Assisted Devices for Students with Disabilities

Description

The need

Approximately 200 students with disabilities are currently enrolled at IIT Madras across undergraduate, postgraduate, and research programs. They include students with locomotor impairment navigating a campus of 600+ forested acres, students with low and partial vision working through a STEM curriculum heavy in diagrams and equations, students with severe visual impairment depending on Braille and screen-reading technology, students with hearing impairment in lecture-dependent classes, and students with chronic conditions managing fatigue across long campus days.

This proposal funds a focused program of devices and accessibility infrastructure that targets the two most consequential gaps for these students today: campus mobility for students with locomotor impairment, and visual accessibility for students with low or partial vision. It also adds live classroom streaming infrastructure that crosscuts all disability categories and benefits the wider student population. Hearing and physiotherapy support are retained to ensure no category is left out.

Personal Mobility Solutions - 20 Lacs INR

Electric bicycles, wheelchair + motorized trike + motorized wheelchair issued on a need basis for students who can benefit from personal mobility solutions.

Low Vision Equipment (primary focus area)

Students with low or partial vision are an underserved group within most accessibility programs - conventional approaches (screen readers, Braille) are designed for the fully blind, while low-vision.

Students benefit instead from vision-enhancing equipment that lets them use their residual sight more effectively. This category specifically addresses that gap with a coherent set of devices.

Electronic magnifiers (4 units, mix of desktop and portable) - for reading printed materials, technical diagrams, lab equipment labels at variable magnification.
Video magnification eyewear (3 headsets - NuEyes, IrisVision, or eSight class) - wearable systems that magnify the visual field in real time, transformative for distant classroom and lab viewing.
OCR scanning and text-to-speech devices (6 units) - bridges the gap between print materials and accessible audio output.
Large-print high-contrast peripherals - large-key keyboards, high-DPI monitors, accessible color-scheme configurations across institutional systems.
High-quality adjustable task lighting (10–12 units) for study desks - quality lighting makes a substantial difference for many low-vision conditions.
Institutional licenses for accessibility apps - SeeingAI, Supersense, Be My Eyes Pro, and similar.

Targets 10–15 students with low/partial vision ₹ 14 Lakhs.

Severe Visual Impairment Equipment

For fully blind students who use Braille and screen-reading technology, a separate equipment set is required. This category supports the smaller but essential population of students with severe visual impairment.

Refreshable Braille displays (2 units) for assigned student use and shared lab access.
Commercial JAWS screen reader licenses plus NVDA enterprise distribution across institute computing.
Three fully-equipped accessible computing workstations with Braille displays, audio, and high refresh-rate-matched monitors.
DAISY readers and talking-book infrastructure for course material access.

Targets 3–5 students with severe visual impairment ₹ 6 Lakhs.

Hearing Support Equipment

For students with hearing impairment, individually-fitted digital hearing aids with Bluetooth audio capability for direct routing from classroom audio systems. Includes assistive listening devices for shared use and FM/loop system upgrades in select classrooms.

Targets 3–5 students with hearing impairment ₹ 5 Lakhs.

General Physiotherapy Equipment

Basic in-house physiotherapy capability serving students with prosthesis use, wheelchair use, chronic-pain conditions, and post-surgical recovery needs. Equipment list: treatment plinth, parallel bars, therapy balls, resistance bands, balance trainers, basic assessment tools (goniometers, posture analyzer, storage furniture), and one basic electrotherapy unit (TENS/IFT) for pain management. Recurring physiotherapist staffing is handled separately.

Serves all students with disabilities as needed ₹ 7 Lakhs.

Consumables and First-Year Operations

Recurring needs that keep the program functional through Year 1: replacement batteries, prosthetic spare parts, hearing aid moulds, magnifier accessories, Braille embossing supplies, cable replacements, software subscriptions, and minor service costs across all device categories.

Operating consumables for Year 1 ₹ 5 Lakhs.