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Nethrodaya is unique because it is
started by an individual from the community of visually
impaired. How the seed for the birth of Nethrodaya was sown is
recounted here by its founder C. Govindakrishnan (Gopi).
 I was born with visual impairment but I first woke
up to it when I was in Class 3 at the Sacred Heart School in
Mogappair, Chennai. I realized I could not see as well as I used
to. Initially, my parents and I thought getting glasses would
solve the issue. But, medical tests indicated otherwise. My
vision started getting worse, leading to a long-drawn phase of
turmoil filled with the darkest hours of my life. Slowly, I came
to terms with the changed realities and saw a different light.
When I went to college, I came in touch with many more visually
impaired students, all of them sailing in the same boat as me.
This helped me see the problem with much greater understanding.
Many of these students were enrolled in the city colleges for
higher studies and were staying in the government hostel for
SC/ST students. I discovered that as many as 22 students were
crowded together in a room that was a mere 14 feet by 12 feet.
The students had to sleep on the terrace or wherever there was
space. Living conditions were way below even the lowest
standards one could have set.
But, it was to take some time before I could translate this
understanding into action. After graduating from Pachiappa’s
college, I joined Banyan, an NGO working for mentally disturbed
women as Project Officer. Working there gave me invaluable hands
on experience in managing social initiatives. Then, in 2002, I
earned a Post-Graduate Diploma in Social Entrepreneurship from
the Centre for Social Initiatives and Management (CSIM) in
Chennai.
As a student at CSIM, I returned to the lives of the visually
impaired. A project component in the curriculum was the right
opportunity for me to study the issue in far more depth. Here, I
need to mention that the visually impaired students are left to
fend for themselves. The suburban railway network of Chennai
happens to be their choice. On this network, I discovered that:
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119 visually impaired
people had been reduced to begging, for want of guidance in
shaping better lives.
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Shockingly, 82 out of
these 119 were graduates.
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The visually impaired
also took to selling various household utility items and
lottery tickets. In doing so, they faced a number of
hurdles.
I
resolved to do something about the problem that the affected as
well as society had accepted as inevitable. Thus was born
Nethrodaya on October 2, 2002, with the following vision,
mission and goal.
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Vision
Creation of a
suitable environment for nurturing the abilities and
talents of the visually impaired, by means of which they
would be able to live their lives with a sense of
dignity and self worth as productive members of society. |
Mission
To light up the
path of the visually impaired by enabling the
fulfillment of their true potential. |
Goal
To act as a
resource centre and liaison body for the visually
impaired and to lobby with the government for the rights
of the differently abled. |
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