Mysuru will host a unique event on August 29: persons with visual disabilities will lead a march of blindfolded persons to spread the message of eye donation.

Called ‘Blind Walk’, the 1-km long walk will be flagged off from Maharani’s College to the Kote Anjaneyaswamy Temple at Mysuru Palace. Bharatesh, governor, Rotary District, 3180 will be the chief guest.

The event coincides with the National Eye Donation fortnight which is observed from August 25 to September 8.

The Project Vision (TPV), which has been spreading awareness on eye donation for removing blindness and creating opportunities for the permanently blind, said that the walk would help participants understand blindness and thereby educate them masses on eye donation.

One-third of the world’s persons with visual disabilities are in India, with about 15 million suffering from blindness, TPV said in a release here.

To eye donations easy and effective, it has created 104 common call number for Karnataka and Tamil Nadu to make it possible for anyone from anywhere to contact the eye bank close to them within the six hours in which the eyes can be harvested, it explained.

TPV founder Fr. George Kannanthanam has also proposed to make this number a common number for the entire country.

Since October 2013, 15,000 persons had been motivated by it to pledge their eyes, the release added.

Besides the walk in Mysuru, similar walks had been arranged at Chennai (from Marina to the Service Road on September 5) and Hubballi (from Chennamma Circle to Glass House on September 5).

The Bengaluru Blind Walk will be held on September 6 from Cubbon Park, M G Road to St Joseph’s Indian High School. Rotary RI Districts 3170, 3180 and 3190 are organising the walks in the four cities.

The Blind Walk
 

This special walk will be led by a group of visually challenged persons and the participants will be blindfolded

* All of them will walk for a distance of one km

* The walk is open to all the people to understand the predicament of visually challenged persons

* After the walk, there will be entertainment programmes by the visually challenged persons

When blindfolded people

are led by the blind

* Mysuru to host its first Blind Walk next week to spread the message of eye donation for removing blindness in the society

* The event coincide National Eye Donation Fortnight, which is observed from August 25 to September 8