Nice article! Would like to hear more articles even for other disabled people and multi disabled people.
Thanks and regards, Silpa. On 1/17/12, ekinath ekinath <[email protected]> wrote: > Madam, > > Co-incidently they are going to be travveling in India from i think > 30th jan it self. I have dropped them a mail enquring for revised cost > for Indian inhabitants. Let's see what's the reply. > > Regards > > > > > > On 1/16/12, avinash shahi <[email protected]> wrote: >> Sightseeing for blind people >> Travel can be daunting if you have a visual impairment. But Traveleyes >> organises group holidays for blind and sighted people that are >> liberating, fun, and yes, eye-opening, too >> >> >> Jon Henley guardian.co.uk, Article history About this articleClose >> Sightseeing for blind peopleThis article was published on >> guardian.co.uk at 19.59 BST on Thursday 30 June 2011. A version >> appeared on p4 of the G2 section of the Guardian on Friday 1 July >> 2011. It was last modified at 00.05 BST on Friday 1 July 2011. >> >> The Traveleyes tour group visits a lemon grove in Sorrento. >> So we're standing in the street outside the brothel – or what used to >> be the brothel – in Pompeii. The one with the rude frescoes on the >> walls showing ancient Roman punters exactly what they could expect for >> their sesterces. >> >> There are 20 of us, or thereabouts, and before we go in the man in the >> white cheesecloth shirt and the floppy sun hat would like a word. >> >> "Ladies and gentlemen, our sighted guides," says Amar Latif. "I'd just >> like to remind you of my words at the beginning of this holiday. You >> are not carers; you are fellow travellers, companions. And one of the >> most valuable things you can do is to describe in loving detail >> whatever you might see before you that is of visual interest. Here's >> your chance." >> >> And so it is that Maggie Heraty, a jolly humanitarian logistics expert >> more used to organising emergency relief operations in Liberia or >> Haiti, finds herself explaining to Jenny Tween, who works at the BBC >> and has optic atrophy, meaning she has been partially sighted since >> she was two, that here we have: "a gentleman, reclining. With a naked >> lady squatting on top." >> >> While over here, Maggie continues, undaunted by Jenny's snorts, we can >> see (or not, of course) "the doggy position. And just along from that, >> the lady's on top of the gentleman, again. But facing his feet this >> time. Hmmm." She pauses. "Sorry, Jenny. Just trying to work out the >> mechanics of that one. I don't think I've ever tried it." >> >> It's not, obviously, that these people spend their holiday discussing >> the sex lives of the Ancients. (Some delicate souls, for one thing, >> simply won't. "I'll never forget my sighted companion in India," says >> Judy Taylor, from Duffield in Derbyshire. "She refused point blank >> even to try and describe the erotic sculptures. Said I was a decent >> lady and wouldn't want to hear about that kind of thing, so why didn't >> we just go and have a cup of tea.") >> >> But nor are they your regular holidaymakers. Half of them, for a >> start, are blind or visually impaired. The other half are fully >> sighted. The former have paid a bit more than they might do for a >> standard package holiday to come on this week-long break in Sorrento, >> southern Italy, including flights, transfers, half-board in a >> four-star hotel with pool, a cookery lesson and excursions to Pompeii, >> Capri and Positano. >> >> The latter have paid quite a bit less. In exchange, every day they >> will take a different visually impaired traveller by the arm (not >> literally, there's nothing a blind or partially sighted person – or >> "VI", as they're more familiarly known – loathes more than being >> patronised) and act as their guide. Show them, as it were, the sights. >> >> Sighted travellers help VIs with obvious obstacles: kerbs, low arches >> and doorways, busy roads, flights of stairs ("Step down. One more to >> go. That's the bottom.") They explain where the food is on a plate >> ("Chicken at three o'clock, peas at six"). And once in a while, they >> get to describe in loving detail the wall paintings in the Pompeii >> brothel. >> >> It's not hard. In fact it's fun. You learn a lot. "You get to do >> things you wouldn't normally do," says Wendy Coley from Loughborough, >> a sighted veteran of many such expeditions. "Once, in China, they got >> to touch the terracotta warriors. Imagine. And the act of describing >> what you see . . . You take in far more, somehow; see things in a very >> different way. It may sound silly, but going on holiday with blind >> people opens your eyes." >> >> It does. I tried it at Gatwick with Latif, the 36-year-old >> Glasgow-born entrepreneur who set up this strangely inspiring business >> seven years ago. Amar has been without 95% of his sight since his >> first year at university, thanks to an incurable eye condition called >> retinitis pigmentosa. He founded Traveleyes, as the company is called, >> because "no one was doing the kind of holiday I wanted to go on", and >> as far as he knows it's the only one of its kind in the world. >> >> Traveleyes founder Amar Latif organised his first group holiday in >> 2004. Photograph: Sean Smith for the Guardian An airport, you very >> quickly realise, is not a great place to be VI. Inexpertly piloted >> baggage trolleys, beeping electric buggies, non-speaking departure >> boards, too many people in too much of a hurry; a nightmare. And if >> you ask for help, Latif says, they "put you in a wheelchair. Blind >> people go mental. It's a liability avoidance thing, but it's so >> humiliating. Most of us are highly independent, and extremely >> competent. We don't need wheelchairs." >> >> Technology has made life easier in recent years, he concedes: "Piece >> of piss, to be honest, compared to what it was." His mobile phone >> responds to vocal commands (assuming it understands his accent, which >> isn't always), and speaks to him when he taps it. Screen reading >> software means blind and visually impaired people can use applications >> from Gmail to Excel, and even get the newspaper read to them online >> (Hi to anyone who is. Enjoy). >> >> Plus, Latif continues: "There's a solution these days for even the >> most intractable problems. Like when you've got two tins left in the >> larder, and you don't know which is the beans and which the peaches. >> The number of times I've opened something, even started eating, and >> discovered it wasn't, well . . . what I thought it was. Anyway, now >> there's an app for that." >> >> But navigating a crowded airport is another matter. Latif has his >> white cane, essential when he has to "go freestyle". But it's just >> more comfortable, sometimes, to be led. So what you do is, you stand >> beside and just slightly in front of the VI you're leading, and offer >> them your elbow. They grasp it lightly ("Clicking on," Latif calls >> it), and off you go. A tad slower than you otherwise might, but not >> much. >> >> It's that leading arm that transmits the messages. You have to talk, >> too, obviously, but it's mainly just natural, friendly chat, >> interspersed with the odd alert ("Step up. Escalator coming. Here, my >> hand's on the back of the chair. Narrow gap: I'll go ahead.") Blind >> people feel in control when they're holding your elbow, and will let >> go if they get anxious (or so says How to be a Sighted Traveller, the >> leaflet Traveleyes sends to its sighted customers). >> >> You notice, too, that blind people pick up an awful lot more than you >> do through their other senses. "I can hear the hand-dryers," says >> Latif. "Is that the gents, by any chance? Might just nip in." Or, to a >> slightly nonplussed security man, "I can smell fruit. Exotic? >> Strawberries?" A fresh stick of Juicy Fruit gum, the guard admits. >> >> You have to be a bit careful what you say, but you soon learn that an >> inadvertent "Did you see that?" or "Look, over there!" is not going to >> upset anyone. And it's revelatory to realise how very different the >> world is for those who can't properly see it: hugging Latif on a cafe >> terrace on day three, Judy exclaims, "Oh, but you're much bigger than >> I thought. And no hair!" What's it like, discovering someone you've >> been talking to for the past three days is nothing like the picture >> you had in your mind's eye? >> >> Latif's beaming presence helps hold the whole thing together. He's a >> quite remarkable man; much in demand as a motivational speaker, and >> you can see why. A maths and finance graduate, he worked as a >> management accountant for eight years before striking out on his own, >> overcoming untold obstacles to launch a highly successful company, win >> a fistful of business and disability awards, and gladhand presidents >> and prime ministers. >> >> "This holiday," he announces to all on the bus from Naples airport to >> Sorrento, "is all about enjoying things on an equal basis. So if >> you're blind, don't worry, so am I. And if you're sighted, don't be so >> bloody clever." >> >> There are some 157,000 people registered blind in Britain, and 155,000 >> registered visually impaired. Only 8% were born with their condition, >> and around 80% have some degree of visual memory: say what you see, >> and they'll know what you're talking about. >> >> When it comes to holidays, though, beyond imposing again on >> long-suffering friends and relatives, they have shockingly few >> options. A charity called Vitalise runs holidays for people with a >> range of disabilities, but that's about it. (Not just in Britain, >> either: 30% of Traveleyes's VIs come from abroad, mainly North >> America, Australia and New Zealand. There are three Canadians, from >> Toronto and Vancouver, on this trip.) >> >> Manifestly, Traveleyes meets a need. "I want to do what I want to do, >> go where I want to go," says Judy, over dinner in the hotel one night. >> "I want to choose. I don't want to be reliant on my friends. Why >> should I be? It's not fair on me, and it's not fair on them." For >> Jenny, on her sixth trip with the company, "You just wouldn't do the >> same things if you went with friends. And you feel completely safe. >> That's really important." >> >> The Traveleyes group visits Pompei. Photograph: Sean Smith for the >> Guardian Strolling one morning through a Sorrento lemon grove, >> stopping to touch and feel the fruit, exclaiming at the scent of lemon >> from a leaf plucked and rubbed between their fingers, Emma Shaw from >> Doncaster, on her fourth Traveleyes holiday, explains why they're >> important to her. "I have macular degeneration," she says. "I can make >> outlines out, but the details have gone. I know this is a tree, but I >> can't see the leaves. >> >> "So the thing is, now that a lot of my friends are married, and my >> parents are both retired, it's just very difficult to get away. And >> you do start to feel isolated; with modern technology, it's so easy >> just to stay at home. This, well, brings you back, somehow. You feel . >> . . included again." >> >> Included is one way of putting it. On the way back through town, >> stopping to wonder at the heft of a tomato and inhale an olive oil in >> the market, we're drawn into a shop selling limoncello, the >> lemon-based liqueur of the Gulf of Naples. Sensing a celebratory mood, >> the proprietor turns up the music. "Here we say: we have a lemon, we >> have a girl, we have a party!" he proclaims. And to Dean Martin >> belting out Volare, then That's Amore, everyone – unembarrassed – >> dances. >> >> For sighted travellers, the motivation for this kind of holiday is >> maybe more complex. There are two sighted couples on this trip, but >> many are single. Several have tried singles holidays, without enjoying >> them: too full of "people out for themselves"; you end up "feeling >> lonelier when you leave than when you arrived". >> >> Irene Sylvester, from Wakefield in West Yorkshire, is newly retired. >> "I was looking for something I could do on my own," she says, "but >> that wouldn't make me feel I was on my own." Jayn Bond, an HR and >> employment law specialist from Cambridge, wanted "a holiday that >> wouldn't make me feel lonely, and where I could contribute." >> >> Others have less exalted reasons: Glyn Evans, a signalman from >> Rotherham, has been on a dozen Traveleyes holidays. He loves "the >> laughs. They're great people." That's why Francesca Gomez comes too: >> "At work, everyone has a different agenda. Here they're just open, and >> honest with themselves. No pretensions, no acting, no front to keep up >> – just nice people, with issues to overcome. It's harder than slobbing >> on the beach, but you feel good being a part of it." >> >> He's on to something here, Latif, that's about more than offering >> holidays for blind people. He knew the idea would work as soon as he >> tried it out for himself, with a student who used to read his >> textbooks for him at university: both of them had a ball. The first >> organised holiday, to a farmhouse in Andalucia in 2004, was a roaring >> success; since then, Traveleyes has grown by 50% each year. And more >> than 60% of its business is repeat, from people who've been before. >> >> Are there never problems? "You might think," he says, "that the cheap >> holiday thing could attract the wrong people. We do a criminal records >> check and an employer's check; it's slightly tricky – you're not >> employing people, but you do have to be aware that they're dealing >> with vulnerable adults. But honestly, there's never been a problem." >> >> Destinations are chosen carefully; there has to be plenty of >> opportunity for non-visual exploration. But blind people also love >> sightseeing, Latif insists. "The fact I can't see the sights only >> heightens my curiosity," he says. "I ask the sighted guide to describe >> it really well. Then the scents, the sounds, the tastes . . . Your >> imagination runs riot. I can walk away from a view with a better >> picture of it than a sighted person who has just stopped for a >> glance." >> >> It's not uncommon, Latif says, for guests staying in the same hotel to >> ask whether they can join a Traveleyes group, "because they've seen >> the time we're having, the atmosphere". So what actually is happening >> here? A married couple, Dick and Lizzie Bulkely, turned away at the >> last minute by another firm because of Lizzie's advancing glaucoma, >> put their finger on it. >> >> "I'm really interested in how these groups work and get on," says >> Dick, a retired clinical psychologist. "The constant negotiating, the >> compromise, the concern. There are real, important people skills going >> on here, all the time. I really like it. And you don't come across it >> very often." >> >> That's what it is, I think; why this group of people feels so unusual. >> It's not because some are blind and some can see. It's because they're >> a bunch of people determined to have a great time together, and >> looking out for each other all the while. Really caring. Dick is >> absolutely right: it's not something you come across very often. >> source: >> http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/jun/30/blind-people-travel-traveleyes >> >> >> -- >> "The best things and most beautiful things in the world Cannot be seen >> or even touched. They must be felt within the heart." — Helen Keller >> >> Avinash Shahi >> M.A. Political Science >> CPS JNU >> New Delhi India >> >> >> 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 >> >> > > > -- > “The waves breaking on the surface draw all the attention, > but it is the current beneath the water that determines your direction.” > > > 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 > > Search for old postings at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ To unsubscribe send a message to [email protected] with the subject unsubscribe. 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