20th December 2018

AI robots among new features of Metro Line 13 extension

The second and third phases of Metro Line 13 have passed professional evaluations and will soon enter operation, Shanghai Shentong Metro Group, the city’s Metro operator have announced.

The newly opened part of Line 13 covers 12 underground stops and features some special features in the new stations. LED information screens are placed in the platforms, and USB charging points have been installed for passengers who want to charge their electronic devices while waiting.

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https://www.shine.cn/news/metro/1812206982/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss

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18th December 2018

Huawei’s Facing Emotions app uses AI to help visually impaired users ‘hear’ facial expressions

By Kyle Wiggers 

Blindness, both partial and total, is incredibly common. The World Health Organization estimates that approximately 1.3 billion people live with some form of distance or near-vision condition and that as many as 217 million people suffer from moderate to severe problems with distance vision. Those impairments not only complicate everyday chores like walking the dog and checking the mail, they can make it difficult to pick up on emotional cues, like facial expressions.

To that end, electronics giant Huawei has tapped artificial intelligence (AI) to help blind people “see” the faces of those with whom they’re speaking. The Beijing company today debuted Facing Emotions, an app for the Huawei Mate 20 Pro that can “translate” seven universal emotions — anger, fear, disgust, happiness, sadness, surprise, and contempt — into corresponding sounds.

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https://venturebeat.com/2018/12/18/huaweis-facing-emotions-app-using-ai-to-help-visually-impaired-users-hear-facial-expressions/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss

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18th December 2018

Accessibility for Taiwan’s Disabled: A Work in Progress

Attitudes and facilities have improved, but much more still needs to be done.

Taiwan is a crowded place. The population per square kilometer is nearly 20 times that of the United States, and the cities are crammed with parked vehicles and snack vendors. Although accessibility for wheelchair users has improved in recent years, for the hundreds of thousands of Taiwanese who are unable to step around or over obstacles, simply trying to reach the supermarket or the dentist can still be an arduous experience.

Given the rapid aging of the Taiwan population – by 2026, 21% of the people will be over the age of 65 – the need for better accessibility will only be increasing sharply in the years ahead.

Uta Rindfleisch-Wu, a German who has lived in Taiwan since the early 1980s, credits Taiwan with having “come quite far” in terms of access for the physically challenged. Ramps have been retrofitted to thousands of buildings, for example. Elevators large enough for mobility scooters can be found at almost all Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) stations, and TRA staff have been trained to assist those who need help.

Rindfleisch-Wu, whose daughter has cerebral palsy, is a consultant at the Therapeutic Riding Center in Taoyuan City’s Xinwu District. Recently Rindfleisch-Wu traveled to several places in Taiwan with a friend who can walk, but not for significant distances, and who finds stairs difficult. “Nearly everywhere we went there were toilets for the disabled and wheelchair ramps,” she says. “In places managed by government agencies, one can always borrow a wheelchair.”

However, she rates conditions at Taoyuan International Airport as less than ideal. “In Terminal 1, there are no benches or chairs between the security checkpoint and gate A5. People who usually don’t need a wheelchair might need a rest between these points. Similarly, in the departure hall of Terminal 2 there are hardly any chairs. This is something that really needs improvement.”

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https://topics.amcham.com.tw/2018/12/accessibility-for-taiwans-disabled-a-worked-in-progress/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss

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9th December 2018

How can Hong Kong help the intellectually disabled find work?

Hong Kong should commission a consultancy to explore and compile a list of professions available for the intellectually disabled to help tackle the low employment rate among the group, experts have said.

The idea was promoted at a forum last week during which advocates, researchers and employers discussed ways to increase opportunities for the marginalised minority.

Only 8 per cent of 276 school leavers from special needs institutions in the 2014-15 academic year who had a mild intellectual disability went on to find work, according to official figures.

In the United States the employment rate for intellectually disabled people aged between 21 and 64 was 34 per cent in a 2013 study.

Dr Elaine Chan Yee-man, honorary associate professor at the University of Hong Kong’s department of politics and public administration, said a list of available occupations would increase awareness of the opportunities out there.

She recommended officials or NGOs set up an online job search platform linking jobseekers, their parents and employers.

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https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/society/article/2177048/how-can-hong-kong-help-intellectually-disabled-find-work?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss

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3rd December 2018

China’s rehabilitation centers reach 8,334

As of the end of 2017, China had 8,334 rehabilitation centers for persons with disabilities, a blue book said.

The blue book, titled “Report on the cause for persons with disabilities in China (2018),” was edited by the China Disabled Persons’ Federation this fall. It was published by the Social Sciences Academic Press earlier this week.

The rehabilitation centers provide service for persons with visual disabilities, aural and speech disabilities, mental retardation, psychological disabilities, and autism, the report reveals.

There are 246,000 staff members working in rehabilitation centers, and 2,988 county-level regions across China have community rehabilitation service.

The coverage rate for basic rehabilitation reached 65 percent in 2017, 5 percent more than that of 2015.

http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2018-12/01/c_137643628.htm?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss

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3rd December 2018

Across China: Armless man lends “iron hand” to people in need

Hearing loud popping or crackling noises from a workshop, residents in a small village in northeast China’s Jilin Province can tell when “Iron Man” starts working.

“Iron Man” Sun Jifa is a 65-year-old farmer in Yongji County in the city of Jilin. What makes him different is his self-made iron forearms, which enable the armless man to use a mobile phone, play chess, saw timber, and even drive a tractor.

Sun lost his forearms in an explosion when he was developing a fishing device in 1980. He could not afford to buy a prosthesis. His wife and mother had to help him put on clothes, brush his teeth, eat and even go to the bathroom after the accident.

“I felt like the sky had fallen. I just wanted to die. But my wife was pregnant, and my forthcoming baby gave me the hope and courage to live on,” Sun said ahead of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities which falls on Monday this year.

He decided to fabricate a pair of forearms by himself.

Sun guided his brother to nail a spoon to a piece of rubber and wrapped the simple device around his broken arm. It enabled him to eat by himself. Then he started fabricating more complicated arms using iron, plastic, and rubber.

However, he was not content with the prosthetic device which only made it look like he had both his arms. As a farmer, he needed a functional device that would allow him to do manual labor jobs.

Sun set up a workshop to develop and manufacture prosthetic arms in 2007. Vigorously studying mechanics and engineering, he assembled a device with rubber fingers. Controlled by the movements of the shoulders and upper arms, his device can enable him to grip, hold and mimic some easy movements.

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http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2018-12/03/c_137648276.htm?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss

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7th December 2018

AI gives nearsighted children a glimpse of the future

If you are concerned that your child will be nearsighted, a new artificial intelligence model developed from millions of eyesight records could help predict whether your offspring will need glasses.

Myopia is the most common visual impairment in children, and China has an unprecedented rate of nearsightedness. A recent World Health Organization report showed that about 600 million Chinese, almost half the population, are nearsighted, including more than 70 percent of high school and college students, and 40 percent of primary school children.

Current approaches to curbing vision loss include eyedrops, glasses, contact lenses and surgery. However, while these can be effective, they have side effects, such as higher rates of recurrence, eye infections and other ailments.

If nearsightedness could be predicted, medical professionals could intervene with appropriate treatments to help reduce the risk of high myopia, which is measured by a focusing power of－6 diopters, a measurement of the optical power of a lens, and higher.

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http://www.china.org.cn/china/2018-12/07/content_74249681.htm?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss

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9th December 2018

School for the blind offers beacon of hope for disabled in rural China

At 6am, a short drive from the steel-producing city of Xingtai, deep in the rural flatlands of northern China’s Hebei province, acrid pollution hangs heavy in the air and the monotonous landscape is desaturated of colour. At the Mu Mengjie School for the Blind, home to 100 or so visually impaired students, a caretaker sweeps away leaves that fell in the night.

The children, in dormitories lining a courtyard, stretch and rise for their morning exercises. They gather in rows under the watchful eye of their teacher, who leads them in a series of stretches, jumps and synchronised movements.

Each row is monitored by one child, who walks up and down, checking his or her classmates’ feet are in the right position, and correcting them if they are not. A song plays over a loudspeaker as the children shuffle and dance themselves to wakefulness.

One of those monitors is 16-year-old Shungze, who is among the 75 million people in China recognised by the World Health Organisation as living with some sort of visual impairment. Three quarters of these live in rural areas, where a chronic lack of infrastructure means many disabled children do not attend school.

“I am one of the oldest in the school and I have to take care of my [two] brothers and sister [also students at the school]. If they need anything, they will tell me and I can go and tell the teachers,” says Shungze, overcoming his initial shyness to reveal a quiet confidence. Sitting across from me in a classroom, he shuffles his feet, curious.

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https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/2176684/school-blind-offers-beacon-hope-disabled-rural?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss

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3rd December 2018

Disability inclusion practices shared at China Disability Policy Dialogue

Innovative practices of helping people with disabilities better integrate into society were shared at the China Disability Policy Dialogue held in Beijing Monday, the International Day of Persons with Disabilities.

More than 80 government officials, experts, representatives of companies and organizations and people with disabilities attended the dialogue, which is part of the United Nations Partnership on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 

UN Resident Co-ordinator in China Nicholas Rosellini highlighted China’s progress in upholding equal rights of disabled people, and said “it is our objective that persons with disabilities are empowered to fully and equally participate in China’s development process, so that the Sustainable Development Goals are realized not only for persons with disabilities but also by and with persons with disabilities.”

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http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2018-12/03/c_137648272.htm?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss

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Newswire

5th December 2018

Vrailler, the Handheld Braille Label Printer is Now Available on Kickstarter
Vrailler Inc. aims to empower the visually impaired by providing portable, affordable, quick, and easy Braille label printing.

New Startup Vrailler Inc. announced that it is raising funds via a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter to finish the development of Vrailler, their revolutionary Braille label printing technology. The company set out to raise $10,000 on Kickstarter to finish development and produce the first batch of their latest invention that is going to change Braille education.

Vrailler is a hand-held braille label printer that has been designed to outperform other similar products on the market. By incorporating the standard 6-dot braille cell composition, users can easily compose words in Braille and print them out. Furthermore, while other Braille label makers are only for English Braille, Vrailler supports multiple Braille languages. For the convenience of those wanting to learn Braille, Vrailler Inc. will include a Braille guidebook.

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http://www.digitaljournal.com/pr/4055979?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss

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