Guiding towards independent living

Thirty-three-year-old Kapil and thirty-six-year-old Neetu Goyal were born to a middle income family in Bharatpur, Rajasthan. Both of them are visually impaired since birth. When their parents consulted eye doctors, the kids were prescribed spectacles which could aid only a little in their vision.

Since the family was ignorant of options for blind children, they struggled in activities of daily living as well as acquiring education from a mainstream school. Neetu and Kapil found it hard with their limited eyesight, to cycle to school, or read the blackboard in the classroom or even write their test papers. As a result, Neetu dropped out after Class X and Kapil studied till Class XII.

While Neetu sat idle at home, Kapil was encouraged to assist at his father’s shop of readymade garments. Four years later, Neetu learned about a computer training program at an NGO in Jaipur. After pursuing the computer course from Rajasthan Netrahin Kalyan Sangathan, Neetu traveled to Delhi to complete her graduation from open university. She also found a job at the National Association for Blind- Centre for Blind Women in Delhi as a computer instructor.

With her newfound confidence, Neetu started gathering information from all resources on living life with blindness. That’s how she learned about Eyeway, and she decided to push her brother to also become independent. Encouraged by the elder sister and the counsellor, after ten years, Kapil stepped out of his comfort zone and enrolled in the same computer training course in Jaipur. The Eyeway counselor encouraged him to pursue graduation from distance learning mode and come to Delhi to simultaneously enroll in a one-year IT training program at the All India Confederation of the Blind.

This made him job ready, and he was successfully employed as a computer trainer and placement officer with Samarthanam Trust. But Kapil aspired for a secure government job and kept preparing alongside. The counsellor kept him in the know of new vacancies in the government sector. Both the siblings were constantly updated on the latest in technology, jobs, training and news through Eyeway’s WhatsApp messaging service.

Kapil’s resilience bore results, he is now employed as a clerk in State Bank of India. Eyeway continues to counsel both Neetu and Kapil to aim higher because they have the potential to do so.

Team Eyeway