October 29th, 2015 by Rachel | Tags: Disability, Peace Corps | No Comments »
Last Sunday, I did another malaria workshop but this time, it was with a large group of blind people. All of these people were totally blind and using white cane. Before meeting with the group, I did know that I would have to make some adjustments to how I would teach them because they cannot see at all. For example, I had to make arrangements to have the pre- and post-tests translated to braille so that they could take the pre- and post-tests.
When I began the workshop, I quickly realized that even though the tests were translated to braille, I still needed to assist them in administering the test as they could not write the answers down. For a moment, I thought, “Ohmigosh am I the only person who is not blind and could help them write the answers down?” I then actually said, “Do we have anyone who is not visually impaired besides me in this room who could help with the tests?” Fortunately, we found three children of two of the blind members who happened to be there, and they helped in recording the answers. By having the four of us assist in writing down the answers for 11 blind people, we were able to have the tests administered within about 10 minutes each, for both pre- and post-test.
Then when I did my teaching on malaria, I had to avoid using visual aids. In the previous workshops, I always had posters with written information and diagrams. Because I could not use visual aids, I made sure the workshop was still interactive by asking them questions and having them answer the questions. All the members were very engaged and active in answering my questions.
All the blind people in the group were all quite intelligent. They were all literate as they had the ability to read braille and already had a good understanding of what is malaria. Most of them already had a good understanding of how to prevent malaria prior to the workshop according to the pre-test results. However, they did not have a good knowledge of symptoms of malaria. They were not able to identify all possible symptoms of malaria. But after the workshop, six of them scored 100% on the post-test and three of them almost scored 100%. Those three just still didn’t master the knowledge of symptoms of malaria.
While it was great that I had the opportunity to meet a group of very intelligent blind people, I wish there was a way I could really reach out to those visually impaired who are not literate as they are the ones who need the education the most. Those who are not literate most likely stay in the home and never leave as they probably do not have a family support who can assist them in navigating the world.
