The other day I came across a new article about Travel Visions Aloha for the Blind, which is an organization providing adventures and experiences for blind people, at the moment primarily in Hawaii. Though there are some similar organizations around the world, definitely not too many, so I contacted the owner, Marri Murdoch to learn more about her organization.
The background is that often times, many blind people have less opportunities to travel or get around. This is not a generalization, it is not due to blindness. Rather, often it is due to the lack of public transportation, and the fact that 70 percent of blind people are unemployed and underemployed. While there would be a desire to travel, often people don’t have the means.
This is what Marri wants to change. She started the organization recently. When I was wondering if there are enough people on the Island of Oahu to serve, she surprised me with her answer: according to her research, there are over 17000 blind and visually impaired people on Oahu who could benefit from such a service, yet there are very few programs created for them.
She has already organized a few trips, such as wail watching, a trip to the botanical garden, or a trip to the Valley of Temples.
I asked her for an example on how a trip for blind or visually impaired people is different, she described their trip to the botanical garden. First, she created braille labels for the different plants people can read as they walk around. As a more detailed guide, she also supplied the participants with an extensive braille brochure about the plants which they could read at their own leisure. In order to get around confidently, participants also received a tactile map.
And the best thing, after the trip she left all the materials for the botanical garden to use when other blind people visit them. Marri says this is one way to pave the road to accessibility one place at a time.
For the time being she is planning to offer trips around Oahu, but later wants to extend to the outer islands and eventually organize trips at the main land.
Her hope is that blind people will not have an excuse to stay at home, because it is not only helping them to travel and get around more, but in many instances it is also building confidence.
I couldn’t hide my curiosity, some of these trips are not necessarily cheap, and if we consider an average lower income that blind people have, how can they pay for it. But actually they don’t have to. All of the trips are organized from donations and grant money. Even the board of directors are volunteering their time to serve the community.
Such a fantastic initiative, I hope we will hear more about their amazing programs, I will definitely sign up for one next time I am in Hawaii.
In the meantime, visit their web site, and if you have the means, please consider a donation.
Do you know about similar initiatives for blind people? Though I have a few more in the pipeline to write about, I would love to hear about any such organization so I could share information about them with my readers.
