Publicado em 21 de jul de 2015
Eng/Bengali/Nat
Blind people in India have found a new source of mental stimulation in one of the world's oldest board games.
A voluntary organisation in Calcutta is teaching the blind to play chess on a specially devised board.
It's an imaginative attempt to broaden the horizons of blind people.
But millions of blind people in India are too busy trying to survive to have time for games.
Life for the blind in India is a struggle to change age-old attitudes - and to cope with the reality of being a virtual outcast in an unsympathetic society.
Estimates of the total visually handicapped population in India vary from four million to twelve million.
Most of them live a life of misery and poverty - scraping a living as beggars.
Education opportunities are few and jobs given to the blind fewer.
In the relative sophistication of India's cities attitudes towards the blind have grown more enlightened in recent years.
But campaigners for the blind say the country as a whole still has a long way to go.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"In the rural areas, in the far-flung areas, we still know of situations where blind children, blind persons are still treated as absolute liabilities and are made to languish in situations of total ostracization and neglect. And that is an area where more and more we would like to concentrate upon for effecting necessary attitude modification."
SUPERCAPTION : A.K. Mittal, principal, Blind school, Delhi
Nearly a quarter of India's blind are school age children.
But educational facilities for them are hopelessly inadequate.
There's room for just a fifth of them at special blind schools.
And what special education there is suffers from chronic underfunding.
SOUND BITE: (English)
"We have to still have a lot more material for reading at the school stage. We have so far been able to provide basically textbooks."
SUPERCAPTION :A.K. Mittal, principal, Blind school, Delhi
Some blind students, however, are now discovering a source of mental stimulation beyond their Braille text books.
A voluntary group in Calcutta, the "Voice Of World", is teaching the students to play chess.
A variety of textured surfaces are used to help the players feel their way around the board and identify the different pieces.
The blind chess player uses a touch and feel method - before making his move, he places his hand over the entire chess board.
SOUND BITE: (Bengali)
"Like a normally sighted person uses his eyes to play , we use our hands to feel the board."
SUPERCAPTION: Amit Banerjee, blind chess player
Players are taught how to use specially adapted computer chess programmes so they can polish up their game on their own.
The pace might be slow, but the organisers are confident that with some of them will become very good players.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"I am sure the day will come when they will also play in international matches and all that. But that will take a long time."
SUPER CAPTION: Ashok Sen, organiser, blind chess competition
Chess is rapidly catching on at blind schools in other Indian cities.
For the blind players it's a way of stretching their mental powers.
And there's the satisfaction of knowing that it's a game they can play as well as any sighted player.
You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...
Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork
Blind people in India have found a new source of mental stimulation in one of the world's oldest board games.
A voluntary organisation in Calcutta is teaching the blind to play chess on a specially devised board.
It's an imaginative attempt to broaden the horizons of blind people.
But millions of blind people in India are too busy trying to survive to have time for games.
Life for the blind in India is a struggle to change age-old attitudes - and to cope with the reality of being a virtual outcast in an unsympathetic society.
Estimates of the total visually handicapped population in India vary from four million to twelve million.
Most of them live a life of misery and poverty - scraping a living as beggars.
Education opportunities are few and jobs given to the blind fewer.
In the relative sophistication of India's cities attitudes towards the blind have grown more enlightened in recent years.
But campaigners for the blind say the country as a whole still has a long way to go.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"In the rural areas, in the far-flung areas, we still know of situations where blind children, blind persons are still treated as absolute liabilities and are made to languish in situations of total ostracization and neglect. And that is an area where more and more we would like to concentrate upon for effecting necessary attitude modification."
SUPERCAPTION : A.K. Mittal, principal, Blind school, Delhi
Nearly a quarter of India's blind are school age children.
But educational facilities for them are hopelessly inadequate.
There's room for just a fifth of them at special blind schools.
And what special education there is suffers from chronic underfunding.
SOUND BITE: (English)
"We have to still have a lot more material for reading at the school stage. We have so far been able to provide basically textbooks."
SUPERCAPTION :A.K. Mittal, principal, Blind school, Delhi
Some blind students, however, are now discovering a source of mental stimulation beyond their Braille text books.
A voluntary group in Calcutta, the "Voice Of World", is teaching the students to play chess.
A variety of textured surfaces are used to help the players feel their way around the board and identify the different pieces.
The blind chess player uses a touch and feel method - before making his move, he places his hand over the entire chess board.
SOUND BITE: (Bengali)
"Like a normally sighted person uses his eyes to play , we use our hands to feel the board."
SUPERCAPTION: Amit Banerjee, blind chess player
Players are taught how to use specially adapted computer chess programmes so they can polish up their game on their own.
The pace might be slow, but the organisers are confident that with some of them will become very good players.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"I am sure the day will come when they will also play in international matches and all that. But that will take a long time."
SUPER CAPTION: Ashok Sen, organiser, blind chess competition
Chess is rapidly catching on at blind schools in other Indian cities.
For the blind players it's a way of stretching their mental powers.
And there's the satisfaction of knowing that it's a game they can play as well as any sighted player.
You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...
Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork
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