युक्ती हीने विचारे तु धर्महानि प्रजायते

Prof. (Dr.) Shamnad Basheer Accessibility Lab

In honour of late Prof. (Dr.) Shamnad Basheer (Founder, IDIA Charitable Trust (IDIA) and SpicyIP), the West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences (NUJS) joined hands with IDIA to inaugurate the Prof. (Dr.) Shamnad Basheer Accessibility Lab at NUJS to foster greater inclusion of students with disabilities.
This lab is a fitting tribute to Prof. (Dr.) Shamnad Basheer who started IDIA with the aim to promote greater diversity, inclusion and accessibility in law schools and beyond. He was a strong advocate of promoting accessibility and had played an important role in advocating for an exception in copyright laws to make materials accessible to those with visual impairment. He started the IDIA Disability Access Program (IDAP).
IDAP, a national vertical of IDIA, advocates for systemic changes in law schools and the wider legal ecosystem to make our spaces more accessible for persons with disabilities. To that end, IDIA has collaborated with Sony Pictures Networks Distribution India Pvt (SPND) to organize two workshops relating to accessibility, one in Bangalore and one in Mumbai. Prof. (Dr.) Shamnad Basheer had also taught in NUJS. It is heart warming to see both the organisations join hands for this wonderful initiative. We hope to see many more law schools follow suit!
On 10th February, 2020, the National University of Juridical Sciences (NUJS), West Bengal, in association with IDIA, had inaugurated an accessibility lab to work towards the goal of creating an enabling and inclusive environment within Law Schools. The inauguration was a big push towards the goal of ensuring diversity within law schools, which was the mission of late Prof. (Dr.) Shamnad Basheer, the founder of IDIA (Increasing Diversity by Increasing Access). The lab was also named after Prof. Basheer, as a tribute to his continuous and innumerable efforts to push towards promotion of “accessibility and inclusion in law schools and beyond”.
The various types of machines that are present in the lab include
JAWS is a computer screen reader program for Microsoft Windows that allows blind and visually impaired users to read the screen either with a text-to-speech output or by a refreshable Braille display. The Lab has one unit.
Duxbury Braille Translation Software (DBT) is used for text (print) to Braille translations, Braille editing, formatting, production, publishing, and related tasks. It supports over 170 different languages, and can be used by those who know braille and those who do not. The Lab has 1 unit.
OpenBook converts printed documents or graphic-based text into an electronic text format on the computer, using high-quality speech, and the latest Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology. OpenBook is innovative software designed to enhance success for people who are visually impaired or have low vision, and need access to printed and electronic materials. The Lab has one unit.

ZoomText Magnifier/Reader is a fully integrated magnification and reading program tailored for those with low-vision. Magnifier/Reader enlarges and enhances everything on the computer screen, echoes typing and essential program activity, and automatically reads documents, web pages, and emails.The Lab has one unit.

 

Basic-D V5 is a small powerful double-sided braille printer. It is great for printing braille in the classroom, office and at home. The V5 includes WiFi/Bluetooth, USB Host (USB memory stick) connection, synthetic speech feedback, an optimized user interface and the Braille App web interface. The Lab has one unit.
Angel Pocket Reader is a talking digital pocket daisy player, E-book reader, music player, radio-cum-voice Recorder, and is specially designed for blind and visually impaired users. The device can be used for recording classroom lectures, to listen to scanned academic data, data downloaded from the internet, and to read PDF documents. The Lab has one unit.
The PEARL, when combined with JAWSor OpenBook scanning and reading software, brings blind and low vision users instant portable access to printed material with an array of human-sounding voices. The folding camera deploys in seconds to connect to the personal computer, takes a picture of the reading material, and begins reading it aloud immediately. The Lab has two units.
Tractor feed or continuous feed is one long, connected sheet with perforations at proper places in order to create individual pages. Continuous braille paper is the most reliable and widely used option in braille production, as it allows the user to simply load the continuous paper into the braille printer, and minimizes feeding issues and paper jams. The Lab has one unit.
Additionally, the Lab has three HP Computers, three HP headphones with mics, and one Voltas Air Conditioner.