THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Prashant Kumar Mani, a cheerful trainer for the visually challenged, never gives any hint that he was once shut out of the world for the ill-fate that had fallen upon him. Bad luck in the form of a bike accident introduced Prashant, then a bank manager, to the world of the visually challenged.
Till five years ago, he was not aware that such a world existed and he was not prepared to meet its challenges, let alone acknowledge that he was blind. Damage to the optic nerve dashed his hopes of regaining sight.
The fact that he would not be able to see his second child his wife Shruti was carrying depressed him the most, and his well-wishers became cautious after he showed signs of suicidal tendencies. But a reluctant registration with ‘Insight’, a project for empowering the differently abled through Information and Communication Technology tools, two years ago changed his life for the better.
Having trained to deal with the world of the sighted it was not easy for him to initially accept himself as visually handicapped and adjust to the training offered at Insight. “I wanted to go back. But motivation from James Mathew, the coordinator of Insight, helped me to stick to the six-week training,” says Prashant. He not only decided to tread in the world of visually challenged with confidence but also to guide many others to meet its challenges by becoming a staff trainer at Insight.
Insight is a project under Department of Social Justice, Government of Kerala and Kerala Federation of the Blind.
“I now have a feeling that I am doing something meaningful in life. I can do everything I used to do,” says Prashant. While demonstrating his skills at using smartphones, he says that he connects with the visually challenged and other friends using social media. His banking experience came handy as he now helps blind people visiting Insight to carry out banking operations by themselves.
“There are a lot of talented people among the visually challenged. They just need a little guidance,” says Prashant, who travels across the state to give training classes organised by Kerala Federation of Blind.
Every day, his wife or friends would drop him at the Insight office in the KFB building at Law College Junction. Sometime, he boards bus from Vellanadu to reach office with the help of a white cane. Prashant’s wife Shruti is an IT company employee in Technopark and the couple has two sons, Mahadeva and Madhav. Sitting at Insight office, Prashant says, “I see myself growing along with the advancement in technology. Now, I don’t want to go anywhere from here.”
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