BUSINESS executive, Dr. Leslie Chin and his son who are based in Canada have established a hub to collect and refurbish laptop computers for the benefit of blind and visually impaired students in Guyana.

The initiative would target donors both here in Guyana and in Canada, Executive member of the Guyana Society for the Blind, Ganesh Singh told Guyana Chronicle on Thursday.

The hub was established after Dr. Chin came to understand that a computer is an essential component in bridging the communication gap that exists between the blind and sighted.

He realised that computers have made learning, research, employment, social interaction and so forth much easier for persons who are blind and visually impaired.

“Prior to the advent of the JAWS Software, it was extremely difficult for persons who are blind and visually impaired to communicate with the sighted world,” Singh said.

The computers received by the hub would be refurbished and equipped with the Jobs Access with Speech (JAWS) Software to enable text to speech conversion for the benefit of the blind user.

JAWS-enabled laptops would be given mainly to persons with vision disabilities who are on the path of academic or professional development.

Dr. Chin and his family made the first donation of a laptop to the ‘Blind Society’ for blind persons to benefit from the organisation’s Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) Programme.
The donation, according to Singh, was made in response to the need that arose as a result of the theft of the computer system that was being used for the programme by armed bandits who stormed the organisation’s headquarters earlier this year.

Persons wishing to donate to the hub can contact Dr. Chin on 226-5551.