Experiencing and Understanding..

Everyone has preconceived notions about disabilities; from my first visit to Mathru School and Rakum School, I feel like my assumptions were made based on incorrect understanding of these special children. Not only did I realize that they are intellectually equal but also that their enthusiasm isn’t wavered by their disability.

Mathru School for the Blind 

This being my first experience in the blind school, I was prepared for some emotional upheaval, but I realized that sympathy isn’t something these children require; sensitivity yes, but not sympathy.  We were being flies on the wall while taking in the entire scene. The campus was very clean and quiet, the children were in their classes when we visited, and hence we had the chance to observe the classes taking place  

Jakkur School

This was the first of the Rakum School we visited. Though not for the blind it was primarily for the underprivileged. But there was a blind facilitator who taught us Braille and how each letter is a combination of dots.  For example the letter K has two dots 1, 3 spaced differently. Braille is written from right to left and read from left to right. We stood apart and observed the classes being taught, and noticed that all the children were first taught to greet and welcome a guest and respect elders.

Sri Rakum Blind School - Indiranagar

In all the Rakum Schools, the children’s day starts at 4.30 AM with yoga and carries on to breakfast, assembly at 9.00AM, classes start at 9.30 and classes go on till 3.30 after which the students have extracurricular activities like dance and karate. They are then sent to their respective hostels and study till dinner after which is their bed time.

This last week, my group and I were mostly travelling due to several confusions and hence couldn't spend as much time as we would have liked. But from what we observed, we understood the basic behavior of the visually impaired and learnt some interesting facts about Braille.