Handbook for Women with Visual Impairment - 3.

PREPARING VISUALLY IMPAIRED WOMEN FOR LEADERSHIP ROLES IN SELF-HELP AND OTHER ORGANIZATIONS
  

By
A.K. Mittal & J.L. Kaul

WHAT IS A SELF-HELP ORGANIZATION:
  

A self-help organization is a grouping of individuals having a commonality of interest or affinity of purpose, on the basis of economic conditions, social status, gender or disability. It is formed at local, regional, national or international levels. Its major objective is to promote the interests of like-minded persons through the combined benefit of their experience, unity of purpose and persistent endeavour. The organization is, normally supported by the collective energy, persuasive power or even agitation, if required, from the side of collaborating members.
  

In the visual disability sector, the genesis of such organizations can be traced back to the closing years of the 19th century and the early part of the 20th century, when such organizations came up in a small way in Scandinavian countries and U.K. The movement gained further strength with the establishment of the National Federation of the Blind, U.S.A., during 1940’s.
  

In India, the Blind Men’s Association was established by a few visually handicapped persons in Surat (Gujarat), in 1947, which held its first Convention the following year in Mumbai. The Convention proved to be the precursor of a national organization for the blind, Viz. The National Association for the Blind, which came into existence in 1952.
  

The National Federation of the Blind Graduates, which was renamed as the National Federation of the Blind in the year 1972, marked the beginning of a real self-help organization of the blind in India, followed by the founding of All India Confederation of the Blind in 1980.
  

The last two decades or so have witnessed a gradually rising demand for active participation of visually impaired girls/women in the self-help movement. As a result, national committees/fora of visually impaired women have been set up under the auspices of the three leading national organizations working with the blind-National Association for the Blind, National Federation of the Blind and All India Confederation of the Blind.
  

A major initiative taken by All India Confederation of the Blind in this regard was the composition of its National Forum of Blind Women way back in 1985. Since then, the Confederation has conducted over 50 leadership training seminars and personality development courses for visually impaired women all over the country. The Confederation also convened the first ever All India Conference of Blind Women in New Delhi in 1996, which has been followed by five other such gatherings attended by women representatives of other national organizations as also various State bodies.
  

NEED FOR LEADERSHIP ROLES:
  

At all of these seminars and conferences, there has been a unanimity of views on the subject that visually impaired women themselves must come forward to plan, guide and execute policies and programmes for their own well-being, in conjunction with their sighted well wishers-men as well as women, blind as well as sighted. The National Sample Survey Organization in its Report on Disability in India (2002) estimates that women constitute about 54 per cent of the total visually impaired population in the country. The Census Report of 2001 also states that women make up about half of the population of the visually impaired in the country. It is obvious, then, that the goal of empowerment and mainstreaming of the visually impaired population would be realized only when the large segment of visually impaired girls and women get adequate opportunities for educational, social, cultural and economic advancement. Such development can best be facilitated when visually impaired girls/women are themselves in a position to decide and proclaim clearly to others what they need, how their needs are to be met, and how best they could themselves contribute to the implementation of plans and projects intended for their well-being.
  

It is pertinent to report here the striking findings of a research project conducted jointly by All India Confederation of the Blind and the Asian Blind Union on the status of blind women in organizations working with the blind in three South-Asian countries-India, Nepal and Sri Lanka. The Project covered 26 organizations of and for the blind in the three countries and interviewed 203 visually impaired women. The findings showed that 16.39 per cent of the general bodies in these organizations consisted of women representatives, while their executive committees had only 12 per cent visually impaired women members. Visually impaired women constituted 8.4 per cent of office bearers in the organizations studied under the project.
  

It is evident from the foregoing findings that visually impaired women have had marginal representation on decision-making bodies in India and the other neighbouring countries. This is, primarily, due to the fact that they have not had adequate opportunities and facilities for taking up such important tasks and responsibilities. It is, therefore, of paramount significance that our women counterparts are suitably motivated and prepared to come forward for shouldering leadership responsibilities. After all, the slogan `the blind leading the blind` would be meaningful only if visually impaired women, too, are enabled and empowered to show the way ahead for their hitherto unattended/neglected sisters.
  

MOTIVATING VISUALLY IMPAIRED WOMEN FOR LEADERSHIP ROLES:
  

The first and foremost requirement, here, is to help girls/women with visual impairment to imbibe the required confidence in their own abilities to take the lead. They have to be made genuinely concerned about the present vulnerable socio-economic status of those facing similar disabilities and age-old prejudices and discrimination being faced by them.
  

For this purpose, we have to concentrate on the immediate family-environment of the concerned population. Self-help organizations, well-meaning social workers and volunteers, rehab professionals and public opinion leaders must join together and contribute their mite towards counseling the parents, siblings and spouses of women with visual impairment. If the members of the family could, first be convinced of the leadership capabilities of their visually impaired female sibling/relative, they would gradually start functioning as catalysts towards preparing such individuals for taking the initiative in leading their fellow visually impaired sisters.
  

Besides the families, the girl/woman with visual impairment has also to be suitably counseled to view her impairment as an obstacle, which can be easily overcome, given necessary training and opportunities. Self-confidence has to be generated from within and such self-belief forms the bedrock of credible leadership roles in future. Such conviction, such courage, such determination-all basic leadership imperatives-have to be inculcated in the visually impaired female child from early in life. She has to be prepared for empowerment through independence in orientation and mobility, through development of requisite communication skills, through acquisition of personal management skills and through independent performance of personal tasks and responsibilities. Self-autonomy and self-determination must be inculcated at every stage of personal development, so that the visually impaired women population could come out of their shell and start claiming their rightful roles in various decision-making bodies and processes.
  

The educational and training institutions have to shed their present-day inhibitions about involvement of visually impaired girls/women in the activities of various organizations relating to work with the blind. Activities like Mock-parliament, declamation, organization and management of co-curricular activities and formation of leadership clubs, must be promoted and supported at all levels, so that visually impaired women students/trainees could bring out their innate leadership potential and blossom out as successful leaders at the right time. These institutions must also lay solid foundations of dependable oral and written communication skills among these students/trainees, through a variety of approaches and methodologies. They should also be encouraged more and more to communicate and interact freely with the community outside, so that they are spared the evils of exclusion and institutionalization and able to strive for effective integration and equalization of opportunities in a big way.
  

Visually impaired women need also to not only take maximum benefit from available educational and training opportunities, but also draw inspiration from their well- established and recognized visually impaired sisters. They should look up to them as dependable role models and endeavour to emulate their example. Of course, success with regard to leadership roles would not come about overnight. There is no magic wand or immediate panacea to the existing problems of isolation and exclusion.
  

Our target group-the visually impaired women, have to be prepared to start taking up leadership roles in their immediate neighbourhood, in a small way and move on from there towards greater gender equity. A spirit of enterprise and competitiveness has to pervade the entire functioning of visually impaired women leaders. They must be persevering, hard working and determined to claim and assume leadership positions in every possible sphere, undaunted by initial setbacks or community prejudices.
  

Organizations working with the blind, too, cannot escape their inherent responsibilities towards visually impaired women. They have to be prepared to share their resources in an equitable manner for providing their visually impaired women-members the requisite skill-training, giving them space in decision-making processes and providing them suitable incentives by way of reservation in executive committees and board of officers. The base of national women committees needs to be broadened to percolate to the grass-roots levels, so that visually impaired women could be helped to come forward and participate in organizational work from the city/district level onwards.
  

These national organizations could also start by assigning specific responsibilities relating to various projects to qualified visually impaired women and, subsequently, entrust them still higher and more challenging administrative/managerial tasks and duties. The objective is that the innate capabilities, which are available in such abundant measure among visually impaired women, are suitably recognized and adequately utilized for their optimum development. Personality development courses, leadership and communication skills related training seminars, O&M training, preparation for public speaking and convening conferences/meetings are other areas which could be made accessible to visually impaired women through well-planned initiatives by self-help organizations.
  

MAINSTREAM WOMEN ORGANIZATIONS:
  

In the present-day world, which has so much emphasis on inclusion, participation of visually impaired women must not remain confined to disability-specific organizations only. They have the right, the potential and the capability to take on leadership roles in organizations intended for women, in general. Full participation in community life, normalization and equalization of opportunities demand that these women are enabled to partake of the same facilities and opportunities as are available to their non-disabled sisters with regard to mainstream organizational work. There have been several instances in India and outside, where visually impaired women have successfully held important offices in not just women’s associations, but also service organizations as the Rotary and the Lions’ Clubs. These examples need to be further multiplied. For this purpose, it is suggested that organizations working with the blind as also mainstream women’s organizations include in their training programme components relating to preparation for leadership for women with visual impairment. These components should lay special stress on how best visually impaired women could communicate with non-disabled women leaders and run for important offices in such organizations. They should also be suitably equipped with the requisite skills to perform various leadership roles effectively if they are elected for such offices.
  

CONCLUSION:
  

In most cases visually impaired girls and women have leadership capabilities no less significant than their male counterparts. If 50 per cent or more of the blind population in India consists of girls and women, then, it is only logical and appropriate to conclude that they must be prepared to guide their own destinies. They are in the best position to decide their priorities and how to set about it. They have also to be provided incentives and opportunities to take up important leadership positions in the self-help organizations of the blind. For this purpose, they and their families need suitable counseling and preparation. Educational and training Institutions have also to play a big role in enabling girls with visual impairment to bring out their innate leadership potential. Self-help organizations too have to come forward in this challenging task of providing requisite training in personality development, leadership and communication skills as well as public speaking. The ultimate goal is close interaction of visually impaired women not just with special organizations, but various mainstream groups and associations as well.

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