More than 3,500 out of over 1 million blind people in Vietnam have used computer proficiently for the work and daily life, President of the Vietnam Blind Association Pham Viet Thu noted at a conference on solutions to information technology (IT) development for the blind in Hanoi on March 13.

IT helps the blind get better life. (Photo: hca.org.vn)

He said that thanks to IT application, many young blind people have had chances to access universal, tertiary and post-graduate education, which helped them move faster in their careers.

Many have become IT masters and applied IT to improve their incomes as well as their material and spiritual life, he added.

Yutori Sadamoto from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in Vietnam stressed that IT plays an important role in the life of the blind. She noted that the JICA and Japanese Nippon Telesoft Company have supported the Vietnam Blind Association to implement a project to create optimal conditions for the blind to access and use IT, thus enhancing their knowledge and skills and enabling them to access new opportunities to find jobs and have better integration into the community.

An IT Training programme for the blind has been launched from March 2017 to August 2019 in the Training and Rehabilitation Centre for Blind under the Vietnam Blind Association and the Centre for Blind Children Education and Career Guidance under the Blind Association of the central Thua Thien-Hue province.

Yutori Sadamoto held that the project has been supported by the community, expressing her hopes that trainees will spread the knowledge they acquired to other people across the country.

According to the Vietnam Blind Association, high technology and professional software for the blind produced by Japan and developed countries have been installed in the two centres, including 10 Braille printers, 26 screens with Braille characters, three zoom machines, 36 computers and supporting software.

After the conference, an information technology training course with two classes will be open at the Training and Rehabilitation Centre for Blind on March 15.-VNA