Blind Education and Rehabilitation Development Organisation
Blind Education and Rehabilitation Development Organisation (BERDO) is a nonprofit non-governmental organization which works to empower people with disabilities through programs such as microcredit financing and education.
Founded | 1991[1] |
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Type | Non-profit NGO |
Location |
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Website | berdo-bd |
Organization
BERDO was founded on July 17, 1991 in order to help people with disabilities in Bangladesh.[1] The executive director of BERDO, MD.Saidul Huq, called for "creating an environment where the people with disability can enjoy life with dignity" in 2005.[2] Its microcredit program is aimed at supporting people with physical disabilities and is one of its main support programs.[3][4] It also tries to support education initiatives for people with disabilities; the organization recently partnered with the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation to give scholarships to people with blindness.[5] BERDO also created a "talking library" to support education initiatives for blind people so they can continue on with school despite a lack of braille textbooks; the library holds hundreds of book on cassette tape so people who are blind can listen to them.[6] To help create more access to braille texts, BERDO helped to create and test a Bengali-to-braille software translator that will help to create braille books at 20% of the cost.[7] According to BERDO, there are 2,000,000 people in Bangladesh suffering from some sort of eye disability.[3]
BERDO often attracts government ministers to its events celebrating the rights of people with disabilities in Bangladesh.[8][9] Its 20th anniversary celebration brought a number of ministry leaders of Bangladesh to speak as guests.[8]
References
- "BERDO home page". Blind Education and Rehabilitation Organisation. Archived from the original on March 21, 2012. Retrieved July 18, 2012.
- "Formulate policy for mentally challenged children". The Daily Star. December 3, 2005. Retrieved July 18, 2012.
- "Int'l White Cane Safety Day Today". The Daily Star. October 15, 2005. Retrieved July 18, 2012.
- "Microcredit Empowers Disabled Bangladeshis". oneworld.net. August 29, 2008. Archived from the original on February 21, 2015. Retrieved July 18, 2012.
- "HSBC's support for visually impaired". The Daily Star. October 16, 2009. Retrieved July 18, 2012.
- Khan, Ashfaq Wares (May 29, 2004). "The Strength Within Undaunted Resilience". The Daily Star. Retrieved July 18, 2012.
- Masood, Aisha (April 23, 2011). "Sighting software to feel Bangla on the fingertips". The Independent. Dhaka. Archived from the original on February 4, 2013. Retrieved July 18, 2012.
- "State minister wants job of visually challenged in health ministry". The Daily Star. July 25, 2011. Retrieved July 18, 2012.
- "Int'l Day of Disabled Persons today". The Daily Star. December 3, 2004. Retrieved July 18, 2012.