Blind leading the blind<http://xtra.newagebd.net/2311/blind-leading-the-blind/>
July 29, 2016 12:13 am
Namira Hossain
writes about the odds that the visually-impaired Vashkar Bhattacharjee had to
overcome and how he is helping others like him.
<http://xtra.newagebd.net/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/blind.jpg>During
a hot summer day on July 1, 1979, in a remote village in Chittagong, a
government employee and a housewife welcomed their baby boy to this world. He
was bleeding through his nose and mouth, baffling the parents as well as the
doctors. He overcame all odds to survive and life resumed as normal. Then, when
he was two years old, his parents realised that he was blind. This is the story
of Vashkar Bhattacharjee.
‘As I grew older, my family was confused about whether to send me to school or
not, as people in Bangladesh think that blind people cannot do anything, most
people think it is impossible for them to get an education,’ says
Bhattacharjee. Luckily for him, his family learnt of a primary school for the
blind in Chittagong and he was sent to that school. After his primary school
education, he attended junior high and high school in schools for sighted
children.
His teachers found him to be a bright, engaged student, full of questions in
class and eager to learn more. ‘I never got very good grades though, because
there were no books available in braille that I could study – that stayed with
me,’ he shares. Back in those days, braille books were the only means of
education for the visually impaired but they were impossible to come by. As
Bhattacharjee applied to various universities, they rejected his applications
due to his blindness. This led him and a few other visually impaired students
to go on a hunger strike, which is when the university acquiesced but once
again he was faced with discrimination as well as the lack of facilities for
visually impaired students once more.
Bhattacharjee’s sincerity was often doubted by his teachers as he recounts one
particular incident when he was taking notes on his braille slate but his
lecturer thought he was simply fooling around, and asked him to leave the room.
Bhattacharjee complained to the head of the department and then read his notes
out loud to his professor who was dumbfounded. ‘He thought it was like magic,’
says Bhattacharjee. Once again, refusing to give in to his physical
limitations, Vashkar surpassed expectations and graduated with honours in
History and went on to complete his Masters in General History from Chittagong
University.
However, his trials were still not over. Bhattacharjee realised that in order
to survive in the competitive job market, he would have to go a
<http://xtra.newagebd.net/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/blind2.jpg> few
more steps further. He could not see himself relegated to a life of working in
a menial job or begging on the streets like many visually impaired people in
Bangladesh are forced to do. His vision was to make a tangible change, that
would completely change life for others like him, so that they would not have
to go through the same hardships he had to endure. He applied for and became
selected to join the Duskin Leadership Training in Japan in 2002. This was a
training program for youth with disabilities, and as he was one of 10
candidates selected from the world, he could imagine a future for himself that
would be brighter.
He came back to the country, armed with knowledge in leadership, technology and
creating digital access for people with disabilities. Upon returning, he found
it difficult once again to find employers who were willing to have him on
board, and so he worked voluntarily. His confidence in himself was evident, ‘I
wanted to prove that disabled people can work in our job market, nobody wants
to believe in people like me.’
He started by working on creating a computerised Braille production, which
allows for printing to be in done in Braille, thus creating the tools for
education for the visually impaired and books that did not previously exist.
Within six months, he was earning a salary of 5,000 tk. From then on, his
achievements have reached stratospheric heights, as he also helped create a
digital lab or an ICT and Resource Center for people with disabilities. He also
furthered his training in Bangkok in DAISY or Digital Accessible Information
System in 2006. After which, he has helped create 1000 DAISY books, which are
essentially audiobooks that also include text. Bhattacharjee explains, ‘this is
a model for the world to follow, because it is the first book of it’s kind that
can be used by those with disabilities as well as those who do not have any.’
Most of us remain boxed in by our limitations and fear reaching our full
potential, preferring to remain in our comfort zones. But despite being blind,
Vashkar Bhattacharjee saw for himself the changes he could make and with a lot
of grit and resilience, he achieved his goals. ‘When my daughter was in class
I, she would ask me to read to her and I would not be able to, this is why I
wanted to create a book that everyone could use,’ he says. Now, he is able to
read to his daughter with ease using the universal design on his computer.
People are amazed that those who are visually impaired can use computers and
smartphones, but with systems that translate text to speech, it has been made
much easier. They also use the standard QWERTY keyboard just like everybody
else as it has become second nature to them. He says, he has 50 people employed
under him for a project he is working on for YPSA (Young Power in Social
Action) out of which 32 are disabled. Additionally, he is also working with a2i
(Access to Information) on creating websites for the disabled. ‘I want people
to have opportunities that I did not have,’ says Bhattacharjee. And indeed,
through carving opportunities for himself in this world, he has been able to do
so for many others as well.
News Link:- http://xtra.newagebd.net/2311/blind-leading-the-blind/
