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Badve Chandrashekhar, India
1976 Born in India. Presently undergoing "Adcance Entry Programme in Product Design" from the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad. Project at NID:
1975 Born in India. presently a student of final year of the Advanced Entry (post graduate) Program in Product Design, National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad. Project at NID: |
(as of October, 2000)
THE ENCOUNTER:
Our curiosity towards the blind aroused when we happened to have met and spent some time with Rahail. Being blind by birth and totally oblivious to the fact that he had a handicap, he would often wonder as to what the eyes were there for. "wouldn't you like to have them?" shocked we asked. "No" he said "I would rather have longer arms". In the process, we learnt that blindness should not be generalised.
SCENARIO:
India houses a total blind population of about nine million which is according to one estimate half the blind population of the world. It is a staggering figure by any standards and all the more for a developing ecnomy like ours. The problem could be tackled essentially at two fronts -
Prevention of Blindness
Rehabilitation of the already blinded
The thought and cpncept behind our design restricts itself to the second aspect, that of Rehabilitation.
BLIND
The blind person does not live in darkness because darkness is a visual quality of which he has no experience. His mental "pictures" are derived entirely from the experiences of the remaining senses. I f we compare a blind person's impression with those of the sighted it seems obvious how different his ideas of certain experiences would be. Not that he is dissatisfied with his experiences, they are to him just as satisfactory and enriching as visual experiences are to a sighted person. But the amount of information acquired and its real value is certainly greatly inferior.
IRIS is a spectacle specially designed to make a difference in their way of seeing and living.
Glasses:
Scans images, gives it a contour and registers it. Through its successive
mapping the blind can distinguish between objects, places, situations
and experiences. It also contains infrared sensor which helps him to identify
another blind person wearing the same product in close vicinity to encourage
interation.
Temple:
Comprises of GPS enabled unit which helps the blind person to locate the
coordinates of his position in the environment. It also helps him to navigate
from one place to another through a verbal interface. The secound temple
consists of a WAP enabled unit by whish the user downloads music files
in mp3 format for recreation.
Nose pad:
It comprises of the microphone used in the verbal interface.
We congratulate you for the excellent organization of the Opus Design Award We are very glad about the fact that we won the Committee's special prize. It's a honour to be a part of the Opus Design Award recipients. We hope that in the forth coming years we would continue participating in this competition, and get similar kind of positive response from your side.
This original project proposes fashion glasses for the blind by birth.
We (the healthy people) usually believe that handicapped persons must
be necessary sad and that they have to live hidden ! On the contrary,this
optimistic project suggests that it is possible to associate fun and new
technology to help the blind population : about ten millions in India,
the winner's country. This concept may be connected with the roots of
industrial design which were developped in the twenties by the Bauhaus
in Germany : new forms must be linked to social function. So, this project
is not only a question of esthetic appearance : it also takes into account
the possibility for technology to be in the service of generous objectives.
(by Patrick De Haas)
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