KEEPING UP TO DATE: A visually impaired person reads the first periodical for the blind and (right) the editor of Sparshgyan
Mumbai: Reading about politics and history is the first love of this 23-year old, but it is his fingers that do the reading for him and often he bemoans the dearth of good reading material.
So when Ganesh Sonawane, a SY BA student from Ruia college, heard of the launch of Sparshgyan, the countrys first fortnightly news periodical in Braille, he jumped.
I need someone to read out the newspaper everyday, and it is not always easy to find someone, I end up missing out a lot, said the excited arts student. This periodical will make it much easier for me to access news, he added.
An avid reader of Marathi literary works, Sonawane sees the periodical as a landmark as it will encompass general news, issues concerning the visually challenged, as well as columns on literature and music.
Most visually challenged people say they are up against big odds when it comes to gaining access to quality reading material in Braille. In the absence of any good Braille college textbooks, most have to depend on recorded or spoken lessons.
Such a periodical can be of great use in libraries, said Salim Sheikh, another student at St Xaviers. There are smaller magazines in Braille kept here. But such a periodical will help access much more information, he added.
Indeed, this fortnightly periodical will be read by many with their heads held high. Nimble fingers will do the reading, carefully running through the dotted lines on white sheets of paper. And who else but Baba Amte, who dedicated his life to the cause of the disabled, greets the readers on the front page of the inaugural issue.
A brainchild of journalistturned-documentary filmmaker Swagat Thorat, Sparshgyan is the first attempt at enabling visually disabled readers access news on their own. Usually the blind are dependent on others to read out the daily news. I am trying to put news into a more accessible domain for them, says Thorat, who has been working in this sector for the past 10 years.
The 100-page periodical is being circulated to all the 79 schools for the visually disabled across the state and allied instititutions.
The editorial policy of the periodical makes sure that the news content is balanced. From current affairs to issues pertinent to the visually challenged, from sports to music and literature, the periodical will have it all.
The news covered in the first issue reflects the policy: Anna Hazare gets prominent space to d i s c u s s his plan to approach the chief minister with problems of the blind population.
The method of annual subscription of the fortnightly is a tad different; sighted people will buy it at Rs 980 a year and gift it to organisations and blind individuals. Just two days after its release, 180 copies were sold out.
Most people, working with the blind, too see the periodical as a milestone in creating literature in Braille. Most of the time, one cannot read out the news in detail. It is a great venture to enable the blind get to the heart of the matter, said Parimala Bhat, chairperson, Snehankit helpline for the visually handicapped. It is a way to get acquainted with the national, local, political and social issues, she added.
Considering the dearth of literature in Braille, the periodical will open out new frontiers in the realm of news and awareness, said Arti Athalekar, who has been teaching at Kamala Mehta Dadar School for Blind for the past 22 years.
chinmayi.shalya@timesgroup.com
So when Ganesh Sonawane, a SY BA student from Ruia college, heard of the launch of Sparshgyan, the countrys first fortnightly news periodical in Braille, he jumped.
I need someone to read out the newspaper everyday, and it is not always easy to find someone, I end up missing out a lot, said the excited arts student. This periodical will make it much easier for me to access news, he added.
An avid reader of Marathi literary works, Sonawane sees the periodical as a landmark as it will encompass general news, issues concerning the visually challenged, as well as columns on literature and music.
Most visually challenged people say they are up against big odds when it comes to gaining access to quality reading material in Braille. In the absence of any good Braille college textbooks, most have to depend on recorded or spoken lessons.
Such a periodical can be of great use in libraries, said Salim Sheikh, another student at St Xaviers. There are smaller magazines in Braille kept here. But such a periodical will help access much more information, he added.
Indeed, this fortnightly periodical will be read by many with their heads held high. Nimble fingers will do the reading, carefully running through the dotted lines on white sheets of paper. And who else but Baba Amte, who dedicated his life to the cause of the disabled, greets the readers on the front page of the inaugural issue.
A brainchild of journalistturned-documentary filmmaker Swagat Thorat, Sparshgyan is the first attempt at enabling visually disabled readers access news on their own. Usually the blind are dependent on others to read out the daily news. I am trying to put news into a more accessible domain for them, says Thorat, who has been working in this sector for the past 10 years.
The 100-page periodical is being circulated to all the 79 schools for the visually disabled across the state and allied instititutions.
The editorial policy of the periodical makes sure that the news content is balanced. From current affairs to issues pertinent to the visually challenged, from sports to music and literature, the periodical will have it all.
The news covered in the first issue reflects the policy: Anna Hazare gets prominent space to d i s c u s s his plan to approach the chief minister with problems of the blind population.
The method of annual subscription of the fortnightly is a tad different; sighted people will buy it at Rs 980 a year and gift it to organisations and blind individuals. Just two days after its release, 180 copies were sold out.
Most people, working with the blind, too see the periodical as a milestone in creating literature in Braille. Most of the time, one cannot read out the news in detail. It is a great venture to enable the blind get to the heart of the matter, said Parimala Bhat, chairperson, Snehankit helpline for the visually handicapped. It is a way to get acquainted with the national, local, political and social issues, she added.
Considering the dearth of literature in Braille, the periodical will open out new frontiers in the realm of news and awareness, said Arti Athalekar, who has been teaching at Kamala Mehta Dadar School for Blind for the past 22 years.
chinmayi.shalya@timesgroup.com
