At a rare workshop organised by a city not-for-profit, 61 vision-impaired participants were given cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and first-aid training on Sunday. This is probably the first workshop of its kind in India. “We wanted to eradicate the myth that the vision impaired cannot help anyone, and therefore thought the workshop was a good idea” said Sushmeetha B Bubna, founder director, Voice Vision, the NGO that organised the workshop that was held at HK Institute of Management Studies and Research in Jogeshwari.

Among the participants was 21-year-old Jay Devendra, who was excited when he learned how to do chest compressions at the rhythm of 100 per minute.

“The doctors told me that I had picked up the skill easily,” he said, smiling.

Lifesupporters Institute of Health Sciences (LIHS), a training institute for paramedic and doctors in emergency medicine, conducted the workshop. “We brought 30 of our students to help us with the training. We also practised last week, so that we were able to reach out to the participants effectively,” said Dr Ajay Desai, director, LIHS.

“People feel that a vision impaired person cannot be of any help in an emergency, but this workshop has trained us for just that,” said Rajesh Asudani, 36, a participant.