In conversation with George Abraham on ‘inclusive education’

George Abraham – blind visionary, belter of boundaries and veteran of the impossible.

Just recently, the Supreme Court of India in the ongoing case of Rajneesh Kumar Pandey v. Union of India, made an observation: “It is impossible to think that the children who are disabled or suffer from any kind of disability or who are mentally challenged can be included in the mainstream schools for getting an education.” In an effort towards unwrapping stories of successes of the mainstream education system, here’s a conversation with one of the glowing examples of mainstreaming.

Overcoming disability through a positive attitude towards life

By Shruti Pushkarna

Visual impairment is not in the eyes, it’s in the mind. If you will feel that you are visually impaired then you will not be able to do anything. You need to go out of the way to explore the world.

Says Chetna Nagpal, who was born with an eye condition called Nystagmus. It is a condition of involuntary eye movement that may result in reduced or limited vision. In her case, Chetna can see things but is unable to focus on anything. But unlike many, Chetna does not find her disability to be limiting. She believes visual impairment is more of a mental condition than a physical one.
A 21 year old ambitious young woman, she is studying in her first year Political Science major in one of India’s top colleges, Lady Shri Ram College for Women. Born to totally blind parents, Chetna did not have it easy while growing up. Chetna’s parents did not know she could see at all until the age where she started to talk and point out things to them. Read more

Empowering the Visually Impaired: Opportunities & Challenges

By George Abraham

Hari Raghavan does business development at Dell. Charudatta Jadhav is an International Chess master and an IT professional with TCS. Pankaj Sinha is a practicing lawyer at the Delhi High Court. Dilip Loyolka, Samir Late and Rajani Gopalkrishna are practicing Chartered Accountants. Sudha Patel, Sanjay Dang and Siddhartha Sharma are entrepreneurs. Sundeep Rao is a stand-up comedian. G. Subramaniam and L. Subramani are journalists. Payal Kapur is a sales professional with a hotel. All of them are blind and all of them are extremely accomplished and successful. The question to be considered is “are these people merely outstanding exceptions or are these people examples pointing towards possibilities and potential in a life with blindness?”. Read more