‘Walking together for a cause is the simplest way of starting a movement’. Following this vision of Mahatma Gandhi, India Inclusion Summit in association with Life is Calling, is organizing a 5K and 3K Inclusive Walkathon on 14th October 2018 at Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru.
India Inclusion Summit (IIS) is an inspirational platform that began in 2012 to create awareness about disabilities and the need for the inclusion of disabled person in the mainstream society. This event is driven by the aspiration to build an Inclusive India by 2030. This year, IIS has thought of the Inclusive Walkathon through which the participants will experience a different perspective of seeing the world.
It is one of its kind events where the participants form a pair with their ‘buddy’ and walk the course of 5K or 3K together. Generally, each walking pair should have a person with mobility constraints. But if the pair could not meet the required criteria then the organizers have decided to blindfold one of them before walking together.
As the pair will walk together, they must have a complete coordination between themselves. The able person will meet the needs of his ‘buddy’ by holding his hands, giving appropriate voice instructions on navigation and describing the nature around as they walk. This experience of walking together will help him understand the constrain and confinement of a disabled person. It will also enable to know a person better following the dictum that ‘Everyone is good at something.’