UNESCO supported telecentre for the blind opened in Uruguay
21-06-2006 (Montevideo)
Opening Ceremony with the Mayor on the left
© UNESCO
The Juan Antonio Lavalleja Public Library of Minas, the capital of the department of Lavalleja in Uruguay, hosts since last week a telecentre for visually impaired. The two room premises in the House of Culture with state-of-the art equipment was opened on 16 June.
The Telecentre for the blind was inaugurated in the presence of Herman Vergara, Mayor of Minas, Adriana Peña, Member of Parliament, Leon Carlos Botta, Lions Club Governor, Carmen Bue, Lions Club Uruguay, the President of the association of blind and visually impaired people of the Province of Lavalleja, UNESCO and further 80 members of the community.
Private sector companies - ANTEL Telecommunication and SALUS/Danone – donated PCs with acoustic output, cassette recorders for audio books and a fast Internet access. UNESCO provided access to free educational software - Cantaletras and Toque Magico of the Catholic University Santiago, Chile - and offered printed books in Braille and 3D materials like geographical maps and texture games thanks to its cooperation with libraries for the blind in Buenos Aires and La Plata, Argentina.
“UNESCO’s support to this Centre is practical action to foster social inclusion of disadvantaged groups and to help them to be real actors in knowledge societies”, said UNESCO’s Günther Cyranek in his opening address.
Earlier in 2005, UNESCO supported one of the only two public schools in whole Uruguay for the blind and visually impaired with PCs, free educational software, and a Braille printer and provided capacity building for teachers. One of the schools, namely school Nr. 198 in Montevideo, is now in a position to provide printed Braille books for Minas. The community of visually impaired in Minas already selected a set of Braille books that they wish to receive in their library.
The Braille room in the Public Library Juan Antonio Lavalleja in Minas is the first outside of Montevideo and Cyranek is confident that other institutions in the Country will follow this example.
Private sector companies - ANTEL Telecommunication and SALUS/Danone – donated PCs with acoustic output, cassette recorders for audio books and a fast Internet access. UNESCO provided access to free educational software - Cantaletras and Toque Magico of the Catholic University Santiago, Chile - and offered printed books in Braille and 3D materials like geographical maps and texture games thanks to its cooperation with libraries for the blind in Buenos Aires and La Plata, Argentina.
“UNESCO’s support to this Centre is practical action to foster social inclusion of disadvantaged groups and to help them to be real actors in knowledge societies”, said UNESCO’s Günther Cyranek in his opening address.
Earlier in 2005, UNESCO supported one of the only two public schools in whole Uruguay for the blind and visually impaired with PCs, free educational software, and a Braille printer and provided capacity building for teachers. One of the schools, namely school Nr. 198 in Montevideo, is now in a position to provide printed Braille books for Minas. The community of visually impaired in Minas already selected a set of Braille books that they wish to receive in their library.
The Braille room in the Public Library Juan Antonio Lavalleja in Minas is the first outside of Montevideo and Cyranek is confident that other institutions in the Country will follow this example.
Braille room in the Public Library Juan Antonio Lavalleja© UNESCO
© UNESCORelated themes/countries
· Argentina
· Uruguay
· About UNESCO Libraries Portal
· Libraries: News Archives 2006
· People with disabilities and ICT: News Archives 2006
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