On October 19, 2018, MGGEU hosted a students’ meeting with the representatives of the Cultural and Sports Rehabilitation Centre of the All-Russian Society for the Blind (CSRC VOS) which was initiated within the framework of the “School of Volunteers” project. Marina Sukharkova, VOS Internet radio programs creator and presenter, spoke about the radio station and its history, commentaries and events which go on air. She emphasized the social significance and importance of all the life aspects of blind and visually impaired people, therefore the main feature of the VOS radio, she said, was the coverage of events through audio recorders.
Students asked about the internship opportunities at the radio station and the guest responded favorably, supporting the challenging initiative.
As part of the meeting, a workshop session on how to communicate with guide dogs was held. The students enthusiastically greeted the performance of Anton, a visually impaired young man, accompanied by a dog that had been given a two-year training course in the VOS training cynological centre. The dog handler explained that both pedigree and mixed breed dogs are trainable and they can learn to remember the routes, to lead a blind person to the destination, to master multiple commands and not to pay attention to extraneous noise.
The conversation also turned on the ways visually challenged people should be treated by the others and the help and support they need. VOS representatives showcased a guide entitled “Step further” that contained instuction for supporting visually challenged people including situations that take place on public transport. The speakers told the students about CSRC VOS program that is aimed at providing visually challenged people with rehabilitation courses. For example, one of such courses, “Eye-free accessibility of touch-input devices”, helps partially sighted people to use smart phones, search engines, social media, navigators and other applications.
