The Indian Museum in Kolkata has taken up a project in collaboration with Blind Persons’ Association to put up descriptions of different galleries in Braille. These descriptions which a visitor can read will become accessible to the visually challenged also. On June 5, the World Environment Day, the Braille scripts were unveiled at Bharhut Gallery for a beginning. Braille scripts for other galleries will be put up soon.
Founded in 1814, this museum was the first of its kind in the Asia-Pacific region. It is the largest museum in India with its rare collections of antiques, armours and ornaments, coins, fossils, skeletons, mummies, and historic paintings. Access by touch to its collection of more than 1 lac items is not possible. But the Association has requested the museum authorities to keep replicas of some special exhibits in the galleries. The visually challenged visitors may feel the shape of these tactile items.
