Using maps comes so very naturally to people with sight, but for the blind,
this is virtually impossible.
India designs world's first Braille atlas
Well, that has now changed with the world's first atlas for the blind
released by the Department of Science and Technology. Its a
Braille Atlas, a world first! The map has been specially
designed for the blind, and can be felt rather than seen. The sense of touch
has been highly magnified so people who are blind or low vision can experience
it properly. The 84-page Braille atlas is in black-and-white and
made on oversized A-3 size paper so that all the information could be easily
fitted in.
Braille atlas will be distributed free to blind schools
The atlas has been prepared in English, Bengali, Gujarati and
Telugu. 500 copies of the braille atlas have been printed so far and
these will be given free of cost to blind schools in India. The atlas has
20 maps on different themes like physical, socio-economic, river
system, crops pattern, natural vegetation, cultural, metropolitan areas, roads
and railways, and crops.
