20% of world's blind population lives in India. Majority of visually impaired persons live on the margins because of widespread ignorance and insensitivity meted out to them by society. Misconceived notions and cultural biases prevent them from integrating into the mainstream. We empower blind citizens through knowledge and resource sharing so they become contributing members of the economy. We also sensitize civil society at large, in order to make the ecosystem accessible and inclusive.
Blind citizens suffer from widespread ignorance and social prejudice. There are limited resources and facilities for them. Families, friends, policy makers and service providers have little or no expectations from blind people, which seriously compromises their possibilities & potential. What the world conceives of disability is more disabling than disability itself. Our efforts will benefit blind people, their associates and civil society which will bear an impact on their successful inclusion.
Eyeway is a one stop shop on the domain of blindness. We disseminate information, share resources, counsel and advocate for the rights of visually impaired citizens. Eyeway operates through multiple channels of communication like website, radio, whatsapp, social media and most importantly, a national toll free helpline. Visually impaired counselors attend to queries on the Helpdesk from blind people across India. Our aim is to offer local solutions to our beneficiaries in their native language.
We aim to help as many blind people integrate into the mainstream resulting in a long term positive impact on how they are perceived by society. This may result in policy changes to become more inclusive. In the past, a software engineer who lost his job because of sight loss managed to regain his professional ground with a leading multinational with our help. A blind student with no idea of the possibilities of education, secured an MBA degree and a Bank Probationary Officer's job.
This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).
