Working with the differently abled has always been one of my not so comfortable zones. So when I read up about this course I was ready for the unexpected. Our first task was to stop sympathizing with the visually impaired and rather empathize with them. This was not a very easy task. We were made to understand braille which is an important way of communication for the blind.
In relation to this we were asked to make brailed visiting cards. This was the first challenge I faced with braille. It seemed like an alien language. It seemed magical to be able to decipher the mix of dots! The main challenge was brailing the card. The paper to be used, the spacing between the letters, the tools used for brailing and the way it had to be brailed were some of the challenges I faced. After intensive research on the internet, I finally managed to produce a decent visiting card.
The next task was making a tee shirt for the blind which would make them feel good and they would know what exactly are they wearing. My brother inspired me with this project. His favorite tee shirts are the ones with 3D decals. Therefore I tried to incorporate this feature for a tee shirt for a blind child.
My tee shirt was for a girl between the age of 4 to 6 years. It had little buttons on one side which could be used to attach the characters that accompanied the tee shirt. Each character had all its features in 3D so that it could be felt. The characters can be placed to create a story or to suit ones mood. It also had a braille description of its color on the corner. This is by far one of my most favorite project!
Next was the group activity where we were asked to move around the city and talk to people about the problems faced by the blind when they travel and then comparing it to the travel policies that exist for them. We travelled in the public bus service and spoke to many passengers about what they felt should be done for the blind. They felt allotting seats to them on public buses was a logical option. We even visited the metro station at M.G road. We didn’t expect anything alarming but were surprised when the guard told us that they didn’t allow blind people to access the metro! It was the blatant discrimination, that alarmed all of us. During this survey we also happened to meet a blind couple who were teachers at the Bangalore university. They were very independent and spoke to us with a lot of enthusiasm. We then had a presentation that compared the policies and the present scenario this also shocked us quite a bit as we ourselves didn’t know of the various policies that existed. The next task was to create a poster to create awareness and take a stand on the issue. My poster was based on the disadvantage that the visually capable have as they are unable to decipher braille.
Our next task was to observe the campus and bring about the things that may harm the visually impaired if they were to roam about our campus. I noticed that there were a lot of basic things that would make it very difficult for the visually impaired to walk around our campus like the low and haphazard seating, the lack of directions on the floors, the use of glass doors, sharp corners of the tables and chairs and the lack of braille for various things. Our motive was to understand these faults and rectify them.
I joined the group that was handling the signage. Our group was broken up into two parts to be able to complete more faster. My group consisted of Pooja, Ishiyeta, Saumya, Ankita, Mariona and me. We worked on the signs for the entire N3 campus. Our signs served not only the visually impaired but also the visually capable. We faced a huge challenge with the brailing but managed to brainstorm and find faster solutions. The signs were painted with bright colors and in contrast with the door they were put on for better visual appeal. We also tried our level best to use waste materials keeping in mind the environmental needs.
Finally for the exhibition I decided to expand on my concept of the tee shirts for children. I want them to cater to much more than just fun. I want them to help by teaching the children numbers, alphabets and even basic skills like making braids for little girls. My plans are to continue expanding the idea to more such areas to make learning for the differently abled easier.
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