Students of SIES Prajna Vision centre participate in the two-day awareness programme in Sion on Friday. (Express Photo/Prashant Nadkar)
At an awareness programme held by a city college on Friday, students tried to understand the world of the differently abled by putting on blindfolds while executing tasks instructed by a group of visually challenged fellow participants. Friday was the first day of a two-day workshop, ‘Embrace the Difference’ organised by the SIES College of Arts, Science and Commerce in Sion, with the objective of sensitising college students to the challenges faced by their visually challenged counterparts daily.
The participants who registered were blindfolded and directed by visually impaired students to carry out various tasks including walking with sticks to detect obstructions on their path. Along with that, various tests were designed by visually impaired students such as recognising various Indian currency notes, coins, fruits and pulses. The participants with blindfolds were also asked to operate a computer.
“I was very afraid while I was blindfolded, and I kept hitting the floor continuously with my stick to check if there was an object lying ahead. On being directed by the visually challenged volunteers during the exercise, I could truly relate to them,” said Ajinkya Golakar (19), a participant.
SIES College expects nearly 1,000 students from other colleges to participate over Friday and Saturday, in the first of its kind initiative by visually impaired students and the college. The participants also played games such as football with a ball especially designed with a bell inside it. “We brought in specific equipment to hold this event in a systematic manner and had planned it for over two months sending out invitations to various colleges,” said Dr Uma Maheshwari S, principal of SIES College.
The college has around 40 visually challenged students. Amit Jaiswal (19), a visually challenged student, and president of the students’ committee that organised the event, said: “We don’t want people’s sympathy, but want them to empathize and understand the difficulties we face before carrying out simple tasks such as crossing the road, boarding a train, etc. We hope this leads to policies being made keeping us mind.”
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