CHENNAI: A fascinating realm of possibilities is what I would call the finely illustrated, handcrafted, tactile books of Chetana Charitable Trust. A paper cut round for faces, strings and threads for hairs, buttons for eyes and velvet pieces for clothes — every book is well curated with simple elements like these. I closed my eyes and tried to feel each element on the page, with my fingers. It took me minutes to properly picture an image but the experience was novel.
Each page spoke of the hard work put into its creation. It delivered the enriching experience of diving into a book and losing myself in it. For those with what Namita Jacob, director of Chetana Charitable Trust, describes as “print disability” (referring to an array of conditions, including visual impairment, ADHD, intellectual impairment and attention deficiency), it is one of the best experiences of reading. Thus, the effort in perfecting each element of the book is huge. Namita Jacob and Teresa Antony are the pillars of tactile book creation at the Trust.
The birth of a tactile mission
The Trust began activities for skill development among children with multiple disabilities, in 2006. Through their work and research, over the next ten years, they understood that children were not getting proper guidance and were not acquiring any out-of-the-box skills. “We realised that regardless of visual status or intellectual status, literacy remained a concern across all the children. The children who enjoyed reading were very few. Due to the lack of adapted storey books, they were ignorant to another world out there,” Namita says when speaking of the motivation to eventually publish the tactile books.
Namita got the push to start a tactile book library in 2016, when Anu Alex and Aarabhi Badri, two teachers at the Trust, helped her to get the idea to fruition with 30 books and 10 members. The subscribed members are given two books each, every month. Namita shares that the arrival of Teresa, lead, inclusive design, to their team helped them to create more books and expand their reach.
“Teresa, being a visual arts student at that time, fell in love with the process of making tactile books. She was able to understand what elements in the book should be made truly feelable, movable, and perceivable and understood what was too much and too little, with very little exposure, in a short period of time. It helped me see that there are creative people who can enter these kids’ minds and create something genuinely lovely. Such a creation would motivate any child to pick it up and love it,” says Namita.
Addressing every issue
To cater to print disabilities, Chetana members space the Braille code, enlarge the alphabets, confirm the consistency in the tactile designs and make the story enjoyable. “We try to find stories that are popular and infuse them with special skills. An illustration is impossible for them (children with print disabilities) to imagine. They have very restricted experiences of the world and of their own city. We introduced 3D to give them an opportunity to build a perspective. We have stories that are set in our city, our country, a foreign country or imaginary places — books that are tied around the child and also in widening circles. This will allow them to reach a certain level of emotional and social maturity,” explains Namita.
Reaching more kids
Chetana has partnered with Tulika Books and Bloom, in creating story books, both offline and online. They have overcome challenges during the pandemic to meet the needs of a growing library population by delivering free books online through their website. They have been experimenting with various techniques like UV printing in collaboration with IIT Madras’ Tactograph. Promoting the love of reading, Chetana introduces the ‘Each one, Reach one campaign’.
Speaking about the campaign, Teresa Antony says, “Students can pick out a storybook (available in seven languages, including ISL) from the online library or the catalogue that we give them and take it to someone who is beginning to learn a language. This campaign is open to all — individuals, organisations, and schools. The aim of the campaign is to read at least two stories a month with any child or adult. Your goal is to have your reading partners fall in love with reading stories.”
The Chetana Charitable Trust is still expanding its library, soliciting feedback from its patrons and their parents, and producing books for a variety of age groups. Their work creates the possibility of a new world.
Visit www.chetana.org.in to sign up for the ‘Each one, Reach one' campaign. To volunteer with Chetana Charitable Trust or make donations, call 9840509739.