A Braille menu card with audio support. A mall with beacons connecting to a smartphone app to describe the goodies for sale. Innovative ideas sparkled at “Antarchakshu: The Eye Within”, organised by the Xavier’s Resource Centre for the Visually Challenged at St. Xavier’s College in Mumbai.
The festival encouraged active participation of the visitors. They were blindfolded to experience and explore the world of the visually challenged. Guided by volunteers, participants were asked to use senses other than sight to explore the festival offerings.
“Antarchakshu” is an annual departmental festival, and this year’s theme was “Creating an accessible world”. The festival focussed on various ways to use ideas and technology to create an accessible day-to-day life for the visually challenged to enable them to live like a person with normal vision.
The highlight of the event was the audio-powered menu of Bombay Blue, a multi-cuisine restaurant here. The resource centre conceptualised and developed the menu card in association with a city-based radio station. It lists the dishes and their prices in Braille script, each with an audio sticker with the same information. Additional description can be accessed with an audio labeller pen. Sam Taraporevala, director of the resource centre, who is visually challenged, told The Hindu , “Visually challenged persons enjoy dining out, as anyone else. We hope that these accessible, inclusive menus will make the experience more pleasurable for them. The concept behind these unique accessible menus opens up many possibilities for creating an equal-opportunity society whereby information can be accessed through one’s fingers, eyes and ears.”
“Luckily, I had very helpful surroundings. But not every visually challenged person will get the same,” says Sriram Parthasarathi, a professional associated with Antarchakshu. “Therefore, there is a tremendous need to create a highly accessible world for the visually challenged, especially the ones who do not have favourable surroundings.”
