Bhubaneswar, Nov. 21: A group of youngsters from the city took up an awareness endeavour through which citizens from diverse backgrounds got to experience the difficulties faced by visually challenged persons.
More than 80 people took part in the event yesterday, in which they were engaged in a number of simulation activities along with persons with disabilities.
The eyes of the participants were blindfolded to simulate total blindness. Hosted by the Bhubaneswar-based youth group We For You, the exercise aimed to increase sensitivity of the participants, especially the younger ones, towards disability. They participated in various activities such as counting coins, drawing, writing, making pyramid structures with glass and taste food and guess what it is and a host of other such activities.
"We know that people who are visually impaired face a lot of hurdles but we rarely try to help them nor do we realise the depth of their hardships, since we have never ever experienced it. During the time I was blindfolded, I came to know the trauma and massive exhaustion it takes to lead their daily lives," said Jitu Satpathy, a cricketer.
There were 20 visually-impaired people in the event. "The participants were divided in groups where four of them were made to sit with one visually-impaired participant. As they entered the hall, there eyes were covered. For almost a couple of hours, they took part in the activities," said Abhaya Mohanta, a member of the youth group.
A fund raising event was also hosted at the end of the event, which will be utilised in an audio book project run by the youth group.
As a part of the project, they record the content of textbooks in audio format and distribute the clips among the differently-abled students.
"In Odisha, there are more than two lakh blind people out of which almost 30,000 are students. Braille books are not available for college students. Thousands of students cannot pursue higher education due to shortage of books. We wanted to nurture an equitable and inclusive environment and that is exactly why we came up with the idea of providing them with easier learning opportunities," said Mohanta.
Apart from science books, texts from other streams are also being recorded. Around 50 volunteers are involved in the project. The recorded clips are distributed in compact discs to institutions across the state, in which the differently-abled students study.
"Students can take the files in flash drives or use bluetooth and listen in their mobile phones or MP3 players. We have also invited the participants of this event to lend their voices during their spare time," said Mohanta.
