The families and caretakers of differently-abled individuals in the national capital will now have access to information kiosks providing content related to various disabilities such as cerebral palsy and autism in six main hospitals. The pilot project is an initiative of an NGO, Media Lab Asia, in conjunction with the central government’s Department of Information Technology and the National Trust, a statutory body under the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.

Shankarnath Goswami, the managing director of Media Lab Asia, said these kiosks are meant to provide benefits to those who deserve them the most. "Information holds the key to knowledge, and this initiative of Media Lab Asia aims to enable and empower persons with disabilities to manage their disabilities better," Goswami said.

The kiosks provides pamphlets giving information on various disabilities, schemes for persons with such disabilities, contact numbers and addresses of associations run by parents for persons with disabilities, help-lines and NGOs working on related issues.

They also give information on a user-friendly speech-based interactive system, numerical key-based simple and easy customised operations and audio-based help.

The kiosks have been set up in the psychiatry department of Ram Manohar Lohia and Safdarjung hospitals, in Guru Tegh Bahadur Hospital, Lok Nayak Jai Prakash (Irwin) Hospital, Institute of Human Behaviour and Applied Sciences (IHBAS) and the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).

Depending on their popularity, these kiosks may be set up in other hospitals as well, officials said. (IANS)