An open letter for those who can see and read, Mahadev Sawant, a teacher from the National Institute of Blind, Goa State Branch at Santa Cruz, shares the problems that a blind or partially sighted person has to face on a daily basis.
Mahadev Sawant
The world celebrated World White Cane Day recently and the issues of blind and partially-sighted persons were discussed. What exactly does being a ‘blind person’ mean? I can’t see you but you can see me. I can’t see or enjoy this beautiful world like those fortunate ones who are blessed with sight. Today, through this open letter, I am inviting you to travel with me into our world of darkness and make you aware of the multiple problems we, visually impaired persons, face in our everyday life.
We are among those not-so-lucky ones, who cannot read a book or walk a path independently. For us, day or night, both are just the same. A visually challenged person’s world is filled with darkness all the time but many of us try to cope with it and come out bright and shining. We want to be a part of this world as much as you people are, and wish to contribute in our own way to the betterment of the society, just like you.
Being a visually impaired and partially sighted person, I have to face a number of problems when I travel by bus and there are many others in Goa who have to face these difficulties in everyday life. Let me put before the society some of these everyday hassles that make our commute difficult from our homes to educational institutions or to our workplaces.
As a teacher working for visually impaired students at the National Association for the Blind (NAB), Goa State Branch, I interact with my student on a daily basis and whenever they face similar problems they share them with me. Here is a list of problems we face while travelling by public transport system.
The first and foremost problem is when we stand on the bus-stop - for us it become very difficult to recognise which bus will be going in the direction of our destination. If we try to ask the conductor, sometimes he tells us. But many of the times our voices are not heard. And because we cannot see where the conductor is, by the time we shout in his name, the bus leaves. I wish to request the conductors to at least, shout out the name of the place where the bus is heading to so that we can board it without having to ask the fellow travellers.
Secondly, if we try to sit on the seat reserved for physically handicapped persons, we do not know which seat has been marked for us. In different buses, the seats marked for handicapped persons are different and not the first seat. If all the buses follow the rule of reserving the first seat, behind the driver’s seat for the handicapped, then without asking anyone we can go and sit on that seat directly.
Third problem is if a totally blind person wants to get down on a particular stop, we have to request the conductor to tell us when the stop arrives. Many times the conductor forgets to announce the stop and we keep travelling further. Some of the conductors and co-travellers are helpful and they let us know our stop and also help us to get off the bus. We wish that our co-travellers and conductors should help us. We are not aware if the conductor has approached us for the ticket unless he asks us, so there should be communication between him and a visually challenged person.
The fourth problem we face on roads is while crossing the road with the help of white cane. Many a times, cars don’t stop even on zebra crossing and we are stuck for a long time. We can’t take the risk of stepping on a zebra crossing as the fast cars would smash us in no time. Accidents can happen with anyone, people who can see or those who can’t and since we are vulnerable, we don’t take the risk. It happened with me one day, while crossing the road with the help of white cane, that a car suddenly approached and was about to hit me. Luckily, the car driver drove away from my left side and I was spared. Such incidents happen on an everyday basis. Drivers must respect white cane and give us time and way to cross.
This happens at the signals too. Some motorists are impatient and want to go as fast as possible when the signal changes. But we are not that quick and also due to our low vision we cannot notice immediately the changing of signal colours and it becomes altogether a dangerous task.
Also while we are walking on the roadside with the help of white cane or without cane, people while reversing their cars, don’t use the rivers siren. We are not aware that car is coming from the back side and there are chances of us getting hit. There should be awareness regarding the white cane and people should be educated about its significance.
People often forget that we cannot see and when we ask the direction to anyone who can see, he or she points out their fingers to show us the way, which obviously we cannot notice. It’s funny to show directions in such a manner to a person who can’t see.
Let me tell you one thing, that many of the bus conductors and drivers are really very kind and helpful. They understand our situation and go out of their way to guide us. Some help us in changing buses or getting down too. We are thankful to them.
White cane symbolise blindness but due to family pressure and social stigma some students don’t use it and they are totally dependent on others. White cane can make visually impaired independent and though blind, they can move anywhere with its help. White cane is like our best friend because it shows the correct way on which they walking and obstacles, potholes, steps, slope etc on the way can be identified.
We are blind we can’t see you but you can see us it’s your social responsibility to help the visually impaired and other disable persons who are in need of help and guidance when they move in society. Let’s make this world a better place for all of us to live together.
