At fifteen, like most kids his age, Yogesh Suryavanshi was pursuing Class X in Nashik, Maharashtra. He'd suffered from night blindness for some years, but it began to impact his overall vision. Reading and writing became nearly impossible and he failed his final exams. Neither Yogesh nor his family knew how to respond to the sudden deterioration of eye sight. He sat at home purposelessly for the next thirteen years.
To occupy himself, he started to assist his father in farming which was their sole source of income. Yogesh had given up all hope of education, assuming there were no means to teach people with vision impairment. The family wasn't acquainted with special schools for the blind, until their village sarpanch informed them about one. With ninety percent vision loss and 28 years of age, he was still eager to join. The school was located a fair distance away from their home and Yogesh was dependent on someone to walk him there and back. This daily to and fro took a toll on his father's farming work and he was reluctant to take the responsibility. Looking at Yogesh's willingness to do something, his brother started exploring solutions. He found the toll free number online and called Eyeway to seek help. The Eyeway counselor apprised Yogesh about possibilities of living his life despite blindness. He could travel alone, study on his own and be successfully employed with adequate training. Yogesh was keen to learn something that would help him earn his own bread and butter. Given his farming background, Eyeway recommended a three-year course at the Tata Agricultural and Rural Training Center for the blind at Phansa village of Valsad district of Gujarat. The programme is designed to train blind men between 18 to 35 years in farming techniques like cultivating, gardening, animal husbandry etc. In addition, they also learn braille, computers, cooking and mobility skills. Yogesh has finished six months of his training. At the end of three years, he will undergo an internship following which the institute offers a grant of up to 1.5 lakhs to encourage trainees to work independently. He also plans to finish his Class X through open schooling. There are many like Yogesh who lose out on opportunities of education and employment because of unawareness. Their prime years wasted due to a lack of knowledge. There is a need to inform and inspire the blind population and their associated community about the possibilities of life with blindness, enabling them to seek out options well in time without suffering decades of isolation. Through stories like these, we intend to spread awareness and sensitize people about issues faced by visually impaired across India. If you would like to read more about our work please visit, http://scorefoundation.org.in/category/our-impact/ George Abraham CEO, Score Foundation Search for old postings at: http://www.mail-archive.com/accessindia@accessindia.org.in/ To unsubscribe send a message to accessindia-requ...@accessindia.org.in 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 Disclaimer: 1. Contents of the mails, factual, or otherwise, reflect the thinking of the person sending the mail and AI in no way relates itself to its veracity; 2. AI cannot be held liable for any commission/omission based on the mails sent through this mailing list..
