https://medium.com/@afthabization/when-i-realised-i-was-blind-969f77c5bb97

During my second semester at NID, I was, along with my batch-mates, given an opportunity to develop a live project in collaboration with the Railway Design Center. One of the briefs given to us was to improve the passenger information systems. A passenger information system (PIS) is an automated system for supplying users of public transport with information about the nature and state of a public transport service, through visual, voice or other media.

I first started my train of thought in the lines of removing clutter in the information system, and maybe using latest media like Augmented Reality to simplify the design of the information systems. But instead of re-designing and improving the existing system, I decided to first consider the users that thronged the stations and what their needs and wants might be. It was then I realized how we, as a society have been very unkind to the specially-abled. Around 1.5% of India’s population can be categorized as legally blind, which is a huge number of people considering India’s large population. This means that there is a huge chunk of Indians who don’t have access to the information railway stations provide, rendering them unable to travel on trains independently. On further research, I came to know that around 40% of the total blind population in the world lives in India. India though is not known for its accessibility enabled infrastructure. When compared to western countries, where the infrastructure is very accessible and inclusive, India has a long long way to catch up. It was then I realized how we all have been blind to the visually challenged and their plight. Even something as basic as braille labelling for seat numbers, or tactile maps (which is not very helpful, I learned later) inside railway station were only introduced in 2016, 153 years after Indian railways was established.