18.11.13
17.11.13
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.
15.11.13
Report on Sri Rakum School For The Blind
Objective
The project looks at using insights and
learnings from the visually impaired and transpiring that to create art
installations or products.
Report
Our first interaction at the Rakum School was
with Mrs. Vasantha, who is second in command for the Indiranagar school after
Sri Achraya Rakum himself. She teaches English to the students preparing for
IAS and it was here where we met Mahendra, Vivek and Bhavya. All three have
completed their Masters in English and Sociology.
Our attention were drawn to the sheer speed
with which all three could write and even keep up with the Mrs. Vasantha; she
wasn’t making things easy for them. This strict disciplined schedule that is
followed is made and abide by is for preparing them for the life they wait to
face outside Rakum.
The students used a special Braille tablet and
stylus to create braille impressions. Their method of writing reminded us
of sewing machines and how they were embroidering their words on to the used
newspaper, which was converted into notebooks. It was astounding to learn that
they write from right to left and read from left to write, what amazed us was
how effortlessly they could accomplish this.
We also observed the students in math class,
where they were at the level of solving complex calculus problems. After
sitting through the class it seemed as though math was a harder subject, yet
they confidently told us that it’s actually very simple. For math they have a
particular grid, which looks similar to the one they use for writing in
braille. However here they use it to work out calculations by inserting plastic
chips that have to be angled particularly to denote each number.
The only difficulty is that they have to retain
a lot of their calculations because the grid only holds a certain number of
chips at once. It seemed very complicated to us, but they were able to solve
the math sums with ease and mentally calculate within minutes.
After spending the entire day observing the
behaviour of the students at the school, we could see that the visually
impaired students are extremely well behaved and respectful. They are always
helpful to one another be it holding each others hand to navigate through the
campus or adjusting their seating arrangement to accommodate us in their class
room. The attitude with which they were eager to learn, share with us and their
always-smiling nature really filled the school with happy, positive
energy. We noticed while sitting in on the classes, was that each
student is different in the manner in which they touch and feel objects. Some
are gentle when using their tools to write, while others are a bit more
aggressive and use more force. Some could find their way across the campus with
minimal help and just by feeling the walls and counting their steps, while
others needed a guide. Though each student’s is very different from one
another, they are all extremely perceptive and could even notice when one of
our students was a bit apprehensive when the school’s dog approached her.
Our two days at Rakum School have given us a
lot of insight into how the visually impaired sense the world around them and
have clarified several assumptions that we had before our visit. We are looking
forward to incorporate our learnings into our project.
Shree Rakum School for the Blind
Shree Rakum school , Indranagar , Bangalore is a residential school offering free education for the underprivileged and the blind . They have a wide range of students from the age group of 5 to 22 .The school is mostly functioning on donations given to them in any form.
On the first day at the school we met Mrs Vasantha who was managing head of the school . I could sense the feeling of how she was trying to secure their kids just by the questions she asked us about our purpose of visit. She then offered us an opportunity to sit and observe the IAS students while their lectures went on . At first I had several assumptions which made me nervous. I had several questions in my head about how the students would react to the unknown , would their behavior change , would they be awkward , would they get offended by any of our gestures etc . However as the class began i realized they had no fear . It felt like they had taken their blindness as a boon and ignored our presence and continued just the way they did everyday. This just marked this one particular point in my head where i could see a clear difference between the sighted and the non sighted . I realized the beauty of not being able to see .
One more particular idea that striked my head was " writing on the written" . The students were using newspaper bound books as their notebooks . It felt strange to see someone writing on something that already was filled with words and sentences . But!! this was everything for them . Something that we would consider to be scrap was everything to them .
The next lecture that we attended was a math lecture which just blew my mind off . Initially i thought their teachers would do the calculations for them but what i saw was just brilliant . While the teacher was reading out the question i started righting down the sums and solving them along with the blind students . I was shocked to see how these students could announce the answers much before i could get there . I felt these students weren't blind , instead they had other senses which were just unbelievably powerful .
After the math lecture we got sometime to interact with these students .We spoke to them about their daily routines and about the subjects they were studying . They seemed to be quite inquisitive about us and where we came from and what we did . They also seemed to know a lot about the everything beyond their world . They seemed to be living a normal life just as us.
On the second day there was program conducted for the kids for children s day .Here i particularly decided to notice the interaction of the kids with space and people around . It was nice to see how each one of the blind kid had a buddy and how everyone was supportive and ready to help . I also noticed how they marked their space and knew exactly where to turn and where to go . They used numbers and counted every step that they walked to analyse the space. It was shocking to see how they could sense the presence of the number of people around them .
I could see the amount of respect these students had . They were extremely well mannered and respected and valued everything and everyone around them. We thought indulging these students in some sort of creativity other than what they would normally do in school would unfold new pathways for them . I got a very broad idea about how their lives work and how it could function with just subtle changes as well . I think going back to the school and engaging myself with the school teachers and spending some more time with the students in order to get better details would work good . Looking forward to our visit on Saturday!
On the first day at the school we met Mrs Vasantha who was managing head of the school . I could sense the feeling of how she was trying to secure their kids just by the questions she asked us about our purpose of visit. She then offered us an opportunity to sit and observe the IAS students while their lectures went on . At first I had several assumptions which made me nervous. I had several questions in my head about how the students would react to the unknown , would their behavior change , would they be awkward , would they get offended by any of our gestures etc . However as the class began i realized they had no fear . It felt like they had taken their blindness as a boon and ignored our presence and continued just the way they did everyday. This just marked this one particular point in my head where i could see a clear difference between the sighted and the non sighted . I realized the beauty of not being able to see .
One more particular idea that striked my head was " writing on the written" . The students were using newspaper bound books as their notebooks . It felt strange to see someone writing on something that already was filled with words and sentences . But!! this was everything for them . Something that we would consider to be scrap was everything to them .
The next lecture that we attended was a math lecture which just blew my mind off . Initially i thought their teachers would do the calculations for them but what i saw was just brilliant . While the teacher was reading out the question i started righting down the sums and solving them along with the blind students . I was shocked to see how these students could announce the answers much before i could get there . I felt these students weren't blind , instead they had other senses which were just unbelievably powerful .
After the math lecture we got sometime to interact with these students .We spoke to them about their daily routines and about the subjects they were studying . They seemed to be quite inquisitive about us and where we came from and what we did . They also seemed to know a lot about the everything beyond their world . They seemed to be living a normal life just as us.
On the second day there was program conducted for the kids for children s day .Here i particularly decided to notice the interaction of the kids with space and people around . It was nice to see how each one of the blind kid had a buddy and how everyone was supportive and ready to help . I also noticed how they marked their space and knew exactly where to turn and where to go . They used numbers and counted every step that they walked to analyse the space. It was shocking to see how they could sense the presence of the number of people around them .
I could see the amount of respect these students had . They were extremely well mannered and respected and valued everything and everyone around them. We thought indulging these students in some sort of creativity other than what they would normally do in school would unfold new pathways for them . I got a very broad idea about how their lives work and how it could function with just subtle changes as well . I think going back to the school and engaging myself with the school teachers and spending some more time with the students in order to get better details would work good . Looking forward to our visit on Saturday!
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