Nineteen-year-old Ajay Kumar is a resident of Sonbhadra in Uttar Pradesh. Following an outbreak of smallpox at the age of 5, Ajay lost his eyesight completely. But he still managed to study, and he is currently pursuing Class 12.
 
Ajay was born into a low income household, and his parents and siblings shared the family home with his maternal grandparents. Due to some discord, they were not welcome in that space. Looking for alternative accommodation options, Ajay came across the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY), and he applied for the state sponsored benefit.
 

Living with a disability is not easy in a country where a large section of the population still looks at it as an outcome of bad karma. And being a person with disability born to a poor household makes it harder. Now imagine a blind girl from a low income family, the stigma scales greater heights.
 
The Eyeway Helpdesk receives fewer calls from women with blindness as they are doubly marginalized in the largely patriarchal Indian society. This story recounts the struggles of two visually impaired girls from Maharashtra, both aspiring for financial independence.
 

Thirty-five-year-old Zainab Arif was born with an eye condition called Retinitis Pigmentosa. In her early years, she had partial vision, but gradually she experienced further sight loss. At present, she only has some light perception left. Growing up in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, Zainab went to a regular school. But due to deteriorating eyesight, she couldn’t study after Class 8. Her family lacked awareness about life with blindness and ways of educating a person with vision impairment.