Isobar India has launched the ‘The Blind Faith Upgrade’ initiative which is comprised of a kit that enables hotels to transform any of its rooms into a visually-impaired-friendly room.
First introduced at Hotel Ramada, Ajmer in Rajasthan, The Blind Faith Upgrade Kit uses creative design to provide customer service for those travelers in need as well as create business opportunity by supporting accessible tourism.
According to WHO, people with disabilities are the world’s largest, fastest-growing minority group, and poor accessibility has created a divide, pushing this segment of society to the margins. A lack of access makes it impossible for them to function independently and be included in mainstream activities.
In India alone, there are approximately 8 million blind people who continue to be disconnected in our visually-led world. Traveling especially can be a challenge as finding accessible services often prove to be difficult, costly and time-consuming.
Currently in India, only 1 in every 250 hotel rooms caters for differently-abled people.
In response to this, the team at Isobar used its design expertise to create The Blind Faith Upgrade, a kit that includes:
- Braille labels, which can convert any phone into a Braille-enabled phone;
- Reusable-tactile paving tiles to help orientate the customer in their room, within the hotel and surrounding areas;
- Braille literature with an audio assist. An audio assist pen, created to help read the hotel menu, converts written language into an audio description.
Isobar India conceived and developed the kit, as well as built the online platform with a communications campaign to support it.
“We’re all accountable towards building a community in which we wish to live – not just for ourselves, but for generations to come,” said Shamsuddin Jasani, MD Isobar India, adding, “We hope this initiative not only brings about awareness around accessible tourism, but also urges other key players in the tourism and hospitality industry to adopt the same across their properties in India.”
This kit is available for purchase on theblindfaithupgrade.com, and is open-source, inviting the wider Indian tourism industry to implement the kit and share more awareness about accessible tourism.
Credits
- National Creative Director – Anish Varghese
- Group Creative Director – Anadi Sah
- Associate Creative Director – Vibhor Yadav
- Associate Creative Director Art – Amit Singh
- Group Head Copy – Kritica Pareek
- Associate Media Director – Ashish Kumar
- Account Managers – Saniya Bijlani, Nakul Sagar
- Senior Creative Producer & Director – Taj Ali Naqvi
- Production House – Films Rajendraa
- Director – Dheeraj Jindal
