Keeping up with the times

[Edwin Galiwango]

Chandra at his training at the Sightsavers-Vision Aid computer center at Visakhapatnam


With the current technological boom in India, employment opportunities are rife; a thumbs up for the economy of a country that’s still considered ‘developing’. However, is it possible for people with visual impairments to keep up in this modern world?
The answer of course is yes – very much so!
B. N. Chandra Sekhar is a 24-year-old man who has only 10% vision, and is registered partially blind. He comes from the city of Visakhapatnam in the state of Andhra Pradesh, and thanks to Braille and audio tape, he successfully achieved a Master of Arts post-graduate degree.
He soon realised however that this degree wasn’t helping him get a job, but heard about a computer centre set up by Sightsavers and Vision Aid that ran training courses for people who are blind or have low vision.
Within a year he had passed both the certificate and diploma level courses with flying colours, as the most promising student in the class. His training included using screen-reading software such as JAWS and Window Eyes, as well as brushing up on skills like typing. This lead to a job as a telemarketer for a firm called Vedas.
He has since had the honour of being selected as a paid doctoral research scholar by Indira Gandhi National Open University, in New Delhi. He has subsequently moved there to work on his research, in the field of “rehabilitation of the handicapped”.

Story from Sight Savers international