32-year-old Akanksha Upadhyay is a B. Tech. graduate from Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh. She was married in 2013 and two years later she had a baby. Unfortunately, at the time of delivery, she suffered from retinal detachment, resulting in sight loss in one eye.

 
She’d barely processed this shock, when her husband and in-laws abandoned her. Forced to return home to her parents, Akanksha was determined to make a fresh start, especially for her newborn. She moved to Mumbai, taking up a human resource role in a Digital Marketing company. But a couple of years into the job, she lost vision in the other eye as well, going from partially sighted to totally blind.
 
In her hopeless quest for treatments, she met with a visually impaired person employed as a bank official, who connected her with an NGO for rehabilitation. Not wasting any time, Akanksha left her child with her parents and travelled to Dehradun to enroll for a training program at the National Institute for the Empowerment of Persons with Visual Disabilities (NIEPVD). This course will enable her to learn Braille, assistive technology like computer and smartphone, basic mobility and other activities of daily living.
 
Akanksha also found about the Eyeway Helpdesk and sought further guidance to become financially independent. She was apprised of opportunities in government and the private sector, as well as options for self-employment. More importantly, our counsellor explained the need to hone her mobility, communication and technology skills to secure gainful employment.
 
Information about some NGOs imparting employability skills was also shared. When she expressed a desire to work in the government sector, the counsellor helped her join online competitive exam classes with the Victoria Memorial School for the Blind.
 
Despite all the ups and downs experienced at a young age, Akanksha refuses to give up. She is determined to build a safe, healthy and happy future for her child.
 
Team Eyeway
 
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