AGRA CONVENTION 2014
Blind Stars Beyond Facebook Bridging The Gap
7th to 9th November, 2014
It was nothing short of a milestone in the history of visually impaired people of India when more than a hundred of them from across the country stepped away from their routine lives to come all the way to Agra to take part in a groundbreaking event – Agra Convention 2014: Blind Stars Beyond Facebook Bridging the Gap. The event was the culmination of an initiative taken by some visually impaired people 2 years ago when they decided to create a network of such people on the social networking site Facebook and named it.
Blind Stars The group was formed on 25th October, 2012 and as of now has 4,000 members. The event was planned and organized by Antardrishti and Blind Stars in association with:
- Department of Social Work, Institute of Social Sciences, Dr. Bhim Rao Ambedkar University, Agra
- YMCA, Agra
- Akansha Samiti, Agra
- POOL Magazine
The event took place in the Jubilee Hall of the Paliwal Park campus of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar University, Agra and St. John’s Girls Inter College, Agra over the course of three days 7, 8 and 9 November 2014. It was attended by 160 visually impaired people from different states of the country like Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, and Rajasthan. The delegates were provided accommodation in Hotel Goverdhan, Hotel Shilaza, Hotel Ashoka and Hotel Pall.
The event witnessed discussions on issues relevant to the current status of a visually impaired person in today’s society.
The Report
- From Antardrishti
- Introduction
- Opening Session
- Beyond Facebook Bridging the Gap: Challenges and Opportunity
- Accessible Banking Services: Legal Provisions for Availing Rights by Visually Impaired Customers
- Role of Media: A Powerful Pillar to Empower Visually Impaired People
- Visit to St. John’s Girls Inter College
- Mainstreaming of Blind Child Specially the Girl Child – Role of the Family and Key Challenges
- School education for visually impaired: Rural and urban realities in Indian context
- Workshop with Hr experts to make them understand the abilities and productivity of a visually challenged candidate
- Marriage of Blind Couples – varied experiences in perspective
- Women with Blindness – Challenges and Expectations
- Employment Scenario in public and private sector for the Visually Impaired in India
- Musical evening
- Taj Mahal Visit
- Assistive Technology and Education
- Agra Declaration
- Drishti 2014 – Short Film Festival on Eye Donation
- Drishti 2014 – Award Function
- Volunteers Experience / MSW – Agra Convention 2014
- Volunteers Experience / YMCA, Agra – Agra Convention 2014
- As i feel… Agra Convention 2014 by Peeyush Bardia
- Taj Mahal Visit – a life time story for me by Peeyush Bardia
- As if i was holding the Taj in my hand by Prashant & Veena
- Blind Stars
- Why Antardrishti?
- Black Design – Plugin Event
Read the full report – Agra Convention 2014 – Report – HTML with Audio/Video