Sightsavers organizes Photography Events for the Visually Impaired sponsored by HH SheikhaArwa Al Qassimi

Sightsavers is an organization that aims at preventing avoidable blindness, and advocates for the social inclusion and equal treatment of people with disabilities. The collaboration of the Sightsaversand the Beyond Sight Foundation contributed to the successful display of photography done by the visually impaired with the. Recently, the two organizations planned workshops for blindphotography enthusiasts, with the support of Her Highness SheikhaArwa Al Qassimi. The first workshop and exhibition of the organization took place in Mumbai. The workshop named ‘The Blind View’ was the pioneer in the series of their national sponsorships that had been organized in collaboration with Beyond Sight Foundation. The second workshop took place in Bangalore.

To cap the project, the two organizations collaborated to organize an exhibition of the photographs taken by the workshop participants in New Delhi. The event took place at the British Council during the week of the International Day for Persons with Disabilities, which is celebrated annually on the 3rd of December. The event gave persons with impaired vision a chance to showcase their photography. The exhibition displayed about 30 artistic photographs portraying diverse themes captured by the blind while doing various activities, including their day to day work. During this event, Sightsavers, in collaboration with Hosla Charitable Trust,also arranged a musical performance that featured visually impaired singers.

Some of the notable personalities who attended the events were ParthoBhowmick, the founder of Beyond Sight Foundation; RN Mohanty, the CEO of Sightsavers (India); Amal Gupta, Senior Manager, Brand and communications-Sightsavers;and Gill Caldicott, Director Operations, British Council India. The events also witnessed the participation of two popular blind photographers- Bhuvesh Patel and Padmashree Raghu Rai.

Overall, the eventsenabled the visitors to change their perceptions on the visually impaired persons and gave them a chance to evaluate a blind person’s life. Since 1966 the Sightsavershas been in India since 1966, where it has successfully inspired 53.4 million people, performing 36.2 million eye treatments and 4.9 million eye operations.