Addressing challenges for the visually challenged

Article, 2016

Antarchakshu ® — The Eye Within 2016 was held at Gurgaon and was designed as an eye-opening experience, in learning how to think out of the box, overcome challenges, and much more. The event’s special focus, Accessibility & Inclusion: Creating an Accessible World, gave the team the skills to drive Inclusion, Diversity and Accessibility agendas at the workplace.

Sandeep Ozarde addressed a design talk called “Accessibility & Universal Design”, and also conducted a workshop along with Dr Sam Taraporevala, Director Xavier’s Resource Centre for the Visually Challenged (XRCVC), St. Xavier’s College, where the agenda was to make design students aware of Accessibility Challenges & Universal Design importance and why accessibility consideration cannot be ignored across different design disciplines eg. visual communication, product design, fashion design, digital design, architecture, social spaces & beyond. It was emphasised that students’ approach towards accessible design must change beyond our definition of what accessibility really means — it is not an add-on design approach. It cannot effectively or efficiently be applied at the end of the design process. It should be integrated into the design process from the very beginning.