On June 12, 2018, the NRCB Plovdiv took part in a discussion, part of the Workshop "Accessible Museum", organized by the Regional Archaeological Museum. The theme of the seminar was the museum as a social and educational space for visitors with disabilities and additional needs - social, psychological and physical prerequisites for interaction in the museum environment.

It was attended by representatives of organizations for and for people with disabilities, lecturers at Plovdiv University, representatives of museums and other cultural institutions.

The discussion was devoted to seeking ways to improve communication and to find practical solutions together with representatives of specialized resource centers and schools for people with special needs.

On our part, we discussed the specific needs of visually impaired people in museums and galleries, the approaches to presenting the exhibits in a way accessible to them, as well as strategies to provoke their interest in visits to museums.

workshop1„The Union of the Blind Bulgaria and the National Rehabilitation Center for the Blind Plovdiv organized a workshop about daily living skills for VIP. It was held from 5 to 8.06.2018 at "Pop Hariton" Holiday House, Dryanovo.

In the training CSRI for people with visual impairments in Sofia, Pernik, Shumen, Gabrovo, Varna, Burgas, Rousse took part. Each center had in its group a visually impaired person - a consumer. workshop2The main topics of the seminar were updating of the programs of useful skills and orientation and mobility, presentation of opportunities for enrichment of the useful skills program through implementation of platforms developed on European projects, discussion of methods and strategies in daily, social and general knowledge skills, as well as the use of special technical equipment and cooking. Prof. Vladimir Radulov presented a lecture on the novelties in the teaching of social skills of visually impaired people. CSRI users participated in a competition for cooking skills where they showed their creativity and dexterity and exchanged interesting recipes, traditional for each region.

The large-scale action of the National Rehabilitation Center for the Blind continues with the Lions clubs Evridika, Plovdiv and Plovdiv - Philippopolis It is dedicated to prevention eye examinations in the Plovdiv kindergartens. More than 400 children at the age of 6 are to be covered in all 8 kindergartens in the territory of Trakia region.

Кристина Цветанова Bulgarian woman Christina Tsvetanova won the European Union Award for a rising entrepreneur for creating the world's first blind tablet.
At a ceremony in Brussels on International Women's Day, the Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation, Carlos Moedas and Vice-President of the European Parliament, Marray McGuinness, announced the four winners of the EU-funded Women's Innovation Award for Horizon 2020 2017, the press center of the European Commission announced. In addition to the three first prizes (see below), another one was set up this year - for a rising entrepreneur awarded for the excellence of female entrepreneurs aged 30 or less. The first winner of this prize of € 20,000 is Christina Tsvetanova from Bulgaria - CEO and co-founder of the Austrian BLITAB Technology Company, the first BLITAB tablet for blind people. Tsvetanova, who lives and works in Vienna, has created the software and hardware with the help of another Bulgarian - Slavi Slavev. Their company was named the most innovative company in Austria in 2014, as BNT informed. "If a USB with files stored on it is attached to itq the software automatically reads these files and converts them into braille, and braille symbols come out of the surface and can be read so that a whole page can be read by a blind person" , said Tsvetanova, who explained that the blind will not only be able to read but also write on the tablet. The winners of this year's three awards for women in innovation are: • First prize (€ 100,000): Micla Magas, a Croatian and UK national, founded the Stromatolite UK innovations and design studio, which, together with a studio in Sweden, is setting up a new generation of incubators and tools in creative innovation technology. • Second prize (50,000 euros): Petra Wadström from Sweden, founded the Solvatten company, which produces a portable solar powered water purifier and heater. • Third prize (€ 30,000): Claudia Gertner of Germany, founded the microfluidic ChipShop, which produces lab-on-a-chip miniatures for better diagnostics.

Source: Dir.bg

Nowadays technology can replacehuman senses. New discoveries return vision to blind people, for example - and this was demonstrated by fully-functioning devices.

Scientists around the world are working hard on retina prostheses that people call "artificial eye". The leading development in this category is called Argus II and the American company Second Sight has been set up, Martin Beltov from Smartnews.bg tells. The implant is worth $ 145,000 and is currently being used by about 80 people with vision impairment. Argus II is a two-part system: a retinal implant and a camera that is mounted in the eyeglass frames. The camera uses a small chip that handles the images it captures. They are sent wirelessly to the implant, which has 60 electrodes that transmit the data to the optic nerve. Unfortunately, the current state of Argus II allows only the contours of objects to be distinguished. Color vision is also not possible. Damaged cells in the retina do not allow colors to be seen, but the brain has the ability to adapt to Argus II. Over time, implant users have been able to read text (albeit in large letters), as well as crossing streets and boulevards on their own. The next generation of Argus will allow for color recognition as well as for more detailed images.

In Germany, a similar product is being developed in parallel. It is called Alpha IMS and is a complete artificial eye. Its sensor has 25 times more electrodes than Argus II and sends a signal directly to the optical nerve. The next step is to skip the "mediator" - the eye, and create a device that works directly with the brain. This will allow to remove the limitation of interaction with damaged retinal cells. Such technology will give people with damaged retina (retinopathy) a greater chance of seeing. The future will surely give a chance to visually impaired people. There is even talk of adding extra features such as infrared vision. Source: https://vesti.bg/tehnologii/nauka-i-tehnika/mozhe-li-slepi-da-proglednat-chrez-tehnologiite-6029006