How does it feel?

How do you play cricket blindfolded? A 2-day workshop organised at St Xavier's College will give participants a first-hand taste of the challenges faced by the visually challenged

How does it feel, to be on your own, with no direction home.

Bob Dylan's immortal words ring true as students and teachers of XRCVC, St Xavier's College take you through the sensitisation workshop-cum-exhibition, Antarchakshu 2010.

"There's an overall lack of awareness about the visually challenged. One section thinks that they are challenged and hence incapable, while another believes that the blind are geniuses.
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The truth is that they are as human as any of us," says Sam Taraporevala, Assistant Professor, HOD, Sociology, St Xavier's College and Director, XRCVC.

But if a picture is worth a thousand words, so is an experience, feels Taraporevala. "A 45-minute experience will have a more lasting impact than any lecture or dissertation on the subject," he says.

This time, the theme is 'A Day in the Life Of'. Participants will go through simulated experiences in three areas that impact the lives of the visually challenged: Education, Transportation and Accessible Consumer Products.

How do they get on a bus? How do they cross roads? How do they avoid obstacles? These are the questions that will be answered through the workshop.

Two prototypes of instruments that help the blind, developed by students of IIT Delhi, will also be exhibited. One is a remote sensing device that can tell the bus number and read it out to a visually challenged commuter.
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The second device will help participants navigate an obstacle course with a specially enabled cane that detects obstacles.

The workshop is meant to sensitise students, teachers and educators towards those who are visually challenged, so that they can be better equipped to deal with their problems and identify their needs.

The exhibition, now in its fifth year, has been changing mindsets. Tejasvi Mehta, a second year student of Ancient Indian Culture, and a coordinator at the exhibition, is just one of them.

"I used to feel apprehensive about approaching visually challenged persons before. I wasn't sure whether they needed my help or not. Now, they are either my friends or strangers who need my help," she smiles.

On September 8 and 9, from 11 am to 6 pm.
At St Xavier's College Hall, 5 Mahapalika Hall.