an online magazine from eyeway.org

issue 3 march-april 2005
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by george

We have good news on the inclusion front. Braille is now a registered script with the Registrar of Newspapers in India (R.N.I.). ‘Beyond the I’ is the first registered Braille magazine in India, and we hope to see more magazines in Braille printed all over the country in the time to come. People with blindness and visual impairments can then have additional avenues of inclusion.

The need for inclusion at every level, in fact, is imperative. The media plays a very important role in this regard. We believe that the media is not just an avenue of awareness and entertainment, but a powerful tool of creating and practising inclusion.

There have been discussions on inclusion and disabled-friendliness in the media. But the media now needs to practice what it has been preaching. What is missing is the presence of disabled people in programmes other than those on disability. The media needs to include the existence of disability as a normal course of life and living, not as an isolated discussion.

Films such as ‘Shwaas’, ‘Aankhen’, ‘Black’ and ‘Ray’ foster such inclusion. They are indicative of a welcome trend that is reflected in social and community life.

George Abraham
Editor, beyond the I

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