KOCHI: You have seen him; the blind lottery seller, walking   ever so gently by the side of the bustling street. You might   have even bought a lottery from him regardless of whether  you have   a penchant for trying your luck or not. That man could have   been Venugopal Mani, the 32-year-old blind cricketer from  Badiyadka in Kasaragod district.

New Delhi, May 7 (PTI) Visually impaired Amina, who relies heavily on her sense of touch, wonders what kind of ''new life'' awaits her when the lockdown imposed in view of the coronavirus pandemic relaxes.

For Amina, it is a double whammy as not only touching any surface will put her at higher risk of contracting the coronavirus but also the new norm of social distancing would make the outside world more wary towards helping her and other blind people.

As a girl of 15, Nidhi Goyal wanted to be a portrait artist. Then she became visually-challenged, and turned to activism. “I was 16,” she says about losing sight to a rare genetic condition called retinitis pigmentosa. “It was a struggle and I was slipping into depression until I looked at my own privilege.” She then decided to “do something about it”.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday called on governments around the world to specifically take into account the billions of people with disabilities in their response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Kailash Tandel networks with professor, friends to raise nearly ₹2 lakh; distributes 280 packets of essentials

Kailash Tandel (35) had to go back home to Machimar Nagar in Cuffe Parade from his hostel in IIT Bombay, where he is pursuing his PhD, when the novel coronavirus began to gain a foothold in the city.

Mr. Tandel was no stranger to the hardships his community faced, but this time, he was filled with dread. The locality has poor hygiene, the fisherfolk who live in the area have had a bad run at sea for months and the lockdown has added to their financial distress.