Commemorating October as the Blindness Awareness Month, the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness announced a photo contest on its website in line with this year’s theme of #HopeInSight. Photographers around the globe sent in their entries to raise awareness about eye health. 

Keeping up with the optimistic spirits, we thought of sharing a few pictures clicked by a visually impaired girl in Mysore, Karnataka.

Image description: A collage where top left photo captures a lush green field and coconut trees in the background under a white cloudy sky. Photo at the bottom left is of a local government school that shows a campus full of trees and a concrete path leading towards the building. Photo on the right shows a young boy standing bare feet on terrace smiling at the camera with hands folded.

Sahana G, attended one of our Eyeway Encounters sessions on ‘Blind Photography’, conducted by Partho Bhowmick who runs a project called ‘Blind with Camera’ in Mumbai. Sahana was always interested in the art form, but wasn’t aware that blind people can also acquire professional training to use the camera. 

Her love for photography was supplemented by the tips and tricks shared by Partho. Benefitting a great deal from the session, Sahana began capturing nature and faces with a lot more confidence this time. She didn’t allow her impairment to dampen her passion.

She simply needed direction and reassurance that no form of expression is limited to any one sense. The absence of sight in her case could be overcome by certain techniques to use the sense of touch, sound and smell. 

In a world obsessed with selfies and smartphones and the urge to exhibit everything online, photography can be a great ‘social equalizer’ for anyone with a vision impairment. For Sahana, it is a medium to interact with the visual world and she is happily doing so.

Project Eyeway aspires to challenge the stereotypes associated with blindness and advocate for an inclusive society. One that recognizes the potential of visually impaired people and offers easy access to the right resources.