Ability Forum

[srividyaa]

NEW DELHI:
It is not all gone yet but Parul Goyal's vision started declining when she was in third grade. She has retinitis pigmentosa which means she doesn't go out and never uses public transport. As for school, she couldn't see the blackboard or the point in going. Parul dropped out after grade 10 and waited at home for the world to go dark completely which it does but, ironically, only when she's outdoors in the sun. She stays home, is capable of some household work and can, if asked nicely, dislodge your kidneys with a vicious kick to the abdomen.

Goyal's been practicing. The rehabilitation programme for blind women that All India Confederation of the Blind organizes includes, among other life skills, martial arts. Over the six years that AICB has been conducting these sessions- with funds from Marga Schulze Foundation, Germany - the programme has been altered and polished to better suit the needs of candidates. The computer-training part, for instance, changed after a new trainer came on board.

The candidates - 22 this year - learn kitchen set-up and cooking, sewing, ironing, grooming, Braille, spoken-English and computers - over a month and a half. They're also taught what to do when someone on the road grabs their hand - "open your fingers out, push forward and then jerk backwards," advices Goyal, 20. She feels she'll be more ready to face the world after the programme. "I'm going to go back to school, study further," she says. Her three younger sibli0ngs have gone ahead without her.

"Parents are very protective," says Shivali Kathuria, soft skills trainer at AICB. The constant attentiveness, however, does more harm than good keeping the visually impaired unskilled and dependent. "I've personally stood at the gate and stopped parents from escorting the girls to their rooms. I've had them stand and watch how they find their way. Getting lost is the worst thing that can happen. On the AICB premises, that's not a problem."

"There are very few institutions working for blind women," says AICB secretary-general J. L. Kaul, "Even in vocational rehabilitation programmes that are responsible for arranging employment, the participation of blind women is very low."

Some already possess a few skills but with most, says Kathuria, you have to "start from scratch." "From the way one girl holds the knife to peel vegetables, you can tell she's never done this before," she says. Seed spices are identified from size and texture; powdered ones from the smell. "Amchur," says Saraswati, 22, confidently after a cautious sniff at a green powder in a plastic cup. She's seldom wrong these days.

On March 19, 2005, Saraswati wrote her class 10 math exam (the last one), came home and fell sick. She developed a fever that lasted longer than a month. "My brain was swollen and I almost died. I was also violent," she recalls. It was meningitis. When she finally recovered from that, she'd lost her vision completely, permanently. "I did pitch in at home the last six years but I needed help. Now I can be completely independent," she says. She can correctly identify unshelled moong dal, which, apparently, is the test. "They usually trip up on this one," says Kathuria. They've covered puris, daal, lemon juice, tea and a variety of paranthas. Lemon and Chinese rice are still to go.

Students lose skills nearly as fast as they pick them up. "I was taught a few things at Chhattisgarh and again at Vilaspur but I'd forgotten most," says Nowanta Kolatkar, 26. Armed with a Visharad degree, she teaches at a school for the visually impaired at Chitrakut, Uttar Pradesh. "I've been asked by a girl to counsel her mother. She said her mother wouldn't allow her to do any of the things she learnt here. Most of them aren't allowed near a gas," says Kathuria.

Kolatkar, however, is preparing for a time she can go solo. She's lived in hostels all her life and used the two-month vacation to prepare for her B-Ed exams and the rehab course. She likes her job though she's a long way from her family in Nagpur but her heart's set on akakashwani (radio). At some point, she'd like a bit of playback singing for the movies too. But for now, she'd settle for a position teaching music in high school or a government job.
regards
TS Negi

Source: sayeverything group

NEW DELHI:
It is not all gone yet but Parul Goyal's vision started declining when she was in third grade. She has retinitis pigmentosa which means she doesn't go out and never uses public transport. As for school, she couldn't see the blackboard or the point in going. Parul dropped out after grade 10 and waited at home for the world to go dark completely which it does but, ironically, only when she's outdoors in the sun. She stays home, is capable of some household work and can, if asked nicely, dislodge your kidneys with a vicious kick to the abdomen.

Goyal's been practicing. The rehabilitation programme for blind women that All India Confederation of the Blind organizes includes, among other life skills, martial arts. Over the six years that AICB has been conducting these sessions- with funds from Marga Schulze Foundation, Germany - the programme has been altered and polished to better suit the needs of candidates. The computer-training part, for instance, changed after a new trainer came on board.

The candidates - 22 this year - learn kitchen set-up and cooking, sewing, ironing, grooming, Braille, spoken-English and computers - over a month and a half. They're also taught what to do when someone on the road grabs their hand - "open your fingers out, push forward and then jerk backwards," advices Goyal, 20. She feels she'll be more ready to face the world after the programme. "I'm going to go back to school, study further," she says. Her three younger sibli0ngs have gone ahead without her.

"Parents are very protective," says Shivali Kathuria, soft skills trainer at AICB. The constant attentiveness, however, does more harm than good keeping the visually impaired unskilled and dependent. "I've personally stood at the gate and stopped parents from escorting the girls to their rooms. I've had them stand and watch how they find their way. Getting lost is the worst thing that can happen. On the AICB premises, that's not a problem."

"There are very few institutions working for blind women," says AICB secretary-general J. L. Kaul, "Even in vocational rehabilitation programmes that are responsible for arranging employment, the participation of blind women is very low."

Some already possess a few skills but with most, says Kathuria, you have to "start from scratch." "From the way one girl holds the knife to peel vegetables, you can tell she's never done this before," she says. Seed spices are identified from size and texture; powdered ones from the smell. "Amchur," says Saraswati, 22, confidently after a cautious sniff at a green powder in a plastic cup. She's seldom wrong these days.

On March 19, 2005, Saraswati wrote her class 10 math exam (the last one), came home and fell sick. She developed a fever that lasted longer than a month. "My brain was swollen and I almost died. I was also violent," she recalls. It was meningitis. When she finally recovered from that, she'd lost her vision completely, permanently. "I did pitch in at home the last six years but I needed help. Now I can be completely independent," she says. She can correctly identify unshelled moong dal, which, apparently, is the test. "They usually trip up on this one," says Kathuria. They've covered puris, daal, lemon juice, tea and a variety of paranthas. Lemon and Chinese rice are still to go.

Students lose skills nearly as fast as they pick them up. "I was taught a few things at Chhattisgarh and again at Vilaspur but I'd forgotten most," says Nowanta Kolatkar, 26. Armed with a Visharad degree, she teaches at a school for the visually impaired at Chitrakut, Uttar Pradesh. "I've been asked by a girl to counsel her mother. She said her mother wouldn't allow her to do any of the things she learnt here. Most of them aren't allowed near a gas," says Kathuria.

Kolatkar, however, is preparing for a time she can go solo. She's lived in hostels all her life and used the two-month vacation to prepare for her B-Ed exams and the rehab course. She likes her job though she's a long way from her family in Nagpur but her heart's set on akakashwani (radio). At some point, she'd like a bit of playback singing for the movies too. But for now, she'd settle for a position teaching music in high school or a government job.
regards
TS Negi

Source: sayeverything group

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