By Bhavna Sharma | Project Leader
39-year-old Prathap DG, a native of Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala is a graduate in Commerce. He had cataract since birth and his vision was limited to 40 percent. But it was enough for him to pursue his studies and work like any normal person. He disregarded the difficulties and somehow managed to cope. In 2009, Prathap suffered from Retinal Detachment which resulted in complete sight loss in his left eye. At the time, he was working as an Accountant in a private company. His inability to see clearly and work on a computer seamlessly made him lose the job.
He next landed a supervisorial role in a publishing house. Here he managed to oversee operations without having to use computers. But as luck would have it, in 2013 vitreous degeneration occurred in his right eye. Over the next few years, his vision deteriorated further, making it difficult to continue in this job as well.
With only 25 percent vision, Prathap was left unemployed and dependent. Along with his wife and daughter, he had to relocate to Faridabad, Haryana where his spouse found employment as a private school teacher to support their family.
Looking for solutions and quick fixes, Prathap visited the Eyeway center at Delhi in March 2018. He was desperate for a job and willing to take up anything. Despite having worked as a qualified accountant, with additional content writing and editing skills, he agreed to enroll in a massage training course at the Blind Relief Association. With more than a year gone by without a job, Prathap did not lose his hope. He knew that his family could support him but he was adamant on becoming independent and be able to provide for his family once again.
All this while, he was in constant touch with Eyeway counselors who kept sharing information about potential job opportunities for him.
In June 2019, Eyeway organized a roundtable conference on Midlife blindness: Prathap was invited to share his story at the event. Mr.Anup K Srivastava, CEO of Sector Skill Council for Persons with Disabilities (SCPwD), who was an invitee to the conference was moved by the story, connected Prathap with an IT company. Soon after, Prathap was offered the position of Manager- Operations, where he will be handling HR, accounting and content creation functions. The job is based in Faridabad, which is close to his place of residence. Prathap and his family are exhilarated about this new opportunity and are grateful to Mr. Anup K Srivastava and Eyeway for their support.
Score Foundation is participating in the Delhi Half Marathon 2019. You can find more information on our website. Please donate on the GlobalGiving platform to support our cause.
Links:
Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can receive an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.
