Khalid Hammed Bhat is a 23 year old young man from Jammu & Kashmir. Khalid is visually impaired due to the degenerative condition Retinitis Pigmentosa, which his brother and sister also share.
Khalid first heard our radio show, Eyeway Yeh Hai Roshni Ka Karawan, and called the Helpdesk in April 2013. When he contacted us, Khalid was struggling with the imbalance of issues he was trying to juggle; inaccessibility of education, prejudice and ignorance preventing acceptance in society and a lack of self-belief. As a graduate, he was resigned to applying for clerk level jobs which he knew would not allow him to show his full potential.
The Eyeway Helpdesk counselors helped Khalid prioritise his needs and work through his emotions. He knew that he wanted to learn new skills and broaden his education, but didn’t know who to approach for help. He also wanted to work towards a career.
We suggested he take up some training in using screen readers with computers for reading and writing, and that he also work on his mobility and practice his English language skills. We put him in touch with the Mitra Jyothi organistion.
Khalid travelled to Bangalore and took up the training opportunity.
A few weeks later, we called Khalid to seek an update. He is learning computer basics and Spoken English, which will be useful for future work. He mentioned that he gets an hour everyday to talk, the rest of the time he is at the campus, learning and taking his lessons. He mentioned he had even met one of our former colleagues here at Project Eyeway who has moved south, Pranay had counseled Khalid and had suggested that Khalid try Mitra Jyothi.
We were most pleased to hear Khalid talk about what he was doing, not about what he couldn’t.