22-year-old Santosh Kumar connected with the Eyeway Helpdesk after listening to our radio programme on All India Radio a few years ago. After losing his vision at seven, Santosh had to drop out of school due to lack of awareness and his family’s weak financial condition. His father, an auto rickshaw driver couldn’t afford to even consult with eye specialists for his son. But the radio series gave him hope that he too could lead a somewhat normal life.
 
Despite being confined within four walls for ten years, with no exposure to the outside world and no clue on how to lead a life with blindness, Santosh is confident of shaping a better future. He believes that focusing on his abilities and working hard will lead him to success.
 
He is aware of his skills in comprehension, articulation and analysis. He is passionate about becoming a lawyer, dedicated to advocating for the rights of disabled and other vulnerable groups.
 
Eyeway helped Santosh complete his Class XII through open schooling. At present he is pursuing first year of graduation through Delhi University’s distance learning mode. But his biggest problem is the present financial state of his family. His mother passed away because they couldn’t pay for her treatment. Now, his father is ill and out of work. With a meagre disability pension and some rental income, it’s hard for Santosh to accomplish his goals.
 
He is desperate to acquire a smartphone or a laptop, under a subsidized scheme or even a used device. As a person with vision impairment, he is dependent on his neighbours to read out any study material which he then records onto a player. This dependence can go away with an assistive device with text to speech feature, but he doesn’t have the money to source one.
 
Blindness, poverty, lack of family support, Santosh has too many odds stacked against him. And yet his resilience and ‘can do’ attitude is admirable. Eyeway hopes to find resources and support from individuals to facilitate his education.
 
If you would like to help by contributing towards digital aid for visually impaired people across India, please write to us on eyeway.org@gmail.com. To know more about us, visit https://scorefoundation.org.in/
 
Team Eyeway