White cane safety day celebration at Mitra Jyothi!!!!
White Cane Safety Day 2020 was observed at Mitra Jyothi on October 15, 2020. An awareness programme on Disability was organized for the Members of Sahodaya, St Aloysius College(Autonomous) Mangaluru. A total of 115 students participated in the awareness programme through Zoom and Google Meet online platforms.
Students from Mithra Jyothi Ms Anneyamma and Ms Shivakka invoked Gods blessings and Ms Pooja summarized the intention to observe the White Cane Safety Day 2020 by reading a passage through the Braille Script. Videos on Awareness and a documentary on Mitra Jyothi were screened.
An activity was conducted to provide a first-hand experience to the participants to understand the reality of Visually Impaired by blindfolding themselves. Participants watched two short videos –one with speech and the other with only music. Then few shared their opinions on how they felt being blindfolded while they watched the videos – they could understand the video with speech but the second video with only music was of no use when blind folded. This activity brought the importance of accessibility in all their minds.
Ms Madhu Singhal – Founder and Managing Trustee of Mitra Jyothi was the Key Note speaker and she explained the importance of White Cane in the lives of Visually Impaired. She presented the various programmes of Mitra Jyothi and explained how the institute takes the initiatives to empower people with vision impairment so that they lead an independent and dignified lives.
One of the Participants of the awareness programme Mr Prathap Chandru stated that he was really delighted and is grateful for organising the awareness programme. He said that he was inspired to become a channel of peace and joy to the people around.
There were many questions from the participants during the question answer session. Ms Madhu Singhal and Ms Sathya answered the questions on various topics. Ms Lenora a participant pointed out that the videos, activities and the key note address kept them engaged throughout the session and built curiosity during QA session.
We Concluded the awareness programme with the vote of thanks. Ms Gauri, a participant expressed that the session was very fruitful. She was amazed to see Ms Pooja reading the write up using braille script on White Cane Safety Day. She agreed that the discussion cleared a lot of doubts and gave an insight on how every person should support the Visually Impaired.
