Experience in Schools for the Blind

EXPERIENCE IN MATHRU

Monday we were in Matru for 15mins where we came across walls with murals which would help visually impaired with maths, learning fruits etc.Murals had letters with braille along with embossing objects which would help visually impaired to feel and understand the forms,textures. We also saw huge boards with bolts and ropes through which they could form different shapes.  There were boards where in different shapes in the form of magnets could be attached to it and new shapes can be made. We saw students using stylus for writing in braille.

EXPERIENCE IN JAKKUR

Tuesday we went to Jakkur and Indiranagar Rakum school. It was a small school with two class rooms. We were standing near the classroom doors to watch the kids. Whole class stood and wished. We were so pleased by their nature and discipline.  We found two lecturers who were blind. We tried to interact with one lecturer who was teaching. She told us how they use braille for reading and writing. They use a stylus for creating 6 dots on paper which is kept below the stylus pad which has holes where in they punch. Punching is made from right to left. Each time a punch is made using the stylus, impression is obtained on the paper.  After punching is done,paper is turned and  it is read from left to right. Each alphabet is assigned different combinations of dots. Example: a1, b12 and so on.Once alphabets are thought,sentences are written and read using same way.The same method is adopted in kannada and hindi alphabets but pattern of dots vary.

EXPERIENCE IN INDIRA NAGAR

It was a little larger school when compared to the one located in Jakkur. It had students from 1^st to 6^th std with pu,B.E and other degree students. Each class room had both visually impaired and students with vision and they treated them equally.Braille and other languages like kannada,English etc are thought.Students are thought  yoga,karate,crafts etc. I interacted with a lecturer named Sharada who was blind. She showed how braille is used for reading and writing by punching 6dots. She gave a demo by writing mine,Adwait’s and Aishwarya’s name in braille and told how it is read. She told me they use short forms for words like br for brought and ch for child since it makes writing long notes easier.She told us it takes 2months to learn a braille language. We came across a fruits chart where each fruit was embossed according to the shape of the fruit helping the visually impaired feel the shape of the fruit. Visually impaired hold objects when they walk.