Visually challenged participants at Inclusive Sports cry foul over ‘guide runner’

Hesron Antony Jude faces challenges in blindfolded running at Kerala State School Sports meet, sparking debate on inclusivity.

Hesron Antony Jude was a bag of mixed emotions when he arrived for the maiden edition of the Inclusive Sports introduced at this year’s Kerala State School Sports meet here on Monday. Ecstatic as he is being able to showcase his skills at a State-level event, the 18-year-old visually challenged student from Government Brennen Higher Secondary School, Thalassery, was equally disappointed that he had to abandon his favourite event of running. This was following a rule that all participants, including the likes of Hesron who has a highly blurred vision, of the 100-m race for the visually challenged will have to run blindfolded. This rule also applies to the visually challenged participants of the mixed relay.

He will now participate in other athletic events such as standing throw and standing jump.

“I am not used to running blindfolded and that affected my confidence. They could have held the race for different categories based on the degree of blindness as is done up to the district level,” he rued.

His father Jude K.A. said that it was a hard choice for his son who aspired to compete in running at Paralympics some day. That speck of blurred light was a huge confidence factor for Hesron while chasing the finishing point, he said.

The concept of ‘guide runner’ has also not gone down well with the visually challenged participants and their families. They have conveyed to the State government that the whole concept ruined their confidence and arbitrarily foisted on the participants a system with which they are not accustomed to.

“A guide runner can be the participant’s sibling or best friend of any gender and should be in the same age group as the participant. The guide runner and the participant will be connected with a running tether at the wrist. But at no point should the guide runner overstep the participant or drag the participant along,” said V.V. Nisha, a special educator from Kannur.

Inclusive Sports features an exclusive 100-m race for the visually challenged in the under-14 and above-14 categories for boys and girls. Also, as per the festival rulebook, one of the four participants in the mixed 4x100m relay for girls and boys should be visually impaired. Both the events feature a ‘guide runner.’