We can embrace inclusive innovations for holistic engagement of people with visual disabilities

The question of holistic engagement is a crucial one in relation to all persons with disabilities, as those conditions in one way or another differentiate the level at which one can engage in society and societal activities.

For example, while a person with mobility disabilities can equally appreciate the music being played, he or she may not manifest bodily in the same way as persons without a mobility disability who have the same musical appreciation ability.

However, today we will narrow down the subject matter of societal engagement and focus on the needs and possibilities of people with visual impairments or disabilities. From the offset, the readers must distinguish the notional disparity between having a disability and being disabled.

Experts have concluded the latter to be an old misunderstanding and misrepresentation of both the nature and state of being of human persons who have disabilities. Having a disability is not being disabled!

To maximise possibilities for societal engagement for persons with visual disabilities, society must have in place a system that assures and promotes their safety and well-being. Having poor eyesight or no eyesight at all is a huge vulnerability, and no one will love to engage himself or herself, while in that condition, with unsafe environments.

Of course, advanced economies have been able to provide, to a large extent, much beyond the bare minimum of support to ensure that persons with visual disabilities and impairments are able to move and experience a fair share of the life of society. Can Tanzania say the same in that regard? I can say we are still struggling with the minimum.

For example, insofar as our roads are not safe for persons with clear eyesight, thousands of whom are ruthlessly murdered by careless driving, we are far from creating a safe mobility system for persons with visual impairments. We have many roads without sidewalks where one can walk without interference from cyclists, motorists, tricycle riders, barrow pushers, and cars.

Our roads do not have supportive markings that persons with visual impairments who use white canes (or identification canes) can use to identify places that are safe for them to walk, stand, or cross the roads. Mobility in this case is key to holistic engagement; we can say it is indispensable.

For persons with visual disabilities, it is important that they are helped to explore the world in ways that are possible for their conditions. This includes being empowered to access information, express themselves, engage with technology, and learn a trade. Having a disability is not a ticket to make our fellow citizens helpless beggars.

Today, many adults with visual impairments cannot read or write and have not been empowered in any way, apart from their own efforts to survive. The excuse often given is that braille machines are expensive, making it challenging to provide for all children with visual impairments!

To any analytical mind, this is unfair, given the government’s expenditure on many things that could obviously be cut down. We can at least provide the basics so that persons with visual disabilities are not left out. The basics are important, as whatever is built on them will last. It will be disordered to jump stages.

When I visited the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, I came across a new genre of art called tactile artworks. These were printed in a fashion that those with visual impairments could feel with their hands and sense the image being represented. This is an inclusive initiative from which we can learn. The designs were also accompanied by braille text for those who are not yet able to grasp the tactile image. But this too needs to be learnt, and it is not easy.

The more inclusive our policies and structures are, the more they promote integral and holistic integration. It is time to fully commit to educating society on supporting people with visual disabilities and to nurture what I call 'a culture of care,' especially among the younger generation.

January 4 was World Braille Day; it is marked every year in advocacy for inclusion and acceptance of people with visual disabilities and impairments and in a special way to recognise the instrumental power to the holistic wholeness of these persons fostered by access to information through Braille. This year the theme is "celebrating accessibility and inclusion for the visually impaired.”

As a nation, we need more action accompanying this advocacy, especially in ensuring that persons with visual disabilities are helped to be able to access information and express themselves. In tandem, we must create a safe environment for the mobility and engagement of all people regardless of their disabilities and impairments.

Finally, the government needs to take special measures to ensure that persons with disabilities are not rendered helpless beggars just because of their disabilities. There should be a conscious effort to help them.

Shimbo Pastory is a Tanzanian advocate for positive social transformation and a student of Loyola School of Theology, Ateneo de Manila University, Philippines. He writes from Hsinchu, Taiwan. Website: www.shimbopastory.com