Workshop for visually challenged

Tuesday June 3, 2008

Published in The Hindustan Times

Daniel Kish and Brian Bushway, two world-famous sight therapists, held a workshop with Mercy Hospital's blind school for a week in May 2008.  Mercy Hospital runs a School for the Blind for visually impaired children, which has about 133 students.  The workshop aims to break down barriers and help the children realize their true potential, to discover themselves, and achieve their full physical and psychological potential.  Daniel Kish, the lead founder and CEO of World Access for the Blind, has coordinated and supervised all types of educational and enrichment programmes, including supportive technology, vision instruction, student/family coaching, peer tutoring, public awareness, and a mentor program.  "We shall be helping the children to progress from basic to advanced skills.  We will focus on echolocation or the use of sound (and not sight) to navigate one's surroundings.  It's a technique used by bats," Daniel said.  Brian elaborated, "in most cases, we find that a blind child's brain is asleep, from lack of use and appropriate activity.  We shall do certain exercises to awaken them."  The workshop also stresses a "no-limlts philosophy" -- everyone has limits imposed upon them, but people should not allow themselves to be conditioned, this leads to them functioning below their potential.