Mata Bhagwanti Chadha Niketan launches app and e-commerce portal for speech impaired persons and special children

In celebration of its 18^th annual day, Mata Bhagwanti Chadha Niketan launched a picture based app for speech impaired persons called Vaakya and an e-commerce portal that sells hand-made products made by special children of MBCN under the Swayam programme.

Vaakya is an augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) tool that can also be used during rehabilitation. In addition to persons that are speech impaired, it is also helpful for patients affected by autism, cerebral palsy and various other mental and physical conditions.

Speaking about these initiative, Ms. Vandana Sharma, Director, Mata Bhagwanti Chadha Niketan said, “With Vaakya, our mission is to give the specially-abled a tool to communicate efficiently and make them independent and self-reliant.”

The app creates a combination of custom images and phrases, which can be related to an individual user in order to effectively communicate. By adding multiple students/patients to the application, multiple user accounts can be created, with unique actions and speech specific to individual user. The speech associated with actions can be recorded and played back in any language providing greater flexibility. The app utilises the phone’s own memory and does not rely on internet connectivity.

One of the products made by the children under the vocational training programme ‘Swayam’

Looking to bring a sense of self-worth and economic independence to the children, an e-commerce portal has also been integrated with the school’s website that allows customers to buy hand-made products made by the children of the school. The products, under the vocational training programme ‘Swayam’, include wedding gifts, packaging items, office stationery, paper bags and more. Ms. Sharma is hoping that this would usher in vital changes in positivity to the children. She adds, “The students get stipend for the hours they spend on their skill as an encouragement for their hard work and give them a sense of economic independence.”

Mata Bhagwanti Chadha Niketan works under the aegis of The Ponty Chadha Foundation that works towards the social and economic development of the society. The app, Vaakya, is available on Google Play Store for free of cost from Feb 16th 2017.