27/7 Day 7- Learn about Braille

At the moment there is a lighting exhibition at Federation Square for people who are blind. Amy and I stumbled upon it after a run a fortnight ago.

 

Basically, this guy found out that 90% of people who are blind can see light so he used LED’s to write out the braille code. You can see the entry to the exhibition in the photo below.

The aim of the exhibition is to create awareness for the visually impaired and to show how this innovation (cSigns) can be utilised on signs to make navigation easier for the blind. The exhibition included a number of quotes written in the LED braille with the word translation beside it:

 

My favourite was:

“It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye. Said the Fox to the Little Prince.” 

Antoine de Saint-Exupery

I took a pamphlet with the braille alphabet when I visited the exhibition with the aim to learn my name. This is how it is set out:

 

Coincidentally the other night I heard a discussion on the radio about how visually impaired children often listen to audio books in place of reading through braille, with the implication that illiteracy amongst the visually impaired might be increasing. I wonder how different life would be for me if I couldn't read, either through braille with my hands or written words with my sight. Would my perspective be dramatically different?

An interesting day in New June for me.

22/6 Day 26- Leave inspirational notes in letterboxes

The original plan was library books but I liked the idea of letterboxes too. In the photo you can't see all the notes I posted but there are a few there. Some I made up and some I stole from the Internet, naturally. 

Hopefully they don't get sodden in all the wet weather we have been having and inspire at least one person!

Thanks to my friend for posting with me after our run!

6/6 Day 6 - Do a crash course in the history of a country

I chose the Maldives after seeing a play called Heretic last night and a good choice it was.

Quite an interesting history and, I suppose like the history of most countries, a lot of contentious happenings. Interesting things (perhaps not all facts!) that I read:

* The Maldives had an enormous quantities of cowry shells in the early ages when they were an international currency. The Maldives were therefore known as the ‘Money Isles’. The cowry is now the symbol of the Maldives Monetary Authority.

* The Maldives was granted independence on 26 July 1965 and later became a member of the UN.

* In 1998 a group of disaffected Maldivian businessmen attempted a coup taking 27 hostages and leaving 14 people left dead and 40 wounded. Apparently many tourists didn’t even know that a coup had been attempted.

* Maldivians have their own 'Black Friday' in which reformist and pro democracy campaigners gathered in the capital's main square under the apparent blessing of the Government only to be later cleared out with the arrest and beating of over a thousand people in the process.

* The 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami was devastating for the Maldives with 21 islands devastated, 83 people confirmed dead, 25 feared dead and more than 11,000 made homeless. Many of the homeless continue today as internally displaced persons. (Imagine being an IDP.)

* In attempt to draw attention to climate change (there are claims that the Maldives is sinking due to rising sea levels) the Maldivian Government had an underwater cabinet meeting in 2009. There have also been Gov pledges to Maldives carbon-neutral within a decade. (Thought I read somewhere that they excluded air travel from this...)

Naturally all this led me off on a tangent looking up sea levels and global warming and the Maldives....and not coming up with a whole lot to answer my questions in the end. Still that wasn't the aim so overall: Day 6 goal achieved, and a good one at that! I can  imagine doing this every day for a month for different places each day.

Various places I visited on my journey: The Maldives, Lonely Planet, The Guardian, New York Times.

2/6 Day 2: Disconnect Day

Yesterday I did not use my mobile, laptop or the Internet. I also didn't read newspapers or magazines. 

It was a lot harder than expected because:

a) For this particular day I had to write down a fair bit of calendar information (addresses, phone numbers etc) the night before.

b) My boyfriend kept trying to show me something in the newspaper or on his phone!! Plus I almost forgot a few times.

c) Melbourne (AFL footy) won for the first time this season and I couldn't SMS or ring my Mum or sister to celebrate! (Had to wait until midnight!)

So this one wasn't entirely new but it has been a long time. The last time I didn't do any of these things in a day would have been a hiking trip last year. If I excluded hiking/camping/travel times then the last time would have been when I was about 11 years old! Crazy town!

Day 2 was alarmingly hard but I made it!