21-year-old Loknath hails from Durg, Chhattisgarh. Born blind by birth into a poor family, he managed to study only till class 8 through Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan, Government of India’s flagship programme making education free and compulsory to children between 6 and14 years.. With SSA’s special focus on education of children with special needs, he was able to learn braille during his time in the school.
Diagnosed with Retinitis Pigmentosa at the age of 6, Shobha Patil from Gadag district of Karnataka is left with only 25% vision. Rising above her disability, she continued to study and completed her Master’s degree in Commerce.
While he was still a student of grade 12, Monu Kumar heard about Eyeway in a message broadcast on All India Radio. Little did he know that one day Eyeway would become a source of constant support and guidance for him.
20-year-old Garv Sabharwal has been mostly dependent on his mother for decision making in every aspect of his life after he lost his vision in grade 6. With the guidance from National Association for the Blind (NAB), his parents were able to apply for a Disability certificate that helped him complete his Class 12 from a mainstream school. At NAB, he also underwent a basic computer training and a short advanced programme.
26-year-old Ramesh Kotti was born to a poor family in Mumbai, Maharashtra. Losing vision at an early age of 11, his parents thought of him as a burden. Since his father was an alcoholic, his mother decided to leave and remarry but this only made things worse for Ramesh as his new family treated him as a liability. He was forced to beg on the streets by his mother and when he denied to do so he was thrown out of the house.
22-year-old Ujjwal Kumar called Eyeway from his native place, Sasaram in Bihar. He was in search of coaching classes to help him prepare for Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) exams.
37-year-old Sumit Rakshit is a resident of Delhi. As a working professional, Sumit successfully climbed up the corporate ladder in his 13 years of work with reputed companies. He was responsible for deploying teams to various projects, training, liaising, overseeing offshore transitions and several other tasks attached to his managerial role.
18 years of age, Somnath Chandra has never stepped out of the house on his own. He has never seen the sight of a school or undergone any form of learning. Blind by birth, Somnath hails from a farmer family in Korba, Chhattisgarh.
As soon as his parents realized that their child was blind, they thought life was over for him even before it started. Somnath sat inside the four walls, not knowing what to do with his time and life.
Ravi Dahayat was born blind to a low income family in Katni, Madhya Pradesh. He was confined to his home for a whole 27 years before he came in touch with Eyeway.
Ravi never attended school, didn’t have any friends, and was totally dependent on his family. Unaware of how to raise or educate a child with vision impairment, his parents assumed they would need to simply provide for him.
A resident of Kota in Rajasthan, Pawan Mahawar became visually impaired when he was only four years old. Although he comes from a reasonably well-to-do family, no one ever guided Pawan on how to pursue his life or education after blindness. He simply sat at home, being taken care of by his parents and sibling.
36-year-old Halesh HS lives in Shivamogga city of Karnataka. He was employed as a welder for four years before he lost his eye sight in an ammonia gas explosion at work. The accident left him unemployed and entirely dependent on his family for the following 13 years.
Majority of our society deems persons with vision impairment to be worthless, as the general perception is that they cannot be educated or employed like their sighted counterparts. Even people who teach visually impaired children in special schools often believe that their career choices are limited to arts stream. So a lot of blind children stop studying mathematics and science after Class 8.
Facebook comments