Drishti is a 21 year old resident of Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh. She belongs to an educated family and her childhood dream is to open a pathology lab. She had complete vision till 8th standard, but in the year 2011, she woke up one day without vision in her left eye. Her parents took her to the hospital and with proper treatment, her vision improved but in the consecutive year she faced the same problem in her right eye. The doctors diagnosed her of Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP), a condition where the vision deteriorates gradually.
After completing her Xth standard from CBSE board in 2012, she had to take a break of 3 years given her vision impairment and the struggle it brought along. Buut she didn’t want to sit idle so in this time she learnt dancing and French at home. She also enrolled herself in vocal music course from IFTI, (Indian Film and Television Institute) Meerut. After the gap, she enrolled herself in Science stream for XIIth boards through NIOS, but unfortunately she failed her exams. She was keen to fulfill her dream of opening a pathology lab, so she admitted again for her XIIth in Science stream from UP Board and this time she requested for a scribe. She produced her Disability Certificate stating her vision impairment at 75% to allow her the use of a scribe but the UP Board officials denied her scribe, despite it being in her right to ask for one. She was disappointed but hell bent on going ahead with her exams. She decided to write her own exams with the remaining 25% vision and luckily she cleared her 12th.
But still Drishti was facing issues like mobility, reading, writing and accessing computers. Her father was searching for a blind school on the internet and he came across National Association for the Blind (NAB), Delhi. Their visit to NAB was an eye-opener, when they saw visually impaired people working on Computer/ Laptops and accessing mobile phones easily. They met with Eyeway counselor at NAB, who informed her about the use of assistive technology for daily needs. On the counselor’s advice she enrolled in a 4 month rehabilitative and computer training course at NAB which helped her in mobility and addressed her functional problems. When she learnt about the screen reader/ NVDA and Digital Library, she was persuaded to achieve her childhood dream again, of opening a pathology lab. To turn her dreams into reality, she is currently preparing for the entrance exam for Bachelors in Medical Laboratory Technology (BMLT) with the help of accessible books online. She is also planning to pursue her graduation from NIOS simultaneously. Drishti is an example of a girl who has clear ambition and in spite of her disability, she is motivated and passionate about attaining her dream. Eyeway is happy to assist her in every way possible.