In January, IIT-Madras campus witnessed scores of visually impaired children lead the way in a one of its kind ‘Walk in the Dark’ to raise awareness about vision health and refractive error, a major cause of avoidable blindness in India.
The Walk, organised by India Vision Institute (IVI) and co-hosted by IIT-Madras’ BLINK Shaastra 2020 festival, included prominent Chennai citizens led by Minister for Tamil Official Language and Tamil Culture, K Pandiarajan, Australia’s Consul General in Chennai, Susan Grace, Ma Foi Foundation Managing Trustee Latha Pandiarajan, IVI CEO Vinod Daniel, and Anup Kumar, Director, Sales, The Ascott Limited.
Visually impaired and blind children from the city’s St Louis Institute for the Deaf and Blind led blindfolded participants, showing the remarkable way they overcome their disability and challenge. Students from local optometry colleges and institutes also took part in the Walk that started from the IIT-Madras’ CLT Complex and ended at Himalaya Mess.
Around 300 blind and visually challenged children, Optometry and IIT students and faculty took part in the walk.
IVI’s Walk in the Dark campaigns have previously been held in Bangalore, Hyderabad, Delhi, Mumbai, Goa, Kolkata and Aizawl (Mizoram). This is the second IVI organised ‘Walk in the Dark’ in Chennai.
“I am delighted to take part in the Walk. I am aware of IVI’s commitment and work in community service and their programs in preventable blindness are praiseworthy. My constituency, Avadi, particularly the underprivileged community and children, have benefited from IVI’s activities,” Mr Pandiarajan said.
IVI CEO and Managing Trustee Vinod Daniel said, “Minister Pandiarajan has been a supporter of IVI’s initiatives, including our Eye See & I Learn and Eye See & I Work campaigns.”
Through Walk in the Dark campaigns, IVI raises awareness about preventable blindness issues. Australia’s Consul General in Chennai, Susan Grace, said, “The IVI awareness campaigns across India will go a long way in spreading the message of avoidable blindness and of the need for refractive screenings. I commend the good work being done by IVI.”
IVI provides access to vision screening and a pair of glasses to the needy. Till date, IVI has organised 670 vision screening programs in and around Chennai and other cities in Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Mizoram, New Delhi, Odisha, Pondicherry, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and West Bengal. Over 262,895 individuals from the underprivileged communities (including over 200,726 children) were screened and free spectacles were distributed to 42,816 individuals (including 21,962 children).
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