One of the biggest challenges for the visually impaired is, writing exams. It's no less than a nightmare -?from hunting for scribes to depending on family or friends who may or may not help them write an exam, it's a tough journey for the blind. If they fail to find someone who is willing to help them out, there's the additional stress of wasting an academic year.?
But it seems like the problems blind students face are way more complicated than just being limited to the task of finding a scribe. A recent Twitter thread reveals the sad state of affairs with regard to facilities for the visually impaired, at exam centres.?
A Twitter user named Harsh details an incident that made his blood boil. It all happened when he volunteered to be a scribe for a visually impaired candidate for an SBI (State Bank Of India) prelims exams in Powai, Mumbai.?
Harsh goes on to list a number of issues the moment he arrived at the exam centre - from the first time scribe volunteers not being given directions, and staff at the enrollment letter checking being rude, to not having a proper place for candidates to leave their belongings.?
Just the perfect recipe for stress and anxiety at an examination centre for the disabled and rest of the candidates appearing for exams.?
Things just seem to go downhill when Harsh makes it to the exam hall with his visually impaired candidate.?
"Almost 120 of us were seated, shoulder to shoulder.? As I didn't know what the process is how I am to help this person, I was waiting and thinking may be they'll tell something," wrote a miffed Harsh.? To no avail, the invigilator and staff seem completely oblivious to the inconvenience and went on with their own work.?
He even points out flaws in the way question papers were designed for the disabled. There was no difference between questions for normal candidates and the disabled, the only 'help' the latter got was 20 bonus minutes to complete the exam.?
After his horrific experience a heart-broken and angry Harsh, slammed the exam council saying, 'Given my experience, the entire system is not designed to enable people with disability rather to disable them even further. Really heartbreaking and troubling.'
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More recently, the University Grants Commission (UGC) has asked all higher education institutions to allow a minimum one-hour 'compensatory time' to a person with benchmark disability (PwBD) for a 3-hour examination, whether they use a scribe or not.
The guidelines also say the additional time should not be less than 20 minutes per hour of examination. If the examination is less than one hour long then additional time must be allocated accordingly on pro rata basis, it says.