Alena Shilonosova - The Street of the Blind
As the weeks of uncertainty progress, I become more and more aware of both the luck and privilege which allow me to sit comfortably at an IKEA desk, and write to you each week. When I walk my dog down a quiet neighbourhood street, I pull my mask from my face to feel the fresh air coat my lungs. Just for a few seconds, a crisp inhale tells me I’m able and alive. Those of us, like myself, who interpret for a living, might feel as though we’ve exhausted our sensory apparatus’ trying desperately to comprehend the state of the world–in fact, we probably have. However, as painful as exhaustion may feel, it reminds me, like breathing, that I’m still alive, and that being able to feel anything at all is something to be grateful for.
Our senses are often one of the things we take for granted the most in life. Here, Alena Shilonosova takes us through Rusinovo, a street of the blind and visually impaired in the town of Ermolino, Kaluga, Russia. Her work explores a community of those regarded as “invalid”, their day to day lives, and their hardships.
- Alexa Fahlman
Until 1995, Rusinovo was a separate village where the visually impaired were sent from different regions of the Soviet Union. In 1948, the basic enterprise for the blind and visually impaired was built here. The main activity of those in the village was the installation of boards for TVs called "Rubin". After the political rearrangement, the development of the village stopped and the construction of new houses and a rehabilitation centre were frozen. The village was attached to the town called Ermolino, and became what is now a separate street situated five km away from the city, where people without visual impairment also live. Nowadays, the blind spend their time in a workshop, manufacturing “RUSiNovoPak", a collection of medical pipettes. However, it’s considered unprofitable for the enterprise, therefore in the neighbouring workshop, people without disabilities produce cardboard to help cover the losses of the workshop for the blind. Since the Soviet times, there has been an assembly hall in the production building, where the choir of the blind, a library and a gym have organized for many years. The blind and visually impaired live in several five-storey houses; there are private houses behind them on the street and it looks as if it were a street in the usual village.The residents know very well where everything is situated. They are able to get to the shops, to the production building and to the post. If it is needed, neighbouring people will help without hesitation. The larger half of the blind in Rusinovo are seniors who moved here during the Soviet period; children who were born with a full vision have left. In total there are 115 blind and visually impaired people in Rusinovo.
Alexander Rakovich works as Chairman of the society of the blind in Borovsky district. He lost his vision at the age of five because of flu complications. He works in Rusinovo and lives in the neighbouring town of Balabanovo, where he also runs the business.
The evening meeting in the library devoted to A. I. Solzhenitsyn.
In 1942, the house of Victor Sergeyevich Solovyov in Prudischi village in Kaluga region was bombed by an airplane: Victor’s entire family was injured by the glass. Victor received an invitation from the Society of the blind and moved to Rusinovo in 1954. After the incident, he had residual vision, but eventually lost it completely.
Alexander removes the toys from the Christmas tree after the New Year holidays.
The production building has a daily standard of 2400 pipettes per shift. Employees say that there is almost no work that should be done. Someone finishes the daily standard before the work shift is over and leaves early. Moreover, the work week is shorter than most - people work just 4 days per week.
Natalia Vyacheslavovna Belopuhova was born in Rusinovo and lives there till now. Vision problems were inherited from her blind parents.
The first and the last steps of the stairs are marked in yellow color for visually impaired.
Sergey Valentinovich Ivanov has been blind since he was born. It was inherited from his visually impaired father. When someone asks Sergey if he wants to be sighted, he answers, “How is it possible to want something that I don’t know?”
Daily routine helps the residents navigate. Many can easily find the right way through Rusinovo just by using touch.
The residents go to the libraries to read books in Braille and listen to audiobooks on flash drives. Sometimes there are literary evenings: a librarian invites a lecturer from Borovsk, which is situated close by, to read the biographies of writers and their works aloud.
Ivan Sergeyevich Hripunov moved to Rusinovo with his family when he was 40 years old. At that time, his vision was gradually lost.
Table tennis for the visually impaired called “Showdown” reminds me of air hockey, where people are guided only by hearing and touch. The blindfold makes the game equal between the participants with residual vision and the blind.
A guide made of rubber tracks serve to and from the production building. They lead from the first floor of the building to the workshop on the third floor.
Agadzhan Kakadzhanovich Khanov or just Alek, as the locals call him. He has lived in Rusinovo since he was 23. He lost his vision after an accident.
Residents from Rusinovo do not go outside on their own. Their children and relatives help. They have a habit of going to a few shops where the shop assistants help them without cheating, they don’t go to a self-service supermarket alone. They go there very rarely and only with the relatives.
On the opposite side of the production for the blind there are greenhouses where flowers are grown. Only people without disabilities work there.