Jadavpur University creates one-of-a-kind campus map in Braille for persons with disabilities

Jadavpur University students create tactile Braille campus map for persons with disabilities, promoting inclusivity and accessibility.

In a pioneering move, students of Jadavpur University have created a tactile campus navigation map entirely in Braille for persons with disabilities.

Two postgraduate students of the university’s English department, Astyartha Das and Rameshwar Chakraborty, built this tactile Braille campus map, initially ideating it as part of a class assignment.

“We both are part of the ‘Disability in Indian Literature’ optional course coordinated by Prof. Ishan Chakraborty. He would always talk about issues of access that Persons with Disabilities have to face daily,” Mr Das told The Hindu. “We wanted to do something that would be more than just paperwork inclusion, and actually contribute towards inclusivity and Access for All.”

They came up with the idea after their Professor gave the class an open call for a project assignment. “We could’ve rather submitted a term paper or created a documentary. But we instead created this map,” Mr Chakraborty said.

It took one and a half months for Mr Chakraborty and Mr Das to create the map from scratch. Comprising nearly 2,000 screws, the map is set up on a 5-foot wide and 3.5-foot tall particle board at the ground floor of the UG Arts Building, near gate 4 of Jadavpur University.

The duo added that they originally did not know Braille and that the internet had provided them with the necessary resources to learn and implement it on the map.

“We used hardcover pages that were cut in pieces. We scaled the sizes of the buildings which are bigger or smaller, for example, the administrative building i.e. Aurobindo Bhavan is bigger than the ATM,” Mr Chakraborty said. “Then we have the strings fixed which show the lanes within the campus which people can follow to go to a certain place.”