A blind person, like any other individual, want to lead as normal life as possible in his family and society. Despite his handicap, he earnestly wishes to work, play, eat, receive and proper education and training, obtain gainful employment, make a home of his own and support his family like other normal individuals. To put it another way, he wants to become a useful, economically self-dependent and respectable member of society and thus, like his sighted counterparts, to be fully integrated in to his social environment. When a blind person is able to function as a normal member of his community without being segregated in any way or regarded as an exclusive member of some different groups, we can say that he has achieved social integration. Thus, social integration of blind can be defined as their normal status and active partnership in society contributing effectively to it’s advancement like their sighted peers. All agencies for and of the blind and all services pertaining to their welfare and rehabilitation ultimately aim at this social integration of blind persons; and their success or failure depends apon whether they are or are not able to provide necessary facilities and adequate opportunities to the blind for this integration. Now, question to be considered here is: how can this social integration of the blind be achieved? To my mind, organized efforts will have to be made for achieving this integration at various levels, such as, family, school, employment and social life. If an individual is congenitally blind or if he loses his eye sight in early years of his life, his family will have to be educated to accept him as a normal person confronted with a special difficulties witch can be overcome to a large extent by proper training and education. Since there are many prejudices and misconceptions regarding the capabilities of blind people in society, his family member will have to be encouraged to get rid of these erroneous beliefs and prejudices in order to help attain his rightful place in the family. They will have to be supplied with necessary information concerning the latest scientific techniques and devices to help the blind in various fields, such as, mobility, reading, writing, and gaining suitable employment, etc. once the parents of a blind child or other family members are sufficiently acquainted with his capabilities and new techniques and devices to develop them, they will not only accept him as a normal individual, but will also do their utmost to impart to him proper training and education in order to make him a useful and respectable member of society. They will then no longer regard him as a mere objects of pity and as a burden on the family. thus, to make a blind child’s parents and other family members fully aware of his potentialities and capabilities as well as the opportunities available to him in the spheres of education and employment can be said to be first step leading towards his integration in to the family witch may be regarded as a necessary foundation for his complete social integration. When a blind child is fully integrated in to his family and is accepted as a normal individual facing neither rejection nor overprotection by his parents and other relatives, the next stage of his social integration is his admission to a school where he starts receiving education along with sighted children. although there is still a grate deal of dispute as to whether a blind child should be admitted to a residential school for the blind or to a normal school and the protagonists of both sides advance their own arguments in support of their contention, I believe that, as far as the social integration of a blind child is concerned, to impart to him education along with sighted children is certainly more helpful and desirable. this would avoid his unnecessary isolation from his family and being regarded as member of some different group segregated from the sighted world. If adequate and suitable arrangements are made to help him overcome his special limitations and difficulties in doing his class-work and home-work successfully, and if class teachers are able to encourage other children to treat him as normally as possible, then his admission to a regular school would greatly facilitate his total integration in to society. This programme of integrated education would considerably inspire a blind child to conquer his handicap in order to compete successfully with his sighted peers and thus would greatly help in his integration in to the sighted world. In his early years it would create in him self-confidence and the ability to deal with seeing people, and would also save him from the harmful feeling of isolation witch generally develop in blind children who are forced to receive their education only in residential school for the blind for many years. It is a matter of satisfaction that the importance of the programme of integrated education for the blind is now being recognized by many social workers and agencies working for the welfare and rehabilitation of the blind, and some schools have started imparting this type of education to blind children in Bombay, Delhi, Indore, Jabalpur and in some other cities of our country. Moreover, many blind students are now in various colleges and universities along with sighted students and some of them achieved even better results than their sighted counterparts. This is, indeed, a very healthy tendency to promote social integration of the blind, and all of us should do our utmost to help in the success of this programme of integrated education for the blind at all levels. When a blind person is fully integrated in to his family and has received his training and education along with normal students the next step-witch is perhaps the most important step-of his social integration is to encourage him to compete with sighted individuals in the field of open or competitive employment. This, however, is possible only when he is imparted training or education witch is work-oriented and is aimed at enabling him to obtain gainful employment in the competitive market along with normal workers. It is true that some blind persons, because of their physical and intellectual limitations, are not fit for open employment, and therefore they should be employed in sheltered workshops or institutions. But the employment programme for the blind should be designed to enable the maximum number of blind people to secure jobs in the field of open or competitive employment and thus to have the opportunities to work along with sighted persons. This, indeed, is absolutely essential for giving the blind their rightful place in society and for helping them achieve their social integration in reality. If the blind are forced to work in the sheltered workshops or institutions only and in this way are segregated from the rest of the society, they will constitute an isolated group of second class citizens and therefore will never achieve genuine social integration. Thus, the provision of opportunities for open employment to the largest possible number of blind person is an urgent necessity if they are really to be integrated in to society. this means that all major obstacles in open employment for the blind should be removed as far as possible. Lack of proper training for new industrial jobs and intellectual occupations, non-availability of favourable working conditions, shortage of suitable accommodation, difficulties transport, inadequate facilities for training of mobility, lack of well-trained qualified placement officers, employer’s misconceptions and prejudices regarding the capabilities of the blind are some of the main obstacles witch blind person have to face when they compete with sighted people in the field of open or competitive employment. Unless these obstacles are overcome, it is very difficult to extend the scope of open employment for the blind and enable them to compete successfully with sighted workers in the competitive market. The following measures may be taken to eradicate the above-mentioned obstacles in open or competitive employment for the blind. In the first place, instead of teaching some traditional handicrafts witch have very little scope of employment in this era of science and technology, we should provide them with adequate and proper training to perform skilled or semi-skilled jobs in various industries. Those who are gifted and talented should be trained for intellectual professions such as teaching, law, administration, social work, physiotherapy, journalism, stenography, etc. thus, the changing needs and opportunities of employment call for a radical change in the prevalent system of training and education of blind in our country. Secondly, the latest technical devices and aids should be made available to blind persons for enabling them to perform new skilled jobs successfully. Such new devices can considerably increase their efficiency by reducing effects of their handicap. Thirdly, blind workers should be provided with suitable accommodation and means of transport to reduce absenteeism and to facilitate the successful performance of their jobs. They should also be imparted proper mobility training before they are employed, so that they need not depend apon their sighted colleagues for moving from one place to another. Fourthly, we must inform have a large number of employers of the capabilities of the blind and persuade these employers to place blind persons in suitable jobs. If this method of persuasion fails, a certain percentage of some jobs may be reserved by law exclusively for the blind. Finally, we must try our best to eradicate the employer’s prejudices and erroneous beliefs about blindness and the capabilities of the blind persons. We should practically demonstrate to the employers what the blind can do by the examples of some properly trained and highly proficient blind employees performing their jobs successfully. This may bring about a desirable change in the attitude of employers towards the blind by removing their misconceptions concerning them and their handicap. This change of employer’s attitude is absolutely necessary for the successful implementation of the programme of open employment for the blind. I believe that measures indicated above can enable most of the blind to engage themselves in the field of open employment witch, to my mind, can be regarded as most effective means of their social integration. After having secured gainful employment, a blind person, like any other normal individual, desire to lead a happy conjugal and family life. So he is immediately confronted with the problem of marriage witch he finds very hard to solve satisfactorily. In our society, where the traditional system of arranged marriage is still predominant and where parents or other elders are the sole deciding authority for arranging the marriages in most cases, a blind person finds more extremely difficult to have a life-partner of his choice in spite of being highly educated and economically independent. Prejudices and misconceptions regarding the blind, widely prevalent in our society, make this problem more acute and much harder to solve. It is a matter of great concern for the workers in the field of blind welfare and for the blind themselves that, despite his brilliant academic career, high proficiency in his work and complete economic self-reliance, a blind person is generally regarded by the public as totally helpless and an object of pity. This traditional misconception about the blind greatly hinders the solution of their vital problems—specially the problems of their employment and marriage. It is therefore necessary to acquaint the general public with the potentialities and capabilities of the blind in order to eradicate this widespread erroneous belief about them. Although it is very difficult to make organized efforts to solve the problem of marriage faced by every normal blind person, and this is because the choice of a life-partner is after all a personal matter, Yet I suggest that the stories of these blind persons who are leading a happy and conjugal life with their sighted life- partner should be given wide publicity through the mass media of press, films, radio and television. I believe that this would considerably help the blind solve their problem of marriage by removing the ignorance of the public in this matter. I am glad to mention here that many qualified blind individuals, after securing gainful employment in various professions, have married educated and sighted persons and are now leading a successful and happy conjugal life with them. Here it may be asked: why should a blind person insist on having a sighted life-partner rather than a blind one? My answer to this is that it great helps the blind in their social integration and saves them from becoming a segregated community having no marital relations outside itself. I, however, do not mean to say that blind people can’t lead a successful and happy conjugal life with blind spouses; they can and some of them do. But I believe that to have sighted life-partners is more helpful and desirable for social integration of the blind, therefore, the general public should be made aware of the fact that a sighted person can have a happy and conjugal life with a blind life-partner as well. Before I close this article, I would like to make a few suggestions as to what the blind themselves can and must do in order to be fully integrated in to society. I think that, first of all, they should accept the fact that blindness does cause certain limitations or difficulties witch must be faced with courage very fortitude and should be overcome as far as possible. They should adjust themselves to their physical and social surroundings by making themselves normal and self-reliant individuals to their maximum possible extent. If, for example, blind persons are specially careful about their physical appearance, dress, cleanliness and social etiquette, if they are reasonably calm and friendly temperament without being oversensitive to their handicap and its limitations, it would be much more easier for them to mix up with others and thus to achieve their social integration. Secondly, every blind person must learn certain essential skills of communication and the use of new techniques and devices to minimize the effects of blindness. Braille reading and writing, mobility, signing his name, the use of “talking books” and other latest devices, typewriting, computer, etc. are some of the important skills of communication witch can make a blind person considerably self-dependent and can also save him from becoming an object of pity for others. All these skills, if thoroughly mastered, can not only enable the blind to achieve social integration, but also to attain a respectable status in society. Finally, every blind person, instead of demanding special privileges or unnecessary concessions for himself, should strive his utmost to fulfill his responsibilities and discharge his duties towards society with honesty and sincerity if he really wants to be treated as normal individual having a desire society. This to contribute something to the well-being of society would go certainly go a long way to help him achieve his social integration and would also enable him to have his rightful place in society as one of its responsible and respectable members. DR. Ved PrakashVarma Retd Proof. And Former Head Dept. Of Philosophy, Delhi University thanks, mukesh jain.
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