Do the blind live in a world of darkness? Or is theirs an imaginary world with visuals? Some, especially those who’ve been born blind, have stated that their world is indeed dark and visuals are at times thrust on them. Others, like Shakila Maharaj, one of the delegates at Hyderabad Literary Festival 2016, talk about an imaginary world that’s far from dark.
In India, the people with disabilities are addressed by many denominations interchangeably. Since the mid-1980s, patronising terms such as “differently abled” and “specially abled” have been quite common in public parlance. Recently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his last Mann ki Baat, broadcast on December 27, 2015, appealed to the public to adopt the use of the term “divyang” (divine body) to address persons with disabilities.
As many as 1.16 lakh eye patients were examined and 12,534 patients’ eyes were operated upon in Sewa Sadan Eye Hospital during calendar year 2015.
These include 4,463 paid cataract surgeries, 74 glaucoma, 22 squint, 272 surgeries of diabetic retinopathy disease and 7,607 free cataract surgeries.
Notably, the Medical Director and Senior Ophthalmologist Dr Prerna Upadhyaya has transplanted cornea to 96 visually impaired patients in this period. This achievement is highest than any other eye hospital based in central India region of the State.
At Oxford's John Radcliffe Hospital, a clinical trial is taking place in which six patients who have had little or no sight for many years are having a cutting-edge "bionic eye" implanted in an attempt to give them some sight, and independence, back. The first patient in this trial is 49-year-old Rhian Lewis, from Cardiff. She explains: "I was a toddler when my parents noticed I would not cross a darkened room, even from one light room to another light room, and that I was really scared of the dark.
IT WAS a routine broadcast schedule for the listeners of All India Radio (AIR) on Monday morning, when presenter Manoj Kshirsagar started the regional news bulletin at 7.10 am in his distinctive voice. However, halfway into the bulletin, Kshirsagar said that he would now pass on the microphone to Dhanraj Patil, a representative of Pune Blind Men’s Association, who will complete the bulletin by reading the news in braille.
Louis Braille, the developer of Braille Code, was born on January 4 in 1809. The day is celebrated as World Braille Day.
While hailing the revolutionary discovery of Louis Braille as being a fundamental necessity that helped them overcome barriers, some of the visually challenged professionals in the city feel that technology interventions have also helped them think beyond Braille in several walks of life.
Mitra Jyothi, an NGO working for the visually challenged from the past 25 years, has been granted Rs. 1-crore Braille press by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment as part of a programme to establish 16 Braille press across the country in 2015.
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