Hi Turab, No one denies that the society's attitude towards VI should improve. But this article sounds too synical. In many instances, we get lot of help from people around us. Whenever I stand on a road holding the cane waiting for someone, I see someone coming to me and asking if I need any help. You wrote in the article that you are partially sighted which is very difficult for others to understand. For example, if you had told the man who commented about you while seeing the note that you don't have proper vision, his reaction could have been different. I had been a person with low vision in the past, and faced situations of head nods, waving hands,etc. For persons with low vision, communication of our condition is necessary as well as important to make others comfortable with us. Even for totally blind, letting others know how we want them to be with us makes things better. Having said all this, I completely agree with you on the fact that our infrastructure has miles to go to be anywhere near to ideal for disabled!
On 11/14/15, turab chimthanawala <[email protected]> wrote: > Sorry for the inconvenience. I have pasted here the content of my article. > > Change in attitude of persons towards visually impaired > Visual impairment is a handicap and such persons are dependent on > others but adequate changes in the mindset of other persons may enable > such persons in living a complete life. Sadly in India, despite the > widespread of education and modern ideas people’s notion towards > disability especially physical disability is very conservative and > narrow-minded. Although globalization has brought in new products, > technology, knowhow, latest services into our country and aping the > Western ideas, dressing styles, habits, customs is the ‘ in thing ’ > for most Indians, we have not been able to appreciate the attitude of > foreigners towards handicapped persons and inculcate it into our > lives. > In India due to the narrow-minded thinking of people towards > disability we are not able to perform even routine tasks properly and > many of the common public utility services do not have adequate > provisions for handicapped persons. > On one hand people are so shrewd that they can comprehend one’s > thought process merely by facial expressions then why can’t they > understand that a person is handicapped by his mannerisms? Do they > have to be told everytime? The other day at the dentists’ place I was > struggling to find a seat (although I had come holding my driver’s > hand) a lady sitting there perceived me as acting fresh and took a > brief interview of me. Once at our shop counter I was taking time to > figure out the currency note, the customer passed a stray comment “ Is > the note false? Better install a checking machine if you are so > suspicious! “ Can’t he see I am taking assistance. Some people also > consider visually handicapped as hearing impaired, instead of saying > Hi they say HIIIII. There is even a strange and baseless mindset among > some persons that visually handicapped persons are mentally > incompetent. I have experienced this on a number of occasions. Once in > a departmental store, the shoplkeeper instead of speaking to me kept > talking to my driver. Also in India people make mountains of > molehills while helping visually handicapped persons. Once during my > flight from Mumbai to Nagpur ( I was travelling alone) , the flight > crew made such a Hurrah about me at the time of embarking ‘ Blind > passenger on board!!!’and ultimately I had to get off on my own. I > feel if they would even make 10% of the noise for some suspicious > criminal many criminals would be prevented from fleeing. On my trip to > Switzerland the guide on the tourist bus was so elegant in helping me > that I think hardly anyone on the bus got a clue that I was partially > sighted. Also despite being highly educated and having large > exposure,people lack the basic common sense required to interact with > visually handicapped people/ For instance people instead of verbal > communication resort to funny nods of head or strange bodily actions > which are difficult to comprehend even for normal people. > I just pray and hope that the ‘Modi wave’ which hass led to a new > awakening among people about different ideas such as love for daughter > ( Selfy with daughter ), popularising India’s rich panorama ( > Incredible India) tries to positively impact people’s mindset towards > disability. > Cheers > Turab > > > > Register at the dedicated AccessIndia list for discussing accessibility of > mobile phones / Tabs on: > http://mail.accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/mobile.accessindia_accessindia.org.in > > > Search for old postings at: > http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ > > To unsubscribe send a message to > [email protected] > with the subject unsubscribe. > > To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please > visit the list home page at > http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in > > > Disclaimer: > 1. Contents of the mails, factual, or otherwise, reflect the thinking of the > person sending the mail and AI in no way relates itself to its veracity; > > 2. AI cannot be held liable for any commission/omission based on the mails > sent through this mailing list.. > -- G. Vamshi Mobile: +91 9949349497 Skype: gvamshi81 WWW.VIBEWA.ORG EQUALITY AND DIGNITY Register at the dedicated AccessIndia list for discussing accessibility of mobile phones / Tabs on: http://mail.accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/mobile.accessindia_accessindia.org.in Search for old postings at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ To unsubscribe send a message to [email protected] with the subject unsubscribe. To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please visit the list home page at http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in Disclaimer: 1. Contents of the mails, factual, or otherwise, reflect the thinking of the person sending the mail and AI in no way relates itself to its veracity; 2. AI cannot be held liable for any commission/omission based on the mails sent through this mailing list..
