Prayatna Nepal is the self-help organization working for empowering the living condition women and girls with visually impairments. The organization is established by the composition of both women with and without visually impairments.
The event was started by Ms. Jimawati Lamkoliaof Prayatna Nepal), who welcomed all the participants and shared the objectives of the orientation. She then asked all the participants and organizing members to introduce themselves before getting into the session. After the introduction round, the session was started by Ms. Sarita Lamichhane who asked the participants to form a group of four and distributed sheets with few information on modal of disability. She introduced this session with a method of voting where the participants were asked to vote for their preferred team (type). This voting teams were presented as political parties which in fact reflected upon the model of disability. After the participants chose their preferred team, they were asked to share about it. After the participants shared their thoughts, Ms. Sarita Lamichhane briefed on changes in viewing disability with time. She explained that there are basically four changes: i. First, welfare model: where persons with disabilities were seen with pity and fear, ii. Medical model: Later, it was believed that disability is some kind of deform which can be treated through medical procedures, iii. Social modal: Then, people started looking at disabilities through social welfare lenses whereby they believed that persons with disabilities should be supported by the society, iii. Human right dal: Now, people have shifted their perception into being more human rights sensitive and believing that person with disability is a human and should be treated like one.After this, Ms. Sarita handed over the floor to Mr. Khom Raj Sharma who proceeded with his session on Digital accessibility and universal design. In this session, the participants were sensitized on importance of making digital platforms accessible to all (persons with or without disability). He also highlighted that making digital platforms accessible means making it accessible to all, and not only for persons with disabilities. He pointed out that this accessibility can be achieved if Universal design (one design that fits everyone) is followed. Mr. Khom shared about fundamentals of accessibility followed by some tips that can be followed to make digital space more accessible to everyone, especially for persons with disabilities. He also gave examples of some software and applications he uses that help him in his daily life to deal with inaccessibility due to his visual impairment.There was a unanimous opinion that this session helped them dwell on digital accessibility which is mostly overlooked. In this way, the orientation came to an end.
