India is home to world’s largest visually impaired population numbering over 50 lakh people According to the 2011 census, the country also tops the chart for the corneal blind in the world. This is a long way from ensuring an inclusive society for visually challenged citizens as taboos continue to exist around organ donation and corrective surgeries are still a far-fetched reality. However, a few individuals, organisations, NGOs and voluntary groups are leading the way in setting standards for their inclusion.
The Sahana Charitable Trust for the Disabled has been serving the differently-abled community, especially the visually challenged, for more than a decade. The organisation serves this special group in education by creating an obstacle-free environment for the visually challenged to realize their academic dreams with ease.
Trust president V. Narsimhaiah told Deccan Chronicle, "The word ‘Sahana’ means ‘patience’. As the name clearly indicates, Sahana Charitable Trust for the Disabled is exercising maximum patience in listening to the problems of the differently-abled. We provide all the required support in terms of guidance and counselling for such people to become independent and lead a life with dignity. To keep this endeavour going, we are running a Braille Transcription Unit to produce and circulate books in Braille script free of cost. These books are purely academic-oriented catering to students of all levels from lower classes to the postgraduation level or above. It costs us about Rs 3,000 to get a printed textbook transcribed into Braille. This means that a student has to spend more than Rs 18,000 to buy textbooks every year, which is quite prohibitive to most of the visually impaired students and acts as a deterrent for many to continue their studies. The trust bears this cost by inviting contributions from philanthrop
ists and corporates. We have also employed a few qualified visually challenged people to play a key role in both production and circulation of books."
The Trust claims that the demand for these books is rising from all over the state. It has set up branches at Dharwad and Mysuru, in addition to its Bengaluru centre to take care of this growing demand and to bring down the cost incurred by students studying outside Bengaluru. The trust is running two hostels, one at Bengaluru and another at Mysuru.
The hostel in Bengaluru accommodates 25 college-going visually impaired girls, while at the Mysuru hostel, 20 college-going visually impaired boys are provided accommodation. The hostel inmates are provided with free boarding and lodging, textbooks in Braille script and other study-related services. Students come from distant rural areas of the state and study in various colleges of the two cities.
"We also help them to get prepared for recruitment exams that fetch them respectable jobs. The organisation has so far provided employment to more than 25 people and is looking for additional funds and volunteers to strengthen its projects. Seventy percent of our staff is differently-abled," Mr Narsimhaiah said.
The trust is in dire need of funds to meet their monthly expenditure which amounts to over Rs 3.5 lakh that includes building rent, papers for Brailling worth Rs 40,000, salary for the staff, provisions for the hostel and maintenance of equipment.
With education and proper guidance, a visually challenged person can choose a career that will make him financially independent and also lead a dignified life, Mr Narasimhan said.
The trust has been awarded by state government for its selfless service towards the visually challenged community.
