KZN Blind and Deaf Society celebrates Eye Care Awareness Month

The KwaZulu-Natal Blind and Deaf Society hosted the International White Cane Safety Day on Thursday, 15 October in a bid to create awareness on the visually-challenged. The event, which was held in partnership with eThekwini Municipality, highlighted the importance of the white cane.

Denika Pillay of the society said the white cane is an essential tool that gives blind people independence.

“It allows blind persons to move freely and safely from place to place—whether it’s at work, at school, or around our neighbourhoods. While the white cane does keep blind people safe (because drivers and other pedestrians can easily see it), it is also a tool that blind people use to explore and navigate our environment,” she added.

In celebration of Eye Care Awareness Month (23 September – 20 October), The KZN Blind and Deaf Society opened the Braille Room which features several new braille machines. These were purchased with money raised at the society’s gala dinner in November last year.

“A Braille machine is a pen to a blind person. A sighted person uses a pen at a cost of R5 or more, however a braille machine costs between R10 000 – R 15000. This is unaffordable to most of our blind clients. A braille machine types the dots, which is converted to alphabets, numbers, forms words and sentences. It is an essential tool for a blind person to have. Our blind clients will have accessibility to learn and use the braille, at the society, as they cannot afford to own one. This Braille Room will be operational in the new year,” said Pillay.

The society also hosted a free eye testing service and a total of 24 patients were tested.