15-year-old Santosh Kumar is a visually impaired resident of Jamui, Bihar. He has no vision since birth and comes from an economically backward family. His father works as a mason and his mother is a home maker. Although they were unaware on how to raise a child with visual impairment, they wanted Santosh to be educated, so enrolled him at the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) in their district.
During his education and training at SSA, he heard that there were blind people who played cricket and this sparked his interest for the sport. Santosh heard about Eyeway through Hamari Vaani, an audio dissemination service for persons with disabilities. He contacted the Helpdesk to seek information on opportunities for people like him to play cricket. The Eyeway counselor informed him about Cricket Association for Blind in India (CABI) who select and coach talented visually impaired people to play at a state and national level. He was also advised to watch episodes of our TV series Nazar Ya Nazariya which talks about the importance of sports in the life of a visually impaired person. On heeding to the counselor’s advice, Santosh sent an application to the Bihar state branch of CABI and was chosen by the Selection Committee Chairman and four other members after monitoring his performance in various zonal matches. Recently, he had the opportunity to participate in the Induslnd Bank Nagesh National Cricket Tournament for the Blind held in Delhi.
Santosh expresses utmost gratitude towards the Eyeway team for helping him follow his passion. He feels excited when his sighted friends enquire about his selection process into the state cricket team. Santosh said that his parents and relatives use him as an example to motivate other visually impaired people to follow their dreams.