Category: Assistive Technology

NCPEDP-Mphasis Award

The National Center for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People (NCPEDP) announced its Mphasis Universal Design Awards last week, naming Prabhat Ranjan as an awardee.

“The award will help bring the benefit of this technology to many more people. Even the medical community in India does not know about its possibilities yet,” said Ranjan, a professor at Dhirubhai Ambani Institute of Information and Communication Technology, Gujarat.

Also see the links : http://tinyurl.com/award-pr , http://tinyurl.com/award-pr-am and http://tinyurl.com/award-pr-TOI

Device helps paralysed ‘Ra.One’ animator Charu type

Hindustan Times (June 18, Mumbai Ed) has carried news about Prabhat Ranjan’s work in trying to enable Charu Khandal, Ra.One movie animator, who won Filmfare award for Best Special Effects movie. However the party to celebrate the award took a tragic turn, when her auto was hit by a drunk driver at end of party. She is now paralyzed neck down with no hands/leg movements. On June 8, she was given a Brain-Computer Interface to let her type using her head movement and brain waves.
See the news at : http://tinyurl.com/da-charu

She is among the four users in India, who have been able to benefit from this system. First user was Mr K Suresh from Coimbatore, about 3 months back. He is using it effectively about 4 hours a day since he cannot sit on wheel chair for more than 2 hours at a stretch.

Harmony India : Light of Life

Suresh Karat, who had a brilliant career after receiving
an MBA from IIM-Ahmedabad, suffered a brainstem
stroke at the very young age of 32, in 1999. This left
him severely disabled; he became a quadriplegic (no limb
movements) with no speech. He could read and hear but
could not communicate. He could communicate with his
wife Jaya only through eye blinks.

Read the article at :

harmony_may_2012_page_57

DA-IICT Prof ‘enables’ quadriplegic IIM-A Grad

“Imagine spending 13 long years unable to move a finger, dependent on your family for all your daily needs. That was the life of 1993 batch alumnus of Indian Institute of Management – Ahmedabad (IIMA) Suresh Karat. But, not anymore. Suresh is now enjoying a new sense of liberation.”

See the Times of India coverage: