From Sharada Braille to digi games, Zendalona sparks tech inclusivity in Kerala

Sathyaseelan lost his vision at 10 and struggled to complete his education as he would have wanted to.
K Sathyaseelan
K Sathyaseelan
Updated on
2 min read

THRISSUR: In Kerala, the percentage of people with visual disability stands at around 0.1%. With inclusivity being a major factor discussed across all sectors in the state, Zendalona -- a non-governmental organisation founded by K Sathyaseelan and his son Nalin Sathyan -- strides towards making it a reality in the field of technology.

Formed in 2022, Zendalona at present provides technical support, guidance, and scholarships to deserving projects that help visually challenged people advance their skills and overcome barriers. Sathyaseelan, popular for innovating Sharada Braille Writer (SBW), has been working on better visually challenged-friendly software updates to bridge the gap between technology and persons with disabilities.

Sathyaseelan lost his vision at 10 and struggled to complete his education as he would have wanted to.

“When I lost my vision completely, reading was all that I was worried about. How I can read books and write things down have been my only thoughts since then. During my studies, with the support of my mother, I jotted down everything in Braille while mother read it. It was a long process as each and every page of all the textbooks needed to be translated to Braille,” he said.

That remained a concern at the back of his mind.

“When a chance came, Nalin developed the codes for Sharada Braille while I supported it with Braille language. I’m sure it has brought tremendous changes to the lives of people with visual disability,” Sathyaseelan said. Later, several updates were made to Sharada Braille, built using free and open software, and has since been used widely.

“We chose free software for programming because we wanted it to be accessible to all. Though similar software was available on various platforms, it was too expensive for a common man and there were limitations on its use. Also, any update to such software needs to be bought by paying additional amount. For a person like me, who grew up in an ordinary family in a village in Kerala, it was unaffordable and hence wanted to create an alternative, which ended up in Sharada Braille,” he added.

Over the years, ‘Sathyan Mash’ and Nalin have made significant innovations -- including translator, tutor and online games -- to make things easier for people with visual disability. The XChess platform has been used widely as blind people can also use it to play chess. An inclusive game, Bluff, was also designed and created by the father-son duo, keeping up with the trends. Alongside programming, they have made efforts to collaborate with Malayalam Wikipedia too, as part of their vision for people with visual disability.

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