Dialog between Daniel Kish and Harshadha
From: Harshadha, Mon, 2 Sep 2013
Subject: Becoming Independent
Dear Daniel,
I am writing to you as a direct beneficiary of your invaluable work
and its contribution to widening access to opportunities for those
with visual impairments.
To be more precise, I was a 14 year old who, along with another young
pupil, took part in a two-day course you led in 2009 at RNIB's London
Head Office for those intrigued by echo location and curious about its
role in enabling overall independence. I was inspired by the freedom
on offer if one could combine honed cane skills and echo location to
maximise understanding of the relationship between oneself and the
environment. The confidence that these skills brought out in me
uprooted my former fear of the cane as a sign of exclusion from the
rest of society. Instead, it has been empowering: I can finally accept
my visual impairment and hence face the resulting challenges; I can
independently attend all academic and extra-curricular activities and
fulfill my potential. Thanks to your session, I have gone from being a
die-hard non-cane-user to placing it at the heart of my independent
living and am motivated to help others do the same.
Consequently, I visited Little Flower Convent in Chennai, India, where
I had completed a year in Lower Kindergarten, to find out if any
information I could share would be useful to their teachers or
students. I discovered that, despite the many shortages in finances
and resources, their students did not seem to let this stop them
excelling to remarkable heights in their studies. Some of the school's efforts
to find out about technological advances had also paid off.
However, it soon appeared after a conversation with the Principal that
most students were still restricted to using basic technology and old
strategies that risked hampering their progress; many of them, like I
had been, seemed reluctant to incorporate canes into daily usage.
Since returning to London, I have compiled a list of contacts they may
find helpful and have sent over a list of my books I could post should
the school be interested. Yet, I have been unable to exactly determine
the areas in which my support could be most beneficial. Fortunately,
the Principal had informed me whilst there that you were to be working
with the school on 19th and 20th August. I was delighted that my old
school could benefit from your expertise, and I felt that, with your
knowledge and experience, you would be able to make a much more
accurate judgement of their needs. Therefore, I would be most grateful
to have your opinion on which aspects of the school's approach to
preparing their students for life could prophet from additional
support. This would immensely aid me in providing appropriate
assistance.
Without a doubt, it would be a privilege to receive your comments and
I would like to sincerely thank you in advance for your time.
Kind regards,
Harshadha
On 9/2/13, Daniel Kish wrote:
Hi Harshadha,
It is such a pleasure to hear from you! I had missed you after the
workshop, and have wondered how you have been.
I still have the video of our work together. It's spectacular, but I
haven't processed it, yet. It actually took nearly a year just to
acquire it from the folks who took the video. ... Now, I'm trying to raise the
funding to take that and other
professionally shot videos, and produce an instructional program that
would be available to more people in more places. Thanks so much for
your participation and contributions.
I was quite tickled to hear that you'd visited Little Flower School.
I recalled that you had come from India and had spent time at a
school for the blind there, but I didn't know or didn't recall that
it was Little Flower. I was there to give a brief presentation in
December, and again in February.
For various reasons, we had to postpone the presentation to Little
Flower in August.
Hopefully, we will be able to do it some time next year.
So, I'm afraid there isn't much that I can say. I do agree with you
and did notice that mobility does seem to be low on their priorities, but
this is common everywhere. Even in their own school, I noticed
that some of the kids were being shuffled around and "placed"
like
game pieces. I observed not one child using a cane during both of my
trips. I can somewhat understand this in a place they really know,
but I think their lack of interest in the cane, and therefore lack of
freedom, extends beyond the school. The Principal had indicated a
wish that they had more interest in mobility and use of the cane, but
it really doesn't seem to be happening. These folks will simply leave
the school quite dependent on others. In India, that may work, in that
folks there are more plentiful, and willing to be more helpful.
However, they are also more dismissive, and it's much easier for
society to dismiss, marginalize, and disregard someone who is
dependent than someone who has the power and wherewithal to be reckoned
with.
One of the reasons that people over there don't like the canes, is that
the canes are ... too heavy and too short, and they break easily. I wish there
was a way to design a light weight,
inexpensive alternative. Probably bamboo would work. There are also
some much nicer canes coming out of Europe, and some inexpensive
canes available from the U.S. - anything would be better than the
canes that people are forced to use over there. So, perhaps the
biggest way to be helpful would be to somehow infuse India with some
decent canes, and then a good way to distribute them. I hear the
postal system is problematic, but I have not experienced it myself.
Anyway, I hope that was somewhat helpful. Again, it is a great
pleasure to hear from you.
All the Best,
Daniel
From: Harshadha, Mon, 2 Sep 2013
Dear Daniel,
Thank you for your prompt reply and for remembering me! ...
... may I take this opportunity to apologise for not having contacted you
directly after the workshop. Since 2009, I have been on many academic
adventures, namely those legendary exams and the transfer to higher
education, and hence, I did not really give myself much time to pause
or reflect. Now that I have finished school, I have realised how far I
have come and felt that I must get round to thanking people like
yourself to whom I am vastly indebted.
Your thoughts on Little Flower are extremely helpful and, in many
ways, give me a deeper insight in to the school's position. Although I
had spoken to the Principal and some of the teachers, I unfortunately
could not spend any time with the students. This may have helped clear
up some ambiguities for me, such as why they are cane-shy, so to
speak. Nevertheless, from personal experience, I feel that they may be
content to stay within their comfort zones and perhaps that no one has
really drilled the importance of the cane in to them yet. I definitely
agree with you that many people in India view helping the visually
impaired almost as a duty. The people I met admired me for facing the
challenges that I have but did not let this outweigh their sympathy
for me. I was therefore very rarely judged on the same level as my
sighted peers and could have easily been forgotten.
Showing them that I was independent however seemed to make them
reconsider their preconceived ideas. In this sense, I agree with you
that infusing better canes in to India, as a means to this
independence is essential. I also wish that folks had better roads to
use these canes on; the paving, crossings and general disobedience of
traffic rules is atrocious! Therefore, it all seems to be work in
progress.
Nonetheless, I am determined to do what I can to help the situation.
For the moment however, most of my work will be through the internet
and e-mail until I have vacations from university. I am also hopeful
of returning to Little Flower to meet with some of the students, by
which time I should have many more interesting ideas after a year or
two of a degree and living away from home.
Once again, thank you for your time. Please do not hesitate to contact
me if there are any opportunities for me to offer my support to any
aspect of your work.
Kind regards,
Harshadha