Blind Walk at Cyber Hub!!

“Walk by faith even when you can’t see, as it holds enough light for those who want to believe”

Blind walks give us an opportunity to experience the difficulty in accessing the public spaces when one lacks sight. Sometimes in our busy routine we tend to forget our basic responsibilities. An inclusive environment for our fellow beings is something that’s long forgotten. A brilliant design, be it of any product or business should be thought about keeping in mind not only the masses but also the extreme users of the product. Activities like blind walk remind us our responsibilities.

We had conducted 3 blind walks last year in Galleria and Leisure Valley. We planned to conduct one at the busy Cyber Hub to engage the corporate employees in the social experiment. The response we received was different from the other two walks. In our previous walks we received immediate interest for volunteering and experiencing the walk from the public. In cyber hub, on a busy Wednesday afternoon the corporate employees showed less enthusiasm in joining the walk as they were busy with their daily routine and schedule at work. We wanted to grasp their attention and make them experience the walk.

We were 10 volunteers from Esha and SOIL, we demonstrated the walk to the crowd. There was one volunteer from the crowd who was curious and agreed to participate. Slowly it turned out that many folks were interested in trying it out. Around 50 corporate employees participated. Group of friends, colleagues who had come for a team get-together, reporters from media started joining the walk.

We got diverse responses from the participants after the walk. Some were surprised, some were taken aback, some struggled to cross a stretch, some had to be guided for every step they kept, some walked really fast bumping into the crowd. There was this one person who came up to us and gave his mail id and asked us to call him when we conduct other events. Overall it was an enriching experience that had sensitized the corporate mass at the cyber hub.

The media coverage helped us share the message to a wider audience. Gurgaon Times, NavBharat Times, Times of India Gurgaon and Bhaskar News Gurgaon covered the walk.