Reflection- Anshruta Anirudh

Working with the disabled has always been something I have wanted to do, so this course immediately caught my attention and got me interested. 

With all the excitement and enthusiasm, I completely lost track of what a delicate project this was and how carefully it needed to be handled. It was only after the first few sessions of discussing and understanding the blind did I realize the seriousness of the project. 

How we take our senses for granted was one of the first things that hit me. The sensation of touch, smell and sound, all go unnoticed in our daily lives. But for the blind, these are essential for their daily functioning. Doing exercises like designing visiting cards and t-shirts for the blind helped me realize this. Experimenting with braille, for me was hard to do. It seemed easy because we could see the patterns but not being able to see it and only to 'feel' it was difficult and challenging.

What gave me a deeper and greater insight and understanding to this was exploring the town - understanding what other people think of the blind and finding out the facilities and policies the blind people are offered. This helped in figuring out the difficulties the blind face on a day-to-day basis as well as the sympathy and the empathy they get from the people. We then made posters to spread awareness about the blind and to make them understand that the blind need to be treated with empathy rather than sympathy. 

This was the beginning of my 'understanding' as well. It was only after this that we began to bring in a change to Srishti. We went around Srishti identifying places that we could bring in a change so that it would be easier for the blind to move around the campus. Most of the things that went unnoticed for us, suddenly became a prominent issue.. For example, the raised flooring and the uneven surfaces, the tables with sharp edges, the different rooms with the different coloured doors.. etc. We noted all the places that we thought we could improve and immediately got to work! We divided ourselves into groups and started bringing a change to the campus. We began by making signboards directing people to particular floors and rooms. We also made ramps so it would be easier for the blind to walk around. Manuals were made for the faculty as well as the security guards to ensure that they know how to treat and help the blind. Lift buttons made in braille were stuck so it would be easier for the blind to know which floor there would be going to.
All of these changes were brought about in a week in order to make Srishti blind friendly. And even though we could not bring about all the changes we had in mind, there is always a start..  and this was ours.
We are hoping that this change that we have brought about makes people more aware and brings them to realize that the blind need to be given all the privileges that we are given and that they are no different from us!
I am really looking forward to actually going and interacting with the blind so I can get a better understanding and feel of what we have been trying to achieve. But this experience has been wonderful and has given me a lot to think about. Things that I had never really given a thought to or even noticed for that matter are now a big part of my everyday life.