A NEW digital hub aimed at helping people with deafblindness worldwide has been launched by charity Sense International.
The Global Deafblindness Resource Hub brings together important information for deafblind people and their families from across the eight countries where the charity works.
Around 157 million people worldwide have both hearing and vision problems, which makes it hard for them to communicate, move about and get information. Many websites are not made with these people in mind.
Sense International, which turned 30 last year, launched the Hub on Tuesday (25) at Google's Accessibility Discovery Centre in London.
The new digital platform aims to fix this problem by making online resources more available to millions of disabled people.
Kavita Prasad, director of Sense International, said: "The online world is a powerful place to connect and learn, but many people cannot use it properly. Our new Hub tries to bridge that gap by offering an easy-to-use platform where deafblind people, whether in South Asia or South America, can find helpful information in one place. We hope this will be the start of a more inclusive online world."
Christopher Patnoe, head of Accessibility and Disability Inclusion for EMEA at Google,added, "We're happy to support this ground-breaking Hub. Digital learning is important for everyone to understand the world around us, but sadly much of the internet isn't accessible to people with complex needs. That's why platforms like this are so important."
Around 100 people attended the event, including staff from Sense International's overseas teams and experts in disability technology. The project has been funded by charity Nelumbo Siftung.
