Adding another feather to the Delhi University’s cap, a 54-year-old visually-impaired professor has been recommended for coveted ‘National Award for the Empowerment for Persons with Disabilities’ by the Government.

“Dr Anil Kumar Aneja, Associate Professor at Varsity’s Department of English has been chosen for a national award for his contribution for the empowerment of persons with disabilities. The university felicitates him on his achievement,” DU authorities said.
Aneja, along with other awardees, will be conferred the award by President Pranab Mukherjee in a ceremony at Vigyan Bhavan on December 3. He has been chosen for the award in the ‘Role model’ category.

Aneja is an alumnus of DU’s St Stephens College and has a distinguished career spanning over 27 years in academics and 20 years in the disability sector. He is currently posted as the Officer on Special Duty in the Varsity’s Equal Opportunity Cell and as Nodal Officer, PWD.

“When I was a kid, my parents told me that I can’t go to school unlike my brother because I can’t see. I was dejected to know that but I decided that being blind cannot deter me from studying and achieving something in life,” Aneja said.

“After I could gain education myself, I realised the challenges faced by visually impaired and disabled people and decided to work in the area to make their life easy,” he added.

Aneja, who is blind since birth, pursued a doctorate degree from varsity’s Department of English and became the first visually-challenged professor in DU’s distance education wing. He was the vice-president of All India Confederation of the Blind (AICB), and has chaired Asian Blind Union and the World Blind Union for eight years.

Latest initiatives taken by Aneja at DU for facilitating the visually-challenged students include installation of a technology in all libraries that can scan text and convert it into audio format. He has also penned a book titled Combating Discrimination: Some Path-Breaking Advocacy Initiatives for the Visually Impaired.
Source: http://www.dailypioneer.com/city/national-award-for-blind-du-professor-for-empowerment-of-differently-abled.html