Eyeway- Support the Blind

As soon as someone says the word ‘blind’ or ‘visually impaired’, we instantaneously picture a person with dark glasses, seeking someone’s shoulder for a crutch. How much beyond the dominant picture painted by sympathy and charity, can we visualize, when we think of disability? Common perception of blind people has left the society to think of them as people leading a life devoid of any possibilities, carrying on with life as mere dependents.

But is that really a true picture? Are we assuming that all the millions of visually impaired people in this country, lack ambition and have no dreams? Can we really make such a sweeping statement about a sizeable chunk of our population?

Absolutely not! Because loss of sight doesn’t necessarily translate into a loss of vision! There are many visually impaired people who’ve proven their ability by succeeding in different spheres of life.

Our Eyeway Helpdesk is witness to some such stories of people who exemplify optimism and tenacity. 34 year old Teena has been resilient from all adversities and discrimination from her husband’s family even after 10 years of marriage. Veena a 15 year old girl from Kerala who is aspiring to be a medical doctor, doesn’t want inaccessibility to become a challenge to her aspirations. Doreyappa from Karnataka is industrious, and looking for ways to enhance his business to support his family. And Ranjan from Maharashtra is pursuing school, computer training and music all together to compete well with his sighted counterparts. These are all examples of people who have the will to defeat the odds.

What then is stopping them?

It is the lack of will in the society to alter their persistent narrow thinking. The claws of social and cultural conventions, economic marginalization and lack of political will are holding back the blind citizens of the country from leading equally dignified lives. Setting no or low expectations from blind people and thereof a lack of enabling environment restraints them to a state of dependency. But stories like Teena’s make us rethink and question the stereotypes in our minds.

A native of Hapur city in northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, Teena is 80% visually impaired. Born into a family of farmers, she is the youngest among two other siblings. Teena has suffered from eye problems right from birth and her vision kept deteriorating over the years. But nonetheless she managed to finish her Masters in Sociology in a mainstream institution.

She was fortunate to find a job as a playschool teacher right after completing college. Later she also worked as a tele-caller in a financial company. At 24, Teena was married and she moved cities to go live with her husband’s family. Before the marriage, her in laws were made aware of Teena’s deteriorating eye sight and her inability to conceive a child. They wholeheartedly accepted her despite all health issues. But once married, Teena was asked to leave her job citing that her husband’s income was enough to provide for everyone in the family. Her vision kept deteriorating further and over a period of few years the in laws including her husband turned hostile towards her.

They started seeing her as a burden, given the lack of sight and ability to bear a child. The family didn’t need her anymore and so they pushed her out. Teena was sent back to her paternal home after ten years of marriage. She struggled with a broken marriage, loss of vision, overall ill health and unemployment. But despite all odds, Teena didn’t completely give up on life. One of her acquaintances told Teena about the Eyeway helpline for blind and visually impaired and she decided to contact us.

She spoke to our Helpdesk counselor, expressing her fears of the uncertainties that lay ahead. She was depressed primarily because she had no means of financial independence. Understanding her concerns and anxiety, our counselor suggested that she upgrade her skills to secure a more viable job as someone with 80% visual impairment. We recommended her to enroll in a computer training program which would enable her to work in a mainstream environment.

Following our advice, Teena moved to the capital city of Delhi with one of her close relatives. With Eyeway’s help, she enrolled for rehabilitation and computer training and also managed to get a job as tele-caller with a BPO.

While Eyeway restored her confidence, it was Teena’s self-determination and strong will which helped her overcome all the odds. Eyeway’s intervention rekindled her life, giving her a new direction to move forward.

The greatest measure of impact is when the recipient of change becomes the ‘changemaker’ himself. Over the years, thousands of callers have shared their queries and concerns with us. We offer them solutions and continue to follow up on their progress. We closely track their transformation as that becomes an indicator of our intervention. This quarter, we are happy to report the case of Sunny Piplani, an old client of Eyeway who has now taken on the responsibility of empowering other disabled people like him.

32 year old Sunny lives in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, India. He started to lose his eyesight due to Retinitis Pigmentosa when he was studying in Class IV. But Sunny continued and somehow finished Class IX in a mainstream school. Due to lack of awareness and ignorance of options available for pursuing further studies as a blind person, Sunny had to drop out of school. He was pushed into a life full of despair, not knowing how to move forward. Fortunately, one of his visits to Shroff Eye Charity Hospital led him to visit Eyeway office in New Delhi. Sunny was pleasantly surprised to see visually impaired people like him work efficiently as Eyeway counselors. He saw them talk to people, inform them of possibilities and seamlessly use computers to perform their jobs. This instilled a sense of confidence in Sunny and he felt determined to achieve something. He inquired about vocational training courses he could take up in order to gain employment. Eyeway counselors directed him accordingly and Sunny trained himself into becoming self-reliant. Our counselors hand held Sunny through his transition and training, offering continous guidance.

After being empowered with the help of Eyeway, Sunny was determined to help others like him, to educate and train those who did not know about the possibilities of living life with blindness. With help from his family business of sports good manufacturing, he set up a venture to train and employ persons with disabilities. Sunny contacted Eyeway yet again, this time to share details of his vocational training center. He was looking for help to find suitable disabled candidates to train. Eyeway counselor put him in touch with several organizations where he could find candidates for his center, including Silver Linings, Blind Relief Association, National Association for Blind, Jayati Bharatam Institute and so on. We also disseminated information about his training and employment offering through our website and whatsapp channels. As a result, Sunny has found his candidates and successfully started his business of placing disabled people and empowering them. From someone who contacted us 6 years ago in utter hopelessness, Sunny has grown into an independent, economically self-reliant individual who is empowered enough to help others in need.

Apart from the training center he has opened up for the disabled, Sunny successfully runs a garment shop in his hometown.

To see our clients become self-reliant, empowered and independent is the ultimate objective of Team Eyeway! 

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