Sight lost in '92, she eyes a Ph.D now Jyotsna Jalali
Chandigarh, December 17: IN 1992, Kiran Kumari was just another teenager, a 19-year-old doing her BSc in Nursing from Ludhiana. That was before tragedy struck, the same year, when she lost her vision due to high brain fever. Fourteen years on, Kiran works at the Institute for Blind in Sector 26 here, and recently enrolled for a PhD from Panjab University. In between, she got her BSc (Nursing) degree and also completed MA in Sociology from PU's Department of Correspondence Studies. The scope of her PhD? Job prospects for the visually challenged; more specifically, the problems they face. "The doctors initially reassured me that I would regain my sight," Kiran, who has been working with the institute for the past nine years, told Newsline. "But with time I realised it was gone forever. Though living a life in the dark suddenly seemed impossible, time and family support made me accept it. I began actually looking at it as a challenge." With family based in Gurdaspur, Kiran lives by herself at the PGI working women's hotel. Recalling the initial fight with vision loss, she said: "The world seemed to have gone completely dead for me. My own room seemed strange, for I could not even get to the bed without banging against a few things. People suddenly began pitying me." But her fight was well and truly on after reaching Chandigarh: after finishing BA as a private candidate from PU in 2000, Kiran completed MA in 2002. All this by taking tuitions and listening to cassettes. "She is a strong girl with dauntless spirit to fight all the odds in life," said K R Sood, honorary secretary and principal of the institute. As for future plans, it's clear, like a crystal, for Kiran. "I want to serve handicapped people and dream of opening a school in my city - Gurdaspur." http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=213589 To unsubscribe send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the subject unsubscribe. To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please visit the list home page at http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in
