<img width="1500" height="1547" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109101120/636b71529c7e80680e0600c6jpeg.jpg" alt=""/>Sarah Yonzan Giri never intended to become a sign-language expert. The wife of Nepal’s famous Panchayat-era prime minister, she was living in Bangalore in 2002 when she wandered into a class for sign language by chance.“The room was silent, but there was a lot of animated signing going on,” Giri remembers. “They were shouting, but I could not hear them.”She had found her life’s mission: advocacy of deaf rights. And recently, she has found that this passion extends to the rights of blind people as well. This has given her a unique vantage point from which she can compare the two worlds, and understand and articulate the unique needs of their inhabitants.Read also: <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=11537#.XiliMP4zbIU" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sarah's children</a>Giri recalls her moment of epiphany: “I realised that I had been Deaf with a capital D, or culturally deaf. I could hear very well, but I was completely deaf to the unique language of the deaf community.” Back in Nepal, she started helping the deaf community organise art exhibitions, since the visible world is so important to those whose hearing is impaired. Every wall in Giri’s 3-storey house in Kathmandu is covered with works of deaf art — paintings that express the feelings and experiences of deaf people. In one painting, bells clang and bricks fall to one side of the canvass, while feathers float on the other, suggesting that for deaf people, loud sounds fall as gently as down.Giri says deaf people want a channel of communication with the rest of the world, but for that they need proper schools where they can learn standardised sign languages. If not, they will be stuck with making improvised signs and communicating only with those close to them. Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/?p=39575&amp;preview_nonce=35bdcd61ca&amp;preview=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Listening to the hearing impaired</a>, Nunuta Rai <figure><img width="640" height="515" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109101120/636b71559c7e80680e0600c7jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><figure><img width="640" height="486" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109101120/636b71599c7e80680e0600c8jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Every country has its own sign language – and learning at least standardised Nepali sign enables deaf people to communicate with others who know it in Nepal. It is best if they learn American sign too, which is quickly becoming the lingua franca for deaf people like English is for those who hear.Giri herself is fluent in Nepali, Indian and American sign languages (each of which are completely different from each other) and communicates animatedly in all three. Her husband Tulsi Giri was always supportive of her work, but she took time off from it to care for him before his death in 2018.One day after her husband passed away, Giri was walking along the Vishnumati when she heard a plaintive voice singing. “It was really strong and it touched my heart,” recalls Giri, who on following the sound to its source found the singer to be blind. Read also: <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/from-nepali-press/dayaram-maharjan%20-making-disabled-children-more-able,2507" target="_blank" rel="noopener">More able</a>, Sajana Baral  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APd7QswuPN4She invited him home, and along the way described everything to him: the roads, trees and buildings outside. Giri says she learnt then that sound is as important to the blind as visuals are to deaf people.After working with people with two different types of disabilities, Giri has insights into their unique worlds. For example, the deaf have two names – one given by their parents which they may never have never heard and may not answer to, and one in sign language which they identify with. “Lighting is very important for deaf people. Something that normal people would see as mysterious dim light settings would not appeal to them, because they cannot sign and talk there,” she expalins.It is just the opposite with blind people, where light is not important, but sound and touch is. When Giri brings her blind friends home, she describes everything to them — the colour of her living room, the texture of the table in front of them, what lies behind them or beside them. Read also: <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=18615#.Xiljef4zbIW" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Different, but able</a>, Bhrikuti Rai  <figure><img width="640" height="466" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109101120/636b715d9c7e80680e0600c9jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><figure><img width="640" height="427" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109101120/636b71609c7e80680e0600cajpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>She often takes blind friends on a walk to get them familiar with their surroundings because they may trip and fall in new places. “We can control things in familiar places, but the world is a <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/seeing-it-a-different-way-for-visually-impaired-in-Kathmandu,2933" target="_blank" rel="noopener">live hazard for blind people</a>,” she says. “We put construction materials on pavements, and sometimes street animals are lying around.”Giri says she has learnt from the disabled community that they do not want to be just helped or pitied. They want to be contributing members of society.Her fondest example is a recent outing to Raksha Nepal, an organisation that helps sexually exploited women, that she made with a band of musicians called Prayas, where all the musicians are blind. The visit was healing for both communities.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-right-of-passage/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The right of passage</a>, Sahina Shrestha <figure><img width="5472" height="3648" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109101120/636b71639c7e80680e0600cbjpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Giri also helped organise an IT challenge with Bright Star Society, in partnership with hotel Yak and Yeti. Bright Star was founded by a blind friend Sushil Adhikari. Gautam Pokharel, the first blind person to pass the public service commission examinations and become a Nepal Telecom officer, won the challenge. Giri speaks with pride about these men and about many activist friends within the blind community.“I admire the work of Shristi KC, who lost her eyesight late in life and now helps friends through the organisation <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/blind-rockers-2019/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Blind Rocks</a>," she says. "Laxmi Nepal, Sanjiya Shrestha, and Sarita Lamichane work on empowering women and help protect them from gender-based violence. This thread of sensitivity, interest in human values and spiritual quest runs right across the community,” says Giri.“The blind people often do not exercise correctly, because they cannot see how to do it. I want to give audio instructions for exercise for blind people, and am currently looking for open space in which to do so,” she says. With her rich immersion in these two contrasting worlds of experience, her sensitivity to difference, and her strong motivation to help, Giri is determined to do what she can to help Nepal’s deaf and blind people. Read also: <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=18634#.XilkUP4zbIU" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Not seeing is believing</a>, Lochana Sharma<a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/seeing-it-a-different-way-for-visually-impaired-in-Kathmandu,2933" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Seeing it a different way</a>, Smriti Basnet

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Hearing for the deaf, seeing for the blind

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109101120/636b71409c7e80680e0600c0jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1125"/><figcaption>SIXTH SENSE: Visually impaired travellers experience Nepal's famous touristic attractions including Kathmandu Darbar Square, paragliding, streetwalking in Thamel, and Phewa Lake in Pokhara with the help of sighted guides. Photos: TRAVELEYES</figcaption></figure>As Alex T James stood before a white lion statue in Kathmandu Darbar Square, his sighted partner took his hand and guided it across the curves of the lion’s belly and the divots inside its gaping mouth, all the while describing to Alex what he was touching. Other sighted and <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-right-of-passage/">visually impaired</a> travelers in the group were doing the same.Having travelled extensively throughout the years, James says, “For me, travelling is a chance to explore new countries and have a sensory experience. There is nothing more exciting than experiencing the sounds, smells and feelings of a new city. Sighted guides who go out of their way to help those who can’t see make it easier.”Read also:<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/?p=39588&amp;preview_nonce=c90fc6f20e&amp;preview=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Hearing for the deaf, seeing for the blind</a>, Sewa Bhattarai<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/?p=39575&amp;preview_nonce=35bdcd61ca&amp;preview=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Listening to the hearing impaired</a>, Nunuta Rai<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109101120/636b71439c7e80680e0600c1jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="794" height="1000"><a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/No-right-of-passage,156" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Visually impaired</a> tourists like James rely heavily on their sense of touch, smell and sound when visiting Nepal. Their guides help them navigate the landscape and describe to them their surroundings. Through partners, sighted guides are also encouraged to experience new places with senses other than sight.This group was the second to visit Nepal <a href="https://www.traveleyes-international.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">through Traveleyes, a British holiday company</a> for blind, visually impaired and sighted travellers. Last November sighted guides described the mountains in Pokhara to their visually impaired partners, led their hands across prayer wheels <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-stupa-of-a-million-dewdrops/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">in Boudha</a>, described the solemn cremation rituals at Pashupati, helped them navigate uneven pavements and rocky staircases, lent a hand when boarding rafts in Trisuli and led them to dance circles during cultural performances in Chitwan.Suzy Hesseldon, tour manager for the trip, speaks fondly of the group’s adventures in Nepal. She says, “The trip was incredible and the visually impaired guests are absolutely inspiring. They are thrill seekers and live life to the fullest.”<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109101120/636b71469c7e80680e0600c2jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1125">Blind tourists are paired with sighted guides on a rotational basis on the morning of each travel day, allowing everyone to get to know one another during the trip. Tour managers like Hesseldon give a short introduction to the day’s plans and a few tips to help the travelers as the weeks go by. But the best guides may be the <a style="background-color: #ffffff; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/No-right-of-passage,156" target="_blank" rel="noopener">visually impaired individuals</a> themselves.“All the sighted guides have to do is ask them how they would like to be assisted, and describe the stairs or landscape. It works well because all the sighted guides have to do is be the visually impaired’s eyes,” says Hesseldon.But travelling with visually impaired guests is less about sightseeing and more about a holistic sensory experience. Traveleyes, with the help of <a href="https://www.mallatravels.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Malla Travel and Trek Services</a>, designed an itinerary that incorporated destinations and activities that would involve senses beyond sight.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109101120/636b71499c7e80680e0600c3jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1100" height="814">To Tony Booth, a retiree who describes himself to some degree as an “ageing hippie” and who was a sighted guide during the trip, the experience was profoundly eye-opening. He says, “When you are travelling with visually impaired people, what you can see is sometimes of less interest to them. Your other senses become much more important. You become much more aware of what you can hear, what you can smell, what you can feel. You become aware of a different kind of world.”Read also: <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=19540#.XilxOzIzaUk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Blind faith</a>, Candice Neo<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/three-toots-for-tootle/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Three toots for Tootle</a>, Sonia AwaleBooth also recalls the <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/seeing-it-a-different-way-for-visually-impaired-in-Kathmandu,2933" target="_blank" rel="noopener">difficulties of having to navigate roads</a> without sidewalks and the risk of getting hit by cavalier drivers -- a common issue faced by most visually impaired individuals in Nepal. But despite the threat of collisions even while walking on pavements, the visually impaired tourists were happy to be guided by their sighted partners.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109101120/636b714c9c7e80680e0600c4jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000">Ajay Manandhar, who is fondly referred to as ‘AJ’ by his clients and is the in-house guide at Malla Travel, says, “This was my first time working with visually impaired tourists and I really enjoyed the concept of having sighted travellers paired with visually impaired travellers. In the context of Nepal, disabled or elderly people don’t have the chance to travel and trek but with initiatives like Traveleyes, this was made possible. It would be interesting to see something similar be implemented in Nepal.”Read also:<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/making-nepal-accessible-to-all/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Making Nepal accessible to all</a><a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-right-of-passage/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The right of passage</a>, Sahina Shrestha

Sightseeing for the blind

<figure><img width="1500" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108141120/636a580a9c7e80680e054811jpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>All photos: BIKRAM RAI</figcaption></figure>The second edition of Mr and Ms Blind Rockers was held in Nachghar, Kathmandu on 16 September 2019. Organised by Blind Rocks!, a non-profit organisation working to empower the visually impaired, the talent contest saw participants from all over the country vying for the title.  Miss Nepal 2005 Sugarika KC, Miss Nepal 2017 Nikita Chandak Maheswori and Nepal Television presenter Neha Sharma made up the jury.Saugat Wagle and Smarika Pokhrel were announced the Mr and Ms Blink Rockers 2019.  <img width="1500" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108141120/636a580d9c7e80680e054812jpeg.jpg" alt=""><img width="1500" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108141120/636a58109c7e80680e054813jpeg.jpg" alt=""><img width="1500" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108141120/636a58139c7e80680e054814jpeg.jpg" alt=""><img width="1500" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108141120/636a58169c7e80680e054815jpeg.jpg" alt=""><img width="1500" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108141120/636a581a9c7e80680e054816jpeg.jpg" alt=""><img width="1500" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108141120/636a581d9c7e80680e054817jpeg.jpg" alt=""><img width="1500" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108141120/636a58209c7e80680e054818jpeg.jpg" alt=""><img width="1500" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108141120/636a58239c7e80680e054819jpeg.jpg" alt=""><img width="1500" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108141120/636a58269c7e80680e05481ajpeg.jpg" alt=""><img width="1500" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108141120/636a582a9c7e80680e05481bjpeg.jpg" alt=""><img width="1500" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108141120/636a582d9c7e80680e05481cjpeg.jpg" alt=""><img width="1500" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108141120/636a58319c7e80680e05481djpeg.jpg" alt=""><figure><img width="1500" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108141120/636a58349c7e80680e05481ejpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption>Saugat Wagle and Smarika Pokhrel (third and second from left) after being crowned Mister and Miss Blind Rocks 20189 at Nachghar, Kathmandu on Monday.</figcaption></figure>Read also:<a style="background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-right-of-passage/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The right of passage</a>, Sahina Shrestha<a style="background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/seeing-it-a-different-way-for-visually-impaired-in-Kathmandu,2933" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Seeing it a different way</a>, Smriti Basnet

Blind Rockers 2019

There are more facilities for the visually impaired, but there is a long way for full mobility<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221104141144/636517739c7e80680e02c279jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1400" height="787"/>On a recent morning as Nabina Gyawali and her husband Arjun Paudel make their way home to Balkhu, they hit their first snag: the tactile guiding pavement supposed to help them navigate lead them straight into a concrete electricity pole.The guiding blocks run along the bus park sidewalk which are a favourite spot for people to urinate. Some bystanders stare and others trip on the white cane as the two make their way through the crowd. Rude street vendors spreading their wares on the guiding blocks ask them to move away.“Half my disability is due to the <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/No-right-of-passage,156">lack of infrastructure</a>. In America, I was not blind for even a moment, here in Nepal I am blind at every moment,” says Gyawali, who visited the US three years ago on an exchange program.The streets of Kathmandu are bad enough for the sighted, but <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/seeing-it-a-different-way-for-visually-impaired-in-Kathmandu,2933">for the blind it is a nightmare</a> of reckless drivers, haphazard parking, piles of boulders, water pipes, open drainage and potholes.The 2011 census showed there are 96,000 <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/touching-and-feeling-seeing-hands,4105">visually impaired</a> -- 0.5% of the population. Nepal introduce the Disability Act 35 years ago, it is signatory to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and in 2012, the government approved accessibility guidelines. All this doesn’t mean much here at street level.“On paper Nepal has the best policies in South Asia but there is no implementation,” laments Ramesh Pokharel, President of <a href="http://www.nabnepal.org/">Nepal Association of the Blind</a> (NAB) who fractured his left arm and tore an ankle ligament when he fell 3m down an open drain on his way to school in Pokhara. He was hospitalised for 45 days after which he went to the municipality to ask it to cover the drain. Nothing happened.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221104141144/636517769c7e80680e02c27ajpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1400" height="1257"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>One of the major challenges these days is to navigate the city where streets are being dug up everywhere. “It is really difficult because the road is not the same as when we passed through in the morning and there is no information to guide us,” says Ikchya KC, 29, who started losing her vision gradually over the years.Another challenge is while crossing roads. Says KC: “There are no indicators, whether tactile or audio, at zebra crossings, and motorbikes rarely stop. They try to drive around us and that gets dangerous.”Sita Subedi was crossing the road at Lagankhel recently when a traffic police pulled her up for not using the zebra. “I had to explain that I am partially sighted and that I cannot see the crossing,” recalls Subedi, the chair of Nepal Blind Women Association.Stray cattle and dogs are also serious hazards. Arjun Paudel was walking down Rato Pul a few years ago when a bull charged at him. “I was scared and nearly jumped off the bridge. Passersby saved me,” he remembers.Most visually impaired rely on public transportation to go around the city and although there are reserved seats for them, during rush hour it is difficult to enforce the rule."There are people who willingly leave seats for us and go out of their way to help, but sometimes there are others who don’t give up seats reserved for those with disabilities,” says Gyawali.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NubLtBwQYzYWhile it is easier for white cane users to be identified and assisted, those with partial or low visual ability have a much more difficult time. Parwati Shrestha, 23, has partial sight and does not usually ask for the reserved seat or discounts on buses. “My disability is invisible and it is just tedious having to explain myself over and over again,” she says.Blind women have another problem: gropers on buses. Gyawali says she once pushed a middle-aged man off the seat for making an unwanted advance.Despite their challenges, the blind say there are signs of improvement and society is more aware of their special needs. “Public attitude has changed a lot, there was a time when the buses wouldn’t stop for us but these days both the driver and conductor help us get on and off and ensure we have a seat,” says KC.Rajita Regmi finds people in Kathmandu more helpful than those in Butwal, where she is from: “I have limited mobility so I find it difficult to use public transportation. At home my father drops me and picks me up from school, but here in Kathmandu I found people were more willing to help.”Apart from increasing awareness and changing attitude of the people, adopting universal design and <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/kathmandu-accessibility-friendly,2609">mobility friendly technologies is necessary to make the roads safer for persons with disabilities</a>.Nara Bahadur Limbu of NAB has some more suggestions: “There need to be proper tactile pavements as well as audio and indicators at traffic lights, more accessible public toilets and public buildings. Buses should have audio announcements and tactile indicators to indicate stops.”Read also:<a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/seeing-it-a-different-way-for-visually-impaired-in-Kathmandu,2933">Seeing it a different way</a>,  Smriti Basnet<a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/kathmandu-accessibility-friendly,2609">Give them a way</a>,  Stéphane Huët<a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/No-right-of-passage,156">No right of passage</a>,  Sulaiman Daud