Children with low vision are encouraged to receive visual stimulants or use optical aids to maximize their functional vision.

“Reading is considered a good stimulant,” said Dian Syarief, head of the Syamsi Dhuha Foundation (SDF).

Established in October 2003, the Bandung-based foundation has introduced a number of aids to assist children with low vision.

Dian said the SDF aimed to help people with lupus and low vision. As a person who has had lupus since 1999, Dian said that the disease had impacted her vision. “I still can see, though not as sharply as I used to. I can only detect people by their shadows,” she said.

The foundation’s newest work is a book: Petualangan Dana (Dana’s Adventure). It was launched at the commemoration of World Sight Day 2019 on Oct. 12 in Bandung, West Java.

Petualangan Dana is 24 pages long and is available as an audiobook. The book, intended for children aged 7 to 9, was created to encourage children with low vision to read. “The condition might worsen if they don’t do anything,” said Dian, who added that 100 copies of the book had been printed.

The printed book uses two types of fonts: a medium-sized one for the story’s details and a larger one for the abstract. This allows children with low vision to grasp the story without the need to pore over the smaller fonts.  

Written by Irawati Subrata and illustrated by Mira Widhayati, the book tells the story of bespectacled Madana who goes to the zoo and camps out there.

Dian said she hoped the book would inspire children to do outdoor activities. She also said that Irawati had gone through child psychology and writing courses, while Mira was known as a children’s book illustrator.

“In the book, we provide touch stimuli. When a tent is mentioned in the story, for example, there is a tent fabric that the children can touch or rub while reading,” she said.

The SDF has uploaded the audiobook to YouTube under the title of Buku Nyaring Elektronik Petualangan Dana (The Loud Electronic Book of Dana’s Adventure).

In the 12-minute video, children can listen to the story told by Geri Puraatmadja, a former radio broadcaster who is now a caregiver at the SDF.

The video incorporates colors found in the book, such as orange, yellow, dark blue and white, to help children with low vision picture the situations.

“We’ve present a children’s book for now, and we plan to make ones for teenagers and adults,” said Dian.  

Prior to launching the book, SDF invited four 7-year-old children with several categories of low vision to assess the book. “Those who were unable to see were more critical and came up with more questions. The book stimulated them to be more curious,” said Dian.

Petualangan Dana is the latest addition to the books published by the SDF, which include Lupie Sahabatku yang Nakal (Lupie My Naughty Best Friend) and Skenario Indah Dari Tuhan (The Beautiful Script by God). The former was recently translated into Arabic with the help of a friend of the SDF in Saudi Arabia, Sara Bukhamsin.

“Lupie is an introduction to the general public about lupus. While Skenario Indah is a collection of stories from people with lupus,” said Dian.

Lupus is an autoimmune disease that results in the destruction tissue and organs. Over 5 million of people around the world have the disease, and thousands of new cases are reported each year. According to Health Ministry data, there are approximately 1.3 million people with lupus in Indonesia, about 0.5 percent of the population.

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