Avvo Chhule Aasmaan: Let Us Touch The Sky
A special project to teach astronomy and space science to Visually Impaired Persons (we call them VIPs) and Special Students (MR).
For a long time there has been a strong demand for a system which we can use to show the sky to blind people. OAD of IAU and the University of Valencia have recently developed a specially designed kit for visually impaired persons which was donated to Gurudev Observatory with the help of Dr. Amelia Ortz Gill of UDV, Spain including custom duty. This is very first kit in India for our project "Aavo Chhule Aasmaan" (Let us touch the sky).
The kit contains
3D moon globe, 3D semi sphere, tactile moon book, 3D constellation model, activity book and tactile braille posters. We also have some posters donated to us by Chandra-NASA one year ago.
Suggestions from blind people
- Local language must be used for books, maps, DVDs in the form of braille and audio.
- More assistants should be there to take more successful sessions.
- Some more models e.g.solar system, comets should be available.
Next phase
We plan to take the kit to schools for children with learning difficulties, and deaf and dumb students as an experiment simultaneously with blind schools in the Vadodra District.
Conclusion
During our career we have never felt such satisfaction and happiness as has we felt during these sessions. It was just like a worship to humanity/almighty.
Some useful links
Gallery of pictures
Videos
