Yesterday I gave my first author talk. The audience was not from the disability sector. They were principals, educators, and school owners — people who run mainstream schools designed for sighted students. They came because of the book. They stayed for the conversation.
In the Q&A, one of them — a policy maker — asked me something I was not expecting: "What changes or best practices would you recommend that mainstream schools should follow to become truly accessible and inclusive for students with visual impairments?" I gave her my honest answer. But I told her what I am telling you now: the most important answers to that question do not come from me. They come from the people who actually sat in those classrooms. Who navigated those corridors without anyone designing them with us in mind. Who found ways to learn in systems that were not built for us — and who remember exactly what was missing. These school owners and educators are willing to listen. That is not something we always get to say. --- I shared one thing from my own experience. Beyond the tools — the screen readers, the accessible infrastructure, the accommodations that schools are beginning to understand — I said what I think is still missing in most mainstream schools is something simpler and harder to mandate: Real contact between students. Not awareness programmes. Not disability sensitivity days. But actual peer-to-peer collaboration — a project, an assignment, something with a shared goal — where students work together and figure each other out through the work itself. Where a visually impaired student's strengths become visible not because someone pointed them out, but because the project needed them. Where a sighted student's assumptions get quietly corrected not through a lecture, but through a deadline. Empathy built in a classroom tends to fade. Understanding built through working together on something real tends to stay. I do not know if this is the most important answer. It is the honest one from my experience. --- Now I want yours. If you were speaking directly to the principal of a mainstream school — someone who genuinely wants to do better and is willing to act — what would you tell them? It does not have to be a policy recommendation. It could be a specific memory. Something small that made an enormous difference. The one thing nobody ever thought to do but should have. Or something that was done well that more schools should know about. I will compile the responses and take them back to the room where the question was asked. Your experience deserves to reach the people who have the power to act on it. Rishabh Gupta Author, What I See Now | Managing Partner, Anant Resources | Co-Founder, Green Energy Feeders Raipur, Chhattisgarh -- 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.. Search for old postings at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "AccessIndia" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/a/accessindia.org.in/d/msgid/accessindia/CAOukPW-qhzw%3DoAB0EsKCB%3DgxDP5JUnsLR3q8wGcmoPF27DeY%2BA%40mail.gmail.com.
