Deepali Pawar from Nashik, Maharashtra led a normal life for seventeen years. She attended regular school and loved spending time with friends. All this suddenly changed as she began to lose eyesight. Within days, she went completely blind. Disoriented by this shocking development, her parents approached many eye hospitals hoping to restore their daughter’s vision but it yielded no result.

Deepali was compelled to discontinue her education. The family, with no awareness about rehabilitation programmes, turned overprotective and confined her to the four walls of their home.

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.

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.

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.

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.