Mail & Guardian
Mail & Guardian
blindnesslatest news & developments
One Sight (Ngo) eye clinic set up at Dr Yusuf Dadoo Hospital. Providing affordable eye care to the public. (Delwyn Verasamy/M&G)

Eye health initiative helps 1.7-million South Africans

OneSight is fulfilling the UN goal to accelerate eye health to achieve Sustainable Development Goals

Blind SA headed to high court over the Copyright Act

The organisation argues that the Copyright Act is unconstitutional because it violates the human rights of blind people. The case will be heard on 21 September

City of Cape Town Mayor Dan Plato along with other officials held a media briefing at their Covid-19 lockdown facility in Strandfontein followed by a tour of the large marquee tents. The media presence incited many of the people in the tents that was quickly stopped after media was urged to move along. The City of Cape Town’s Covid-19 lockdown encampment in Strandfontein for up to 4000 homeless people from around the greater city area.  (David Harrison/M&G)

Blindness: How the Strandfontein camp was set up to fail

The facility in Cape Town was about quarantining the most vulnerable — the homeless — rather than preventing Covid-19

(Anthony Schultz)

No ordinary reading life

When the literary world seems beyond reach, what options are there for those who struggle to read?

Moody’s was the only major ratings agency not to downgrade South Africa’s sovereign debt to junk status in 2017. (Shuttershock)

Service delivery starts with data. See who’s been missing from the spreadsheets

Without accurate data, maginalised groups risk being left behind – again.

‘Horrendous’ state of schools for the blind in the spotlight

Civil society bodies are meeting education officials to formulate an urgent response to the shortage of tools and teachers for the visually impaired.

Visually impaired people need fair access to information in accessible formats. File photo

Game-changing technology for blind people – at a price

Groundbreaking technology could revolutionise the future for the blind – but the exorbitant costs make it inaccessible.

Changing life for the blind at 13 years old

A 13-year-old California boy is the youngest person ever to receive venture capital investment in the US, writes Arthur Goldstuck.

Kehinde Oluwafemi with his mother before eye surgery. (Claire Louise Thomas)

‘No child should go blind’

Half of South Africa’s 100 000 blind children could have been saved if they were treated earlier, shows a new report.

Landmark treaty breaks down book barriers for the blind

Last week the World Intellectual Property Organisation announced copyright exceptions on materials for visually impaired people.

South Africa’s visually impaired people have access to only 0.5% of the world’s books.

The rich turn a blind eye to poor readers

The visually impaired are shackled by developed countries’ reluctance to change copyright laws.

New scanning technology means more books could be available in Braille.

Braille books see the light

Historically, only a tiny proportion of published books have made it into Braille. But technology now means no book is off limits, writes Peter White

Baluji Shrivastav

Music lights up lives of the blind

Growing up in Iran, Fereshteh Khosroujerdy loved to sing. Everyone who heard her in the streets would hug her and tell her how beautiful it was.

Blind beggars search for a better life in Jo’burg’s darkest corners

Blind beggars search for a better life in Jo’burg’s darkest corners

<b>Niren Tolsi</b> meets a community of Zimbabweans who eke out a living on Johannesburg’s mean streets.

Sleight of light

MOVIE OF THE WEEK: Peter Bradshaw reviews <i>Blindness</i>, a film by Fernando Merelles.

Feeling the vote

For the first time, blind South Africans have voted in secret, thanks to a new Braille ballot template.

South Sudan’s vision to tackle blindness

Tapping down the rough track with metal sticks, blind Sudanese children negotiate a route between pools of muddy rainwater and zooming motorbikes.