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Journey So Far
By Binni Kumari
In July 2010 when I was about to finish my one year Diploma in Computer Application from a well-known NGO working for people with blindness in Delhi, I came across a job advertisement on a dedicated mailing list meant for people with blindness. The advertised post was that of Radio Assistant Programmer, with Score Foundation. My application was rejected, since I did not have the required skill set for the job, however a lifetimes experience with blindness and my educational training made me the perfect candidate for the Eyeway Helpdesk. To read about Binni’s journey with Score Foundation click here.
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The Helpdesk has enabled us to reach out to a number of Visually Impaired people across India since 2006, when it was incepted. However, we have still not been able to generate dedicated funding for the Eyeway Helpdesk. If you are interested in or know someone who might be interested in supporting our Helpdesk reach out to us at scorefoundation@eyeway.org. You can read a few examples of our interventions below:
Ø CASE STUDY 1 – Bhagyalaxmi
This is Bhagyalaxmi’s story. Bhagyalaxmi is a 57 year old woman with low vision associated with other medical issues. She is currently living alone in a government quarter in Delhi. She has been terminated from her office and is living her life without any sources of income. She has survived three road accidents, and lived for a year without electricity and water in a city like Delhi. Read one brave woman’s struggle against monumental odds. Click here.
Ø CASE STUDY 2 – Papu Kushwaha
3rd March 2011 was the first time when 15-year-old Pappu Khushwaha called the Helpdesk to enquire about government provisions for people with blindness after listening to our radio show – Eyeway Yeh Hai Roshni Ka Karawan. Pappu who is completely blind, was at the time studying in class 10th in a government school in Delhi. In the month of September 2011, like previous years, the students were asked to arrange scribes on their own for the 1st-term exams as the school strictly denied the facility. The students could not arrange scribes, and at this time, he along with other students with the hope of getting the issue resolved, approached Helpdesk. What did we do? Click here to find out.
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Workshops
We believe that "the real problem is not the blindness, it is the mindset. As a way forward to our TV show Nazar Ya Nazariya, which aimed to break perceptional barriers. We are currently organizing interactive sessions with key stakeholders, in an effort to sensitize them. If you would like us to conduct a Nazar Ya Nazariya Sensitization Workshop at your organization write to us at scorefoundation@eyeway.org. In the last two months we conducted two such workshops:
1. Score Foundation conducted a sensitization workshop with 35 employees at Chetanalaya on 28th March 2014. To read more about the workshop click here.
2. As an organization that promotes Inclusion and dissemination of information, Score Foundation organized an interactive session on Social Inclusion with 35 visually impaired female students of Delhi University, in collaboration with Department of Social Work, University of Delhi. The panelists were three dynamic women living and winning in life with vision impairment. To read about the interactive session click here.
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Since this is the first issue of the new financial year, we decided to take a trip down nostalgia avenue and give you a roundup of all our initiatives of the last year. Read below to find out what all we did in the last year.
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Nazar Ya Nazariya
Last year was a big year for Score Foundation; we forayed into the audio visual arts for the first time with the telecast of our 13 part TV Series Nazar Ya Nazariya.
The show showcased 40 case stories of visually impaired achievers who have excelled in their chosen fields. The show aired on Doordarshan National starting Saturday, September 21 at 9.30 AM, it aimed at challenging common perceptions and focusing on immense possibilities of life with blindness. Each episode of the television series was introduced and signed off by renowned actor Naseeruddin Shah, and anchored by Harsh Chhaya, a popular television actor.
The show generated close to 800 calls on our Helpdesk on Saturdays right after the telecast of the show, and received more than 10,000 views in total offline, on YouTube. The show created ripples across mainstream media and successfully created a dent in the perceptions of people towards visually impaired people. To read more about the show click here.
If you are interested in buying Nazar Ya Nazariya episode DVDs write in to us at deepti@eyeway.org.
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Reaching out through Workshops
Ophthalmologists are in unique position of trust and influence to help visually impaired people. Often it is an Ophthalmologist who diagnoses an eye condition and breaks the news that treatment options are limited, if available at all. Score Foundation offers sensitization workshops especially designed for those working in Eye Hospitals. In the last year we have held workshop with close to 600 ophthalmologist and eye care professionals. To read more click here.
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Research
1. Analysis of state policy for People with Disability:
Government of India has several policies for people with disability to address their specific needs. Although each state has their own policy for disabled people, access to, and utilization of, these services is a major challenge. Against this backdrop, the research officer at Score has been engaged in research to collect information about state level schemes made available to people with disabilities, and analyzing this information. Currently Information regarding State schemes from about 29 states have been uploaded on Eyeway website. To read more about each of these schemes click here.
2. Career Guides
Last year we created job profiles for people (with and without vision impairment) who aspire to a career in the HR, IT, Law and Hospitality sectors. Score Foundation feels passionately that people with disability should be recognised as a resource not a burden. At the same time we were aware that lack of information is a major challenge when choosing a career. Hence, these sector profiles aim to help people make the decision process easier. So far, the HR and Law sections are completed. You can read the completed sector profiles on Eyeway.
3. My vote matters!
Persons with visual impairment have the right to participate in political activities like voting. The issue of inaccessibility of the polling system in India has kept persons with disability away from the electoral process thus far. Score Foundation took up the task of evaluating the implementation of the provisions made by Electoral Commission in this regard during the assembly election last year in 5 states. A survey report was submitted to the election commission of India with suggestions in the matter as well as to the media. Read more about the matter and the full report here.
4. Access to Public Transport
Score Foundation is advocating for change in policy dealing with accessibility, known as the Barrier free environment. Inability to move around the city robs PwD of access to quality education, better health facilities and an opportunity to be a part of society. The research team is engaged in a qualitative research with the purview of presenting the outcomes to policy makers, to ensure barrier free environment for people with visual impairment. We are Currently working on drafting full paper of the research. To read more about this click here.
5. Inclusive education in Delhi School
In 2011, a group of students with visual impairment came to Score foundation with the problem of non availability of scribes, and gave us a lesson in mainstream education for visually impaired people we are not likely to forget. Therefore, we conducted a Focus Group Discussion with 15 students enrolled in secondary school, aiming to capture their experience of inclusion. This study threw up interesting results. To read about the research findings click here. The research report has been shared with the founder and managing trustee of Aarth Astha to be included in the RTE report 2014. A copy will also be shared with the Directorate of education.
6. Research at Delhi University
India is still grappled with gender bias, and women with visual impairment are doubly discriminated and have less access to all services for example Education. As they enter college adapting to university life is an uphill battle for these girls. For this purpose we decided to do a research study to understand these challenges and maybe even offer some suggestions of our own. To read more about the research paper click here. The paper was also presented in the 3rd International conference organized by BPHE's Center for Studies in Rural Development - Institute of social work and research, Ahmednagar at University of Pune held on March 21 - 23, 2014.
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Advocacy
1. Issue with use of derogatory and offensive terminology
The Government of India recently launched a website for online filing of complaints using the Right To Information (RTI) Act. The application form requires complainants to answer the question “Are you physically handicap or not’? The usage of the term ‘handicap’ doesn't comply with our domestic or international laws for persons with disabilities. Since Score Foundation advocates for change and promotes non-discriminatory environment and attitude towards persons with visual impairment, we filed a complaint with the Director of Grievances and requested the rectification be done at the earliest. Owing to our complaint an Office Memorandum was issued by the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances to examined and redress the issue within 60 days. In result, the change has been made, and the question now reads “Are you a differently abled person?â€. Check out the change for yourself here: http://www.rti.india.gov.in/rti_direct_complaint_lodging.php
2. Petition to Election Commission of India
General Assembly elections are being held right now across India. Our legal system has laid down provisions to ensure polling booth accessibility so people with disabilities can cast their vote with ease. Score Foundation decided to conduct a survey to find out exactly how accessible these booths are. Read the full report here. The survey report along with request letter has been sent to the Election commission of India to ensure full participation of people with visual impairment in the Lok Sabha election 2014.
3. NHFDC: Issue with implementation
Over the years we have referred a lot of people to the National Handicap Finance and Development Corporation (NHFDC). The stated objective of the NHFDC is to empower as many as people with disability who want to start their own small businesses in order to improve their quality of life. This year we decided to conduct a small research and gauge the impact the service has had. The results were not promising. To read more about our findings click here. We are looking at sending a letter to NHFDC along with the report to demand answers. In case this fails to get a response we are also gearing up to file an RTI in the matter.
4. Right to Employment
Everyone has the right to work and be financially independent. To safeguard PwD against discrimination the PWD Act 1995 guarantees every disabled citizen equal opportunities to work. It also provides for identification of jobs suitable for disabled people in various government departments, institutions and companies. However Delhi Subordinate Service Selection Board (DSSSB), in its recent vacancy advertisement has failed to fulfill the 3% reservation. To read what our advocacy team did to combat the issue click here.
5. A blind man faced rudeness at Railway Reservation Counter
A visually impaired person called us from Fatehpur Railway station in Uttar Pradesh. He shared that he had been denied a railway ticket under the PwD reserved quota, on the grounds that he did not ‘look handicapped’. Befuddled and annoyed he called up our Helpdesk. Read about how we empowered him to advocate for himself. Click here.
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News In Brief
We would like to take this opportunity to inform all our supporters that Score Foundation is looking to organize ‘Nazar Ya Nazariya’ Sensitization workshops across India. If you would like to conduct a sensitization workshop or talk or know somebody who might, drop us a mail at deepti@eyeway.org.
Blog: Regaining Confidence
From being confined to the walls of her house, to being able to move about independently. This is Anandhi’s Story. Score Foundation is proud to introduce our first two guest Bloggers ever! Read Anandhi and Subramani’s blogposts. Click here.
Give A Little (or a Lot!)
The work of the Score Foundation is only possible thanks to grants and donations from kind organizations and people like you. We are delighted to be partnering with Rang De, who are facilitating online donations for us. You can give as much or as little as you like to support the Eyeway channels, helping us continue to communicate and advocate for blind people in India. Please visit our page on Rang De to make a donation using a credit card, debit card or bank account. You can give money to the Score Foundation through this method from within India and also if you are based outside India. If you would like to give to us, but prefer not to use online methods, please check the Donate section of our Website.
If however, you would like to contribute to the cause in kind, we are always on the lookout for talented volunteers who can help us with proposal and report writing. Interested people can send in their resume to deepti@eyeway.org and mark a copy to scorefoundation@eyeway.org. Apart from an experience letter we also promise to help broaden your horizons and provide opportunities of learning about the domain and changing your mindset along the way.
Score's Getting Social!
Our Facebook fan base has increased another two hundred 12,727 people with whom we actively engage on a regular basis. We have now started receiving queries regarding technology, training courses, Radioshow and much more on Facebook as well, in addition to our Helpdesk. To engage with us on Facebook like us here.
We are in the process of expanding our Twitter base to be able to reach out to more people on Twitter and beyond. We currently have 574 Followers on Twitter. To follow us on Twitter click here.
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Don’t forget to watch our documentary film on YouTube ‘Life Does not Stop Here!’ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sF8FQEut9F4
Score Foundation’s mission is to inform, inspire and empower all persons with visual impairment in India to live independent and successful lives with equal access to opportunity and services. We gather and disseminate knowledge and information on life with blindness through project ‘Eyeway’ which encompasses our radio show, our helpdesk (+91-11-46070380), our SMS alerts and our website. In doing so we reach the blind and visually impaired throughout India, serving them with information and advice while also working to overcome discrimination and empower communities through both our grassroots and institutionally targeted advocacy activities.
We are in great need of your support. If you can please donate and help us continue the great work we do. Cheques to be made payable to Score Foundation and sent to 17/107 l.g.f, Vikram Vihar, Lajpat Nagar IV, New Delhi 110024. A bank transfer can also be sent. For details please contact scorefoundation@eyeway.org - donations are exempt of tax under section 80G of the Income Tax Act. In case you would like to make an online donation you can do so through Rand De. To visit Score foundation's Rang De Page and make a donation click here. Thank you!
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