Journeys into light

Being legally blind, travelling solo was a dream I dared not dream. But then, the white cane became my companion and I felt free, says Arundhati Nath.

Clutching onto a print of my flight ticket and my passport, I told Papa, “I’ll be able to manage. Don’t worry.” He had come to see me off on my first solo flight to Bengaluru.

I have low vision, which is a form of legal blindness; but I had never used the white cane until February last year. I can read print but in very close view and my disability percentage is 90. Roads with muddy puddles or uneven surfaces are difficult for me to navigate and I can’t read sign boards or number plates of cars from even a metre’s distance. 

I was flying to Bengaluru from my hometown Guwahati to learn mobility techniques, independent living skills, the use of screen reading software and the white cane at a nonprofit named Mitra Jyothi at HSR Layout.

As I hadn’t taken a flight alone before, I was nervous and my father was apprehensive. What if I lose my way, get lost, or miss my flight while searching for the boarding gate? Will I be able to use the escalator and manage my luggage alone? How will I read the computerised sign boards that indicate the boarding times of the day’s flights? 

I had enquired with visually impaired friends before and was aware that airline companies do offer assistance to passengers with disabilities. But, I’d also heard about instances where certain passengers weren’t assisted well and so I was really nervous!

When I entered the airport in Guwahati, I told the security personnel that I would need assistance. Thankfully, after that, the ground staff and crew assisted me ably. I was allotted a staff member from the airline who was cheerful and held my hand while going through security check-in and left me alone only after I was comfortably seated in the aircraft. 

There was now a sense of calm and I was happy and relaxed to be able to take my first solo flight. The air hostess acquainted me with the oxygen mask and asked me to let her know should I require any help. 

As I have flown with my parents before, I wasn’t nervous about the take-off or landing and enjoyed my time onboard listening to music, eating a good meal and flipping through a magazine in close view. 

After landing in Bengaluru, a ground staff member helped me book a cab. For the first time, I was alone in a cab in an unfamiliar city and it felt surreal. The driver was a woman and I felt quite safe. For the first week, I stayed with my friend’s family near Indiranagar. It was fun to be their guest, have lively conversations and eat the tasty home-cooked food made by my friend. 

During the day, I went around the city in cabs to meet school friends who are now settled in the city. After a week, I moved to the hostel which would be my home for the next four months. We were oriented to the campus and were briefed about what we were going to learn over the next few months. 

The NGO has a hostel facility for visually impaired women students and I could see completely blind girls do everything independently. I was astonished that they managed everything from washing clothes to cooking and using mobile phones, computers and the internet. Most of all, I remember how cheerful, friendly and happy they were despite their disability.

While I knew about assistive technology or screen readers which the blind use to access computers, I was surprised to see how effective some girls were at travelling alone, chopping vegetables, cleaning and cooking effectively too. 

After our classes which detailed the use of screen readers, we were given practical training in mobility using the white cane. Although I had heard about the blind using the white cane, I was unaware of the proper techniques of using it and felt like people on the street would judge me or I would be less of a person if I used it because it’s similar to a crutch. 

However, after the training, I could understand that it’s the opposite: the white cane is actually making me independent. I no longer have to hold another person’s hand and be dependent every time I go out alone.  

Holding a long white cane and swinging it while tapping on the ground ahead helps to understand if there are any obstacles or uneven surfaces in our path. It’s especially helpful for me on uneven staircases, sloped pathways and crossing busy streets. The white cane also alerts other people on the streets including drivers of vehicles to understand that the person using the cane might need assistance or that they should slow down. 

While exploring the HSR Layout area during our mobility training sessions, we were blindfolded! First, we were given a few sessions without the blindfold but in the advanced sessions, the blindfold is used so that we’re not using the little vision we might have and are able to concentrate completely on the sounds of the cane tapping the ground and the surrounding traffic. 

We have to depend on our other senses while using the cane, especially hearing and touch. It was scary because I didn’t do it before and it also felt awkward about what onlookers on the streets would think about us! I was uncomfortable and was often walking in the middle of the street as I lost track of the pavement or the roadside where we should ideally be walking. 

With daily practice, however, my awkwardness and fear of being hit by vehicles reduced. I was able to walk around the city alone and I noticed people coming up to help when they observed that I held a white cane in my hand. I checked out a few cafes around HSR Layout, went for a hair spa and also shopped at a store alone.

These were things I thought I’d never be able to do alone because of my low vision and reduced confidence. These might not be significant events for someone without a disability but for me or for many other Indians with disabilities, who fight stigma and accessibility issues on a daily basis, freedom is a huge blessing and privilege.

We still have a long way to go when it comes to accessibility in terms of public spaces for wheelchair users in India or Braille signage, for example. There are initiatives supporting and helping scale up accessibility that have been started in the last few years which is encouraging, but we still have a lot more to do.

I had heard of blind chef and Youtuber Payal Kapoor before I came to Mitra Jyothi. I was amazed at how a completely blind person could cook, an activity that involves working with fire. While I can ‘see’ to a certain extent, my vision is mostly blurred and I didn’t think I’d ever be able to cook. It was against this scenario that I started my training in cooking at the NGO.

For orientation, we were given various grains and pulses. We were asked to identify them via touch and smell. The texture, shape and size of the items and their smell usually help in differentiating and identifying them even without being able to see them. 

Over the next few days, we were taught safety precautions while lighting the gas stove, boiling water, chopping vegetables and feeling the items by hand even though we didn’t see them. From preparing coffee to Poha, we learnt a lot of practical skills which taught me that sight is just one of our senses. We usually tend to depend so much on sight that we don’t pay close attention to sound, taste, touch or smell.

I felt free. Free to travel, enjoy and live a life of independence, self-discovery and fun. Travel was something I never imagined I’d be able to do alone and I’m so glad I could break this barrier both mentally and physically. 

I was always overjoyed when my parents and I travelled in the past and I remember how ecstatic I was when I scuba dived at The North Bay Island in the Andamans some years ago. I’m already planning my first solo international trip to Hong Kong and Japan next year. Travel opens up our minds, and helps us connect with new cultures and people and no barrier should hold us back from exploring this planet which is meant for everyone: disabled or not. 

I realised that I could travel alone if I used my white cane and am not embarrassed to ask for help if needed. The cane symbolises independence, freedom to travel, adventure and joy to me. Earlier, I’d have felt ashamed to use a cane in public, but I’m no longer the same person. 

The author is a visually challenged journalist.