September 13, 2019
Raised Lines Foundation, at the Indian Institute of Technology,
Delhi, has developed a colouring book especially for blind and low vision
children, which aims to bring the joy of creativity to all children,
regardless of disability.
All children love to colour the world around them, be it things from nature
or cartoon characters. It’s a joy that many blind and low vision kids do not
get to experience. Raised Lines Foundation (RLF), the
Indian Institute of Technology – Delhi (IIT-D)-incubated
enterprise is out to change that.
The team at RLF has developed a colouring book especially for children who
are blind and low vision. The children can feel the outline of the objects
and fill them with the colours of their choice with crayons that are labelled
for easy identification by touch.
All visually impaired children love to colour no matter what the degree of
vision loss and we started working on a colouring book as an internal
project. While speaking to kids at the KG level, we found that they all
related to colour. Like one little girl said ‘I am looking pretty today
because I am wearing pink’, which shows they understand colours and relate
it to them in different ways. This gave us the idea of designing a tactile
colouring book. – Lipika, Design Lead, Raised Lines
Foundation
The book was created in partnership with the National Association for
the Blind, New Delhi. “The children at NAB were so excited about
filling in the outlines with colour”, says Lipika. “They could relate to
things like the sun is yellow in colour. They associate the colours with what
they have in their daily lives”.
The diagrams are designed in regular software and printed from an embosser.
The outlines of the diagrams are raised so children can feel them and colour
in. The books will be made available online in a few weeks’ time.
“Such activities are relatively new for them”, says Dr Preeti
Khanna, a special educator and member of NAB’s editorial board.
“When they are small, teachers make tactile diagrams for them to colour but
this becomes hard as the kids grow older as the syllabus is so vast”. As a
result, after preparatory school, most kids at blind schools don’t get to
colour often.
The children at NAB, says Dr Khanna, especially enjoyed, colouring the Disney
characters in the book created by RLF. “They also liked colouring the sun,
flowers, etc”. The teachers labelled the crayons so the children could
identify them easily.
Dr Khanna says the book, when available online, will be used widely.
“Children from classes 2 and 3 have a break after exams when we can give them
the books or during study breaks for recreational activities. This is such a
great idea because it reinforces the concept of colours and they get to
associate the colours with what they have in their day to day lives”.
With bumpy patterns, touchable glitter, shiny spots, and textured
patches, Really Feely: Farm is sure to delight preschoolers as they pat
and tickle each farm animal.
These books have embossed textures, fluffy patches, bumpy patterns, and
tactile glitter and encourage sensory development, language skills, and
early reading skills.
Available at Amazon
₹452* Board
book
T V Aishwarya, a self-taught painter, who is visually
impaired, says everyone must have access to art regardless of disability.
Aishwarya teaches art to people who are blind and low vision in Hyderabad.
“It is important for them to understand the basic colours in their world so
they can implement their creativity accordingly. Understanding the elements
of nature is important and I am so glad that a book of this kind has been
created for visually impaired children”.
