ISLAMABAD • Pakistan’s first-ever Internetcafé for the visually impaired has been inaugurated.

The project has been funded by the World Bank and the Pakistan Foundation Fighting Blindness (PFFB).

The WB granted Rs1.5m to the facility that promises to help bridge the technological gap between the blind and those blessed with the eyesight. The café would also link national and international blind communities.

IT Helpline Project Director Zahid Abdullah said the café involved the use of the JAWS software that provides voice output for every command given to the computer, enabling the blind to know what their fingers are doing.

Aqil Sajjad, the first visually impaired Pakistani pursuing his PhD at Harvard, introduced the software in Islamabad in 1999. The software was developed in the US 20 years ago.

The café is absolutely free and is equipped with the latest computers, scanner, printer and DSL connection for fast Internet browsing.

Officials said the facility would remain open from 4 pm to 7 pm Abdullah said the education and technology were two major levellers in the life of a visually impaired person. He hoped that students and professionals would make good use of the café.

Special Education Director General Sarfraz Ahmed asked the PFFB to submit proposals for the government to consider setting up more such facilities. He regretted that his directorate was established 38 years after Pakistan’s creation and the first policy for the disabled was formulated only in 2002.

Maqbool Ahmed, director of PFFB’s medical and research project, said 100 members of one family in Pakistan had been diagnosed as suffering from Retinitis Pigemento (RP), a genetically transmitted disease that causes progressive loss of vision.