanks to Father Edwin, I was able to travel from concepts to reality, when he brought to my attention about a labour case concerning child Bhavani from Dharmapuri. For the first time I became aware of the severity of ill-treatment meted out to women and children. Through our child parliament we extricated her from her perilous state and today she attends conferences in Delhi. Also we enabled her mother to get a Ration card, by giving a petition to an eminent person and thus the curtain went down on her 13 years of prolonged ordeal”.

She replied, “Confidence and leadership“, when I asked her to define herself succinctly. But in my opinion I look up on her as one having, Integrity of thought, speech and action. Also this achiever encourages women to enter politics without being subservient to oppressive powers. As our conversation went on, I understood she is a multi talented personality. Music has been a fascination for her which many of the Lit The Light members are aware of. Her list continues with Chess, keyboard and swimming too. 

Here is the list of awards which are no doubt, feathers on her already embellished cap.

Year	Award	Awarded by
2013	Young Achiever	Chutti Vikatan
	Little Phoenix
2014	Child Leader	Mugil Social Welfare
	Malala Award
2015	Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam Award
	Living Hellen Keller	Lion’s club
	Mega Women’s Achiever Award	Mega TV

Watching a plant grow is more fascinating than the plant itself, because, you get to see many of the beautiful sunshine moments.

An hour long interview with SwarnaLakshmi was truly rewarding and the above aptly describes my spirits in knowing a real leader getting shaped, true to the title of this article.

I wish her all the best on behalf of Lit The Light, in all her endeavors, including improving her water intake and going to bed early, that she considers as her areas of improvement!

 Below are few links on Children Parliament and Swarnalakshmi:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCWND7uKtjI – UN talk 2013

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUK3iViK0hI – Interview to Sun TV

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9C2j9LvHD0 – RedPix Interview

http://blog.kindernothilfe.org/de/archives/3403 - I too have a dream

http://www.childrenparliament.in/ - About Children Parliament

Article by Anuradha

Looking for an Inspiration? Here is a Role model - Mr.Mahendran

Winners Never Quit..Quitters Never Win!!!

You might have heard and also read about so many differently abled heroes. Here’s another one, to be inspired. Mr.V. Mahendran, born on April 7^th, 1984, in Thiraviyanagar, a village, near Thenkasi, Thirunelveli district, Tamilnadu for Sri.S.Vellaisamy & Selvi, the parents. His parents were farmers. This 34 yrs old inspiring cricket player has played in South Zone (Tamilnadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Kerala) tournaments representing Tamilnadu over 10 yrs ago. He has achieved several awards for his hard work and dedication for cricket under visually challenged, para sports category. 

Unfortunately, during the years he was on the field as a player, there wasn’t much support or awareness about the Visually Challenged Cricket, because of which there wasn’t much adequate aid from the Government for the game.  These unsupportive situations made way for the formation of Tamilnadu Cricket Association for Visually Challenged, on November 24^th, 2009 by Mr. Mahendran and few of his friends. 

TN Cricket Association is supported by the sponsors and the well-wishers. There are 16 registered teams under this association.  State level tournaments are conducted on regular basis and appropriate support are given to the players to fare well in the game and also in their career through this game.  Many players got selected to play National level, and have won several rewards for the same. 

Mr. Mahendran,General Secretary of the Tamilnadu Cricket Association for Visually challenged, is married to Mrs. Rajarajeswari, and has 2 wonderful kids, a son and a daughter. He is currently working as an English teacher, at Govt. Higher Secondary School, Vijayakarisal kulam, Sivakasi, Tamilnadu, where he teaches till 10^th standard.  He is not only into cricket, but also a 9 times state level champion in Chess. 

Mahendran’s appeal to our society and the Government is to get more involved in Visually Challenged Cricket and support the players by sponsoring and appreciating their talents and hardwork.  There are other states in India, like Gujarat, which supports Visually Challenged Cricket. For our Tamilnadu, let’s join with the association in bringing more awareness towards the sports for differently abled.  

Lets all remember

Disability is not Inability!!! 

Article by Chandra

Jothy - The Rising Nightingale

16 years old Jothy would have been just one another human being if her mother, Mrs. Kalaiselvi had not noticed the blessing amidst her disability. Jothy, a visually challenged and autistic child was sent out of school as she was “not like everyone”. But her mother noticed that she possessed a talent beyond all her disability. When I asked her how did she find out that she has got an innate sense of music, she says “she was never able to sit in a place even for 5 minutes except when she was making sounds out of vessels”. This made Mrs. Kalaiselvi realize that she has got some extraordinary music skill which should be addressed. During our conversation she explained, “It was very difficult to make her sit in a place even for a while. This was the main reason why she was not taken in any schools”. Seeing this Mrs. Kalaiselvi started to probe further and found out that after 10^th standard she can take up diploma courses directly and enrolled her in Government Music College, Adyar for Diploma in vocal. The teachers in the college were really moved by her ‘Swara knowledge’ and she is now in the final year of the course. Though she was not able to read, write and understand some concepts in the normal text books she performed extremely well in college. “Highly reputed people in the industry like Ananth vaidhyanath sir were moved by her Swara Knowledge” the lovely mother happily said. Her mother helps her to prepare for the theory part of the course and Jothy plays the instrument all by herself. Apart from this she learns Carnatic music from AS Murali, who is a professor in Kalakshetra. When asked about future plan she has for Jothy, she says she is also currently pursuing DMT, a one year diploma course that would give her the knowledge of how to teach music at college level. My next plan is to enroll her in BA Violin and she says “It’s very important to equip her in all the ways to sustain in this highly competitive industry”. Her unusually stunning knowledge of swara attracts her chance to meet prodigies in the industry.

When the whole world saw what she can’t do, this mother saw beyond that and spotted the skill and she has built her whole dream around this kid. It was really difficult for me to manage her in the earlier days as she could not understand certain things a child & a girl of that age would understand. But after going to Music College, she got to interact with more people which has changed her a lot. Her communication has increased, her behavior has matured says Mrs. Kalaiselvi. During our entire conversation, I was really moved by this mother’s love and whose sole dream is to build a future for her kid. I am eagerly waiting for Jothy’s debut in G V Prakash Kumar’s next movie as he has posted in his Facebook page. 

Listen to her wonderful rendition here Kannamma cover song

Article by Sree Mahalakshmi