There are fifteen million blind people in India, which means that 75% of the world’s population of blind people reside in India. However, the structures that make the world accessible to blind people are nil in India. They simply do not exist. Most buildings do not have ramps, libraries are not well stocked in Braille books and blindness is seen as a disease rather than a condition. Blind people either have holy vision and are “divyang” or they simply committed some sin in their past life and hence were born blind. Moreover, parents particularly mothers, of blind persons are constantly mocked. Government officials regularly harass them sexually. Blind women are far more prone to being raped.
There is so much work to be done in the field of countering ableism that we do not know where to start. Sensitization seems like a good idea. But sensitization can be expensive depending on where and how you do it. You can do it in classrooms of schools and colleges in which case it would be easier for you to find place. If done elsewhere, it becomes far more difficult. Moreover, to get people to even listen to what you have to say is a tiresome job. Work can of course be done over the internet but is the internet really accessible for the blind in India? Crowdfunding India can help us work out the money issues in this case.
A fine way to support the blind is by contributing to the stocking of Braille books in libraries so that blind people can read fluently, and without the help of readers. Moreover, the segregated system of education directed towards blind and other disabled students is discriminatory as these are the schools that end up with the worst of teachers and horrible infrastructure. Creating a school where the baled and disabled can study together should be a goal for anyone looking to fund initiatives through crowdfunding India. But these are only a few ideas. There is far more work to be done.
Crowdfunding platforms like Impact Guru support medical crowdfunding and NGO crowdfunding. You can set a fundraiser on sites like these. Once you have done that you can set a target with the campaign manager of the site. Once this is done you will have to publicist your campaign on social media and through email. For this you need a team of trusted people who will diligently share as many posts and talk to as many people as possible about your campaign. Remember that you would also need to reply to all the queries of your contributors as well as sending them thank you messages. Remember that crowdfunding India is low risk and investment is zero. So if you are looking to change society, this is the place which facilitates your work.
