2015 Lumination Challenge

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The Blind Way Forward: Helping the blind adapt

To­mor­row a new project to help get the word out to blind peo­ple about help­ful tech­nolo­gies will be launched in Barataria.

Called The Blind Way For­ward, it is a unique ini­tia­tive to ed­u­cate peo­ple with vi­su­al im­pair­ment about tech­nolo­gies and as­so­ci­a­tions avail­able to them. It has been de­vel­oped to help peo­ple who have ei­ther al­ready lost their sight or are los­ing their sight. It is meant to in­spire these in­di­vid­u­als in­to tak­ing ac­tion so that they can ac­quire the knowl­edge they need to live suc­cess­ful and in­de­pen­dent lives.

 

An ini­tia­tive spon­sored through the Min­istry of Plan­ning and Sus­tain­able De­vel­op­ment, the project was an awardee of the Lu­mi­na­tion Chal­lenge 2015, and the idea was con­ceived by Mar­lon Pariea­ho, who is to­tal­ly blind.

Pariea­ho’s ex­pe­ri­ence with vi­su­al im­pair­ment be­gan af­ter he was di­ag­nosed with an oc­u­lar dis­ease that re­sult­ed in ir­re­versible blind­ness. Fol­low­ing his di­ag­no­sis, a med­ical doc­tor hand­ed him a mem­ber­ship form for an or­gan­i­sa­tion and told him there was noth­ing that could be done. Pariea­ho’s heart sank as thoughts of de­spair and de­pres­sion filled his mind. This ex­pe­ri­ence is not unique to Pariea­ho, as many oth­ers have had sim­i­lar ex­pe­ri­ences.

Ac­cord­ing to Pariea­ho, his ear­ly dif­fi­cul­ties stemmed from a lack of in­for­ma­tion on how to cope with blind­ness at the time of his di­ag­no­sis. Hav­ing over­come these strug­gles, it mo­ti­vat­ed him to want to make a dif­fer­ence in the lives of oth­er vi­su­al­ly-im­paired peo­ple. So he helped re­search the prob­lems of oth­er peo­ple with­in the vi­su­al­ly-im­paired com­mu­ni­ty. Most shared sim­i­lar sen­ti­ments about the ex­pe­ri­ence of los­ing their sight, and they were all ag­griev­ed about the lack of in­for­ma­tion that was avail­able.

In re­sponse to this, The Blind Way For­ward emerged to meet the needs of peo­ple with vi­su­al im­pair­ment who are go­ing through such chal­lenges.

The main ob­jec­tive of the project is to en­rich, en­light­en and mo­ti­vate peo­ple who have re­cent­ly been di­ag­nosed with a vi­su­al im­pair­ment, says a re­lease from the project or­gan­is­ers. Blind Way For­ward project mem­bers be­lieve peo­ple liv­ing with a vi­su­al im­pair­ment can con­tribute to the de­vel­op­ment of T&T in a mean­ing­ful way.

 

Blind Way Forward - A Practical Guide to Coping and Thriving with Visual Impairment

Ad­di­tion­al­ly, the project is hop­ing to in­form the friends and fam­i­ly of the blind about the sup­port that is avail­able for their loved ones. “This will help every­one to make in­formed de­ci­sions that will as­sist the per­son who is strug­gling with their vi­su­al im­pair­ment to adapt to this new lifestyle as quick­ly as pos­si­ble,” states a re­lease from Game Chang­er Con­cepts on be­half of the project.

The Blind Way For­ward project team will present their in­for­ma­tion pack­age to­mor­row: a 30-minute film, a one-hour au­dio­book, a braille sam­ple, an in­for­ma­tion book­let and an in­tu­itive web­site. The pack­age will be avail­able for pur­chase at the launch.

Project or­gan­is­ers say they are seek­ing in­vestors, men­tors and vol­un­teers who are will­ing to con­tribute their time, ex­per­tise and fi­nances to help the project grow. The project launch is from 10.30 am to 12.30 pm to­mor­row, at Ned­co’s Train­ing Room in Barataria.

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