You can learn what it means to live in complete darkness, without a visual reference, at the Karaganda regional specialized boarding school No. 1. To help students adapt and socialize, the staff of the educational institution creates many interesting projects.
112 visually impaired children study at boarding school No. 1. The necessary conditions for obtaining knowledge, treatment and rehabilitation have been created here, as well as an accessible environment.
The Dark Room project attracts special attention. What is it? This is not only a space, but also a real experimental quest where everything happens in complete darkness. Visitors complete tasks relying solely on their hearing, touch, taste, and sense of smell. The room is divided into six zones, each of which offers an unusual challenge: to cross the bridge with an orientation cane, to get a child to school without the aid of vision, to set the table for the second person, to shop in the supermarket, focusing on the smells.
– The "Dark room" helps not only children with visual impairment to discover their abilities, but also allows sighted people to better understand the difficulties faced by people with vision problems. This is an indispensable experience for teachers, speech pathologists and parents," said instructor Ekaterina Abisheva.
Why is this important? Each visitor, plunging into absolute darkness, gets the opportunity to test their strength in unusual conditions, better understand the world of blind people and acquire new skills.
The project also serves as a training platform for students of speech pathology who are preparing to work with visually impaired children.
In addition to the "Dark Room", the school has created a photo booth "The Pride of the school" in the form of a strong branching tree, the fruits of which
– photos of graduates.
And they opened a Museum of great people who changed the world, created to expand the space of social adaptation and increase the motivation of students.
The exhibition tells about blind people who have left their mark on history – the journalist Joseph Pulitzer, after whom the prestigious prize is named, the outstanding writer Helen Adams Keller, the world's only blind climber who conquered Mount Everest, Eric Weichenmaier and the blind athlete Marla Runyan, who twice participated in the Olympic Games, and others. The materials are available in three languages and adapted for people with visual impairments (Braille, QR codes with audio excerpts).
– The students of our school are talented, and each of them, coming to this museum, will choose for himself the person he would like to look up to, – says the school's director Aiman Tlegenova. – After all, once all these people were just students, but they became recognized and great.
Boarding school projects not only help children adapt, but also change the attitude of society towards people with visual impairments.

Source : https://www.gov.kz/memleket/entities/karaganda/press/news/details/917113