Helping the visually challenged to tackle public spaces

BANGALORE - Visually challenged people expressed concern over the lack of safe and accessible public spaces in the city on the occasion of World White Cane Safety Day Thursday.

“Visually challenged people are invisible minorities in the city. The city roads are not at all friendly for blind people. Moreover, the roads of Bangalore are hardly accessible for blind people,” P.K. Paul, founder and executive trustee, Indian Disability League (IDL), told IANS on the sidelines of a conference on visually challenged people in the city.

“In order to encourage blind people to come out in the open, we are asking them to use white cane, which has become a symbol for blind people across the world. Thus we hope that the usage of white cane will help other pedestrians and motorists to identity a blind person easily and be kind towards him,” added Paul, whose voluntary organisation is working for the betterment of visually challenged in the state.

World White Cane Safety Day is observed across the globe on Oct 15 every year since 1964 to help visually challenged people have a safe presence on the roads.

M. Srinivas, the CEO of National Association for the Blind (NAB), Karnataka branch, said, “We encourage our students to use white cane on city roads, which are otherwise not even safe for normal mortals. We hope that the usage of white cane will encourage more visually challenged to come to open spaces like roads and their presence be accepted by all,” said.

According to an estimate of NAB, there are around 150,000 visually challenged people in Karnataka.

“Imagine the plight of visually challenged people, if they have no access to safer public places, how can the community be developed? Thus most of the visually challenged people are living in poverty, without any access to education and job guarantee,” rued Srinivas.

“I hardly venture out of my home. If I have to go out of home, I have to be either accompanied by a family member or friend. Nobody has that kind of time to accompany me every time if I have to go out. I am scared to venture outside as roads of city are not safe,” said Veena B., a visually challenged housewife.

India is home to 60 million disabled people. Of these, 48 percent are visually impaired, according to report prepared by World Bank in collaboration with the Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.