Systemic Blindness: When Institutions Fail Individuals

Twenty-three-year-old Pravin Borse is a resident of Jalna, Maharashtra. He was born with an eye condition called Retinitis Pigmentosa which results in gradual vision loss. Pravin started his education journey in a Marathi medium school despite challenges with low vision. He suffered another blow when his father passed away, leaving his mother as the sole breadwinner. Battling financial struggles, she managed the family’s daily needs through farming.

Pravin was determined to complete his education in order to share the financial burden with his mother. He persisted and completed his graduation through a mainstream institution. As his eye condition deteriorated, he also learned to use computer and smartphone with the help of screen reading software. Currently, he is pursuing his post-graduation from a Mumbai college.
To secure a government job, Pravin enrolled in the Maharashtra State Certificate of Information Technology (MSCIT) course in mid-2024, which is a basic yet essential qualification for government employment. Here he was faced with an unexpected challenge. He learned that despite acquiring computer proficiency, the examination authority directed by the present guidelines wouldn’t allow him to attempt the exam independently. The test paper is inaccessible and usage of screen readers is not permissible.

This left Pravin to scramble for a writer or a scribe at the last minute. Desperate, he reached out to the Eyeway Helpdesk and the counsellor in Mumbai initiated a flurry of phone calls to volunteers who could rescue Pravin from this situation. The inability to find a scribe would put his future at risk.

While the counsellor managed to find a volunteer to write Pravin’s exam within 90 minutes, there was no time to prepare. Usually, visually impaired candidates meet with their scribes and prepare beforehand, in order to avoid any communication gaps at the time of the actual exam. But Pravin didn’t have the option.

It was his resilience that helped him navigate the test with the scribe, and he cleared the MSCIT certification with a score of 79 per cent. But this throws a larger question which hints towards a systemic blindness. If students with vision impairment can train using screen readers for a course in Information Technology, why should they be tested using a sighted person? Are we enabling or disabling students with such rigid practices in a digitally thriving world?

Team Eyeway