Bridging The Information Gap

Persons with vision impairment are either born blind or acquire blindness later in life for varied reasons. In either scenario, what’s most important is to push the person towards rehabilitation so that they can continue leading their lives independently and with dignity.

India is home to 20 per cent of the global blind population and yet there is a lot of ignorance when it comes to integrating this community with the mainstream society. Most parents don’t know where to seek rehabilitation or support services from.

Twenty-five-year-old Sagar Ghanbahadur is a resident of Akola, Maharashtra. And twenty-three-year-old Pawan Polane is from Hingoli, Maharashtra. Sagar is totally blind and has completed his graduation. He is working hard to crack the competitive exams to secure a government job.

Pawan is a person with late blindness, who lost his vision as recent as two years ago. He completed his graduation but lacks the knowledge on how to proceed further in life.

Both Sagar and Pawan chanced upon Eyeway’s YouTube channel and got in touch with the Helpdesk counselor in Maharashtra. After speaking to them, the counselor realized they both lacked the confidence to cross barriers in access to education and employment.

They were both recommended to join a rehabilitation course at NAB Mumbai, where they would acquire basic knowledge of computers, life skills, mobility et cetera. Once Sagar and Pawan gained confidence, the counselor advised them to acquire advanced computer skills in order to read, write and function independently.

They adhered to the advice and enrolled for a training with National Federation for the Blind in Maharashtra. Pawan was additionally asked to complete his higher commerce education through distance learning. And Sagar was put in touch with an organization which could train him in using the smartphone.

There are a lot of government and non-government organizations that run training programmes but mass awareness of these services is lacking in the country of our size and diversity. Eyeway proves to be instrumental in bridging this information gap by connecting candidates to appropriate courses and institutions.