Nepal

Sunita Dawadi, 33, of Mulpani, Kathmandu, was born blind. While growing up, her parents never allowed her to participate in outdoor sports such as hiking or climbing. 

Things gradually changed after she grew older when, accompanied by a friend or relative, she started enjoying short treks in hills close to her neighbourhood.

On a recent afternoon, her love for adventure was taken to a whole new level when she joined a team of blind rock climbers. “It was a little scary in the beginning,” she said. “But when we started there was no stopping us. With several climbers helping us, it was much easier than expected.”

Bending and stretching her body, placing her feet on the holds, and moving ahead to climb the rock offered her new excitement and adventure, she added.

Aiming to give a new experience for blind athletes like Dawadi, Blind Rocks in conjunction with Guffy Monkey, two non-profit organisations, organised the rock climbing event at Pharping. The event was the first of its kind organised for blind people, according to the organisers. 

In all, there were 30 blind climbers participating in the event. They were supported by 20 others. 

Experiences

Sristi KC, the founder of Blind Rocks, also participated in the event. She said: “The event was exciting as it involved hiking too. The trail we walked on was challenging too. For people like us who use a white cane to walk, this was challenging. There were ups and downs. Some of us were even falling down while walking.”

She continued: “The rock climbing event was an adventure for us. The guides instructed us on how to climb the rock. They were instructing us to move our legs right and left. They were cheering us on as we climbed the 82 feet high rocky hill.”

The participants were also given rock climbing gears.

It all started with a smaller gig at Thamel in 2021, when Blind Rocks organised an inclusive wall climb adventure for people with blindness and visual impairments.

Narayani Dawadi, secretary of Blind Rocks, said: “The event was organised to boost the confidence of blind athletes and to prove that they can also scale rocky hills. We wanted to demonstrate that blind climbers can also engage in adventurous activities.”

It’s always hard for beginners, though. Although there were 50 participants trying to scale the rock, only six of them reached the top. Of them, three were visually impaired ones.

Sunita Dawadi is one of them. She did try hard to climb the rock, but she could not reach the top owing to “a lack of stamina”. “You need to be physically strong to climb the rock. I reached just halfway and then returned,” she added. 

Overall, the climbers seem more confident. Sristi KC said: “This was an opportunity to prove that we too can take risks and experience adventure. We wanted to give a message that physical disabilities should not and will not limit people.”

Contrast

One interesting experience for her was to see “people with perfectly fine eyesight feeling more frightened than those with visual disabilities,” she said.

“The friends who could see the rock were afraid of the height and climbing. But there was no fear for us as we could not see what it was like. We needed to climb to feel that,” she added.

Blind Rocks has been working to empower visually-impaired people and enable them to lead independent and productive lives.

KC said: “We have a right to take risks too. Like others we too can participate in adventures. This event also taught us there are opportunities and we need to seek those opportunities to succeed.”

But as the rock climbing experience made it all too clear, “we must do it very carefully and tread with caution,” she added.

Also Read: Five devices that enable learners with vision problem to see the world for what it is