A spectacular turnaround!

Ravi Dahayat was born blind to a low income family in Katni, Madhya Pradesh. He was confined to his home for a whole 27 years before he came in touch with Eyeway.

Ravi never attended school, didn’t have any friends, and was totally dependent on his family. Unaware of how to raise or educate a child with vision impairment, his parents assumed they would need to simply provide for him.

It was a chance meeting with Vidyasagar, an old Eyeway client that turned Ravi’s life around. He called the Eyeway helpline and asked about education and training options for blind people.

After extensive sessions of counseling and nearly two years of training in Delhi, Ravi is a changed man. He can move around on his own using a smart cane, he can operate computer using screen reading software and moreover, he has cleared Class X exams from National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS).

Back in Katni, the same community now looks at him in awe when Ravi uses his smartphone enabled with talk back feature to do a host of things. He uses different applications on the phone to navigate, access social media and send messages. People who wrote him off as a liability, now regard him for his abilities.

Having gone through a swift transformation in the past couple of years, Ravi has garnered a dream. Once he finishes his further education and gains some form of employment, he wishes to start an institute for blind children in his hometown. He feels access to proper education can prevent blind children from losing out on opportunities to lead an independent life despite blindness.

As opposed to numerous years of isolation, today Ravi feels ‘accepted and included’ in the main stream of things.

But Ravi isn’t the only one who lost out because of blindness. There are many like him in different parts of India who might be a phone call away from opportunities in life. Eyeway is determined to reach out and help them.