Rahul Kumar from Mussorie, Uttarakhand is 24 years old and was born visually impaired. He was born into a poor family, where his father works as a cook in the nearby convent school and mother stays as a home-maker. He also has two younger sisters who are also visually impaired. But being poor and unaware of living life with blindness, Rahul and his sisters were living within their available means. Rahul was put in the nearby mainstream government school where he studied in the midst of many challenges.
He didn’t get any support from teachers or friends; he faced challenges in getting accessible study material, writing exams without any scribe support, or in planning a future for him. Though he underwent a surgery while pursuing his 6th standard, his vision was beyond recovery. Thus, with a deteriorating vision he pursued his schooling enduring all the challenges that came his way.
But his life was to take a turn for the worse when he experienced a severe head ache and eye strain prior to his 12th board exams. This resulted in him giving up on his exams and almost halting any further pursuit of education. He has been sitting at home idle since this adversity in his life, not having any knowledge on living life as a visually impaired individual. Four years from 2014 he was confined to his home. His visually impaired sisters continued in the same school in the manner as him. It was during this time that he chanced upon the Eyeway toll free number exploring for information on the internet.
He contacted Eyeway with queries like procuring a disability certificate and enquiring about future career prospects for him and his sisters. The Eyeway counselor appropriately guided him to the designated district hospital wherefrom he could procure his disability certificate. Rahul following the instructions given by the counselor got his disability evaluated at 75% consequential to retina damage and got the certificate issued. And for his future career prospects, the counselor instructed Rahul to complete his schooling through National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS). Counselor also instructed that for his sisters to become eligible for any employment, completion of basic school education is necessary. The counselor also asked Rahul to watch the Eyeway TV series ‘Nazar Ya Nazariya’ on YouTube to find inspiration from other visually impaired individuals who have turned their lives into success. Also to improve his career prospects, the counselor suggested him to consider pursuing vocational courses in National Council for Vocational Training (NCVT) or National Institute of Visually Handicapped (NIVH).
Rahul has already followed our advice and joined NIOS for completing his 12th standard and NIVH for pursuing a six month computer training program.