A resident of Ichalkaranji, Maharashtra, Pawan Kasliwal’s daughter and son were born with a degenerative eye condition. As a parent he had a tough time seeing them lose vision gradually and accepting their impairment.
But he wasn’t one to lose hope. He stood strong in support of his children and encouraged them to educate and become independent. Studying in a mainstream school, his son, Mohit expressed an interest in becoming a software engineer.
Kush Verma was born blind to an affluent family in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. Assuming that he will remain dependent for the rest of his life, Kush’s parents hadn’t the slightest clue that the boy could also have a bright future.
Till the age of ten, Kush sat idle at home while his sighted brother went to school. On a friend’s suggestion, he was finally enrolled in a special institute where he progressed, picking up braille and mobility skills.
In India, late blindness remains an issue that lacks support mechanisms and progressive opportunities. Five years back, when 40-year-old Gangadharappa lost his vision in a road accident, he could not come to terms with it and confined himself to his home for the following three years.
When he nearly exhausted all his savings, the survival of his wife and two children pushed him to look for alternatives. Prior to the accident, he was doing well as an Assistant Manager in a Bangalore based garments factory.
Fifty-two-year-old Anil Kumar from Ernakulum, Kerala lost his vision at an early age of two. However, he stayed focused on his studies and completed an MA in Literature.
Soon after, he found a job as an English teacher at a tuition centre. Seeking better remuneration, he took up the job of translating books and articles from English to Malayalam.
Sachin Porwal suffered sight loss when he was studying in Class 6 in Udaipur, Rajasthan. He was forced to leave his school as the teachers didn’t know how to accommodate a blind student. Sachin’s parents tried hard to secure admission elsewhere but most schools declined given the boy’s impairment.
Dealing with a deteriorating vision, abject poverty and an alcoholic father, Manjunath’s tough childhood forced him to give up on his aspiration of pursuing higher education. Flashbacks of his forgettable childhood are reappearing as he now struggles to provide for his five-year-old son and pay for his education.
A qualified mechanical engineer, Rohit Thombre left his home in Solapur to settle in Pune for better employment opportunities. He was focused on working diligently, rising up the ranks and saving for a comfortable future. Six years into the job, he bought a house of his own.
His flourishing career came crashing down when he experienced sudden sight loss at the age of 27. He caught a fever which permanently damaged his optic nerve. Along with the job, he lost his independence. Desperate for alternatives, Rohit surfed the internet with little remaining vision.
Visually impaired Babloo Kumar was gainfully employed as a Call Center Executive. He led an independent life in Delhi until he lost the job during the pandemic.
Forced to return to his hometown in Gorakhpur, UP, Babloo was in for another rude shock when his bank refused to offer phone banking service or an ATM card. The officials said he was ineligible for such facilities.
48-year-old Sheriff Menon lives in Goregoan, Mumbai. Despite being visually impaired from an early age, he is an independent and contributing member of his joint family.
Sheriff was allotted a PCO booth in 1998 under the disabled scheme by Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation. The cellular phone revolution happened soon after and he switched to selling mobile accessories, recharge coupons etc. To enhance his earnings, he installed a computer, hired a sighted assistant and started offering internet based services to locals.
Born blind in Bagalkot city of Karnataka, 23-year-old Vinayak Neelanayak dreams of becoming a Biotechnology Engineer. Like most students with vision impairment, he has braved many odds to pursue his interest in Science.
Our ill-equipped education system makes it difficult for blind students to follow subjects like Maths and Science, often encouraging them to opt out. Vinayak’s school refused to let him sit through Class 12 and he struggled for three years until he found admission elsewhere. His persistence paid off and he scored 75% in the finals.
Yogender Singh is a BA final year student of Delhi University (DU). Visually impaired since the age of two, pursuing his dream of education hasn’t been easy.
He was on a short break in his hometown Moradabad, UP, when the nationwide lockdown was announced in March. Yogender was oblivious of the challenges he would face in the coming months.
Coronavirus has altered the existing scenarios. As the world grapples with change, blind people are faced with new set of difficulties. A long-term associate of Eyeway, Praveen Kumar shares what it means to be visually impaired in today’s times.
As a visually impaired person, being independent has been my priority in life. Now with the situation of corona there is going to be a change in my life and also for many others with vision impairment.
Visually impaired siblings, Ravi and Shobha lost their parents at an early age. Orphaned and financially weak, they never got an opportunity to study. They live with an aunt in Belagavi district of Karnataka, who is also disabled. The family of three is dependent on the Disability Pension provided by the government.
Rohit and his wife are both blind. Growing up as orphans, they didn’t get much chance at proper education. Rohit made a living by selling things and offering massage to commuters on Mumbai’s local trains. They were blessed with a baby in mid-March but the childbirth brought more woes than happiness.
Unemployed during the lockdown, Rohit struggled to arrange for food and pay rent. He pleaded with his landlord to make an exception for a few months, until he started earning again. But the house owner was indifferent and insensitive to their issues.
Pradeep Kumar and his wife, both visually impaired, live in a rented house in Mumbai. He made a decent living as a masseur and also looked after his ailing mother-in-law. But the lockdown changed everything.
Recently, Pradeep made a desperate call to the Eyeway Helpdesk as he struggled to provide even one basic meal to his family. He also told our counselor how his mother-in-law had fractured her leg and was confined to bed.
Although both central and state governments have announced welfare schemes and helplines for people to contact during the lockdown, for most people, relief isn’t easy to come by.
Maharashtra being one among the worst hit states by Covid19, Eyeway Helpdesk has received hundreds of calls from visually impaired people from various districts, struggling with daily existence.
Persons with disabilities struggle to lead independent lives given our societal set-up which makes self-reliance a hard bet for them. The Covid-19 crisis has added to their woes, leaving quite a few desperate and dependent for provisions.
26-year-old Chikkaredappa and his wife are both visually impaired. While he sold books for a living, his wife contributed to the household income by selling flowers outside a temple in Bangalore city. But the lockdown brought their small business to a screeching halt. Left without food, they called Eyeway for help.
Students with blindness and low vision are traditionally discouraged from pursuing mathematics, specifically geometry, given its visual nature. This lack of access translates into a detail of opportunities in academics and employment. Bengaluru-based developer Paul D’Souza is out to change that with his drawing tool Roulette.
Webinar on Professional courses and network building BY Turab Chimthanawala an (Associate member of the Institute of Company Secretaries of India, currently a consultant with MG Consulting, a Leading Company Secretary Firm in Mumbai.
(DPWD) is ready with its 23rd Webinar, this webinar, will cover the Topics of various professional studies available for visually Impaired Students, like (CA, CS and CMA) entry in to professional Studies, steps of addition, prerequisites of certification and career.
NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR THE EMPOWERMENT OF PERSONS WITH VISUAL DISABILITIES (DIVYANGJAN) (Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities) Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment, Govt. of India
116,RajpurRoad, Dehradun-248001,
Uttarakhand
Website: http://nivh.gov.in/
Applications are invited from the eligible candidates for filling up the following posts.
Posts to be filled on Regular Basis.
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