RSS Vishal
JainAugust 2008 Winner, for story A vision to create better tomorrow "I have a dream of conducting a nation wide awareness campaign for physically challenged and general public." Vishal's inspiring blog |
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NGO Post: Tell us a little about yourself.
Vishal: I am a student, doing my final year B.Com at Sri Bhagavan Mahaveer Jain College Bangalore. My father is a businessman and my mother is a housewife. I had more than 90% vision during my child hood but it started deteriorating gradually due to Retinitis Pigmentosa as years went by. My elder brother and Sister also have the same problem. Till my 9th Standard, I was in a regular school managing pretty well. It was after that, that I started finding it difficult to manage my studies on my own. I could not pursue my academic education for The next three years due to reasons beyond my reach. Yet, those three years were fruitful as I took up intensive training in music.
Neither I nor my educational institution had any idea as to how to handle my situation. We did not have any knowledge about using a reader, scribe or technology to complete my High school at Bellary. This is when I hailed to Bangalore and I got in touch with Samarthanam. I went there with the intention of learning Computers, to use it as a mechanism to contact the outside world. I was convinced by some of the volunteers that this same tool could be used to continue and complete my education. Though, in the beginning I had no idea on how to go about it, I decided to take the plunge. It was an enlightening period making me confident and aware of my abilities to face the future with the support of volunteers and technology. I have secured an aggregate of 80% marks in both 10th standard (Privet candidate), 12th standard (from Mahaveer Jain College) and an aggregate of 75% in my graduation.
My aim is to secure MBA from any of the top 10 colleges of India and render service to the society.
Apart from studies, I am very much interested in learning new things and playing musical instruments. I can play 5 percussion instruments, that is, Tabla, Dholak, Congo, Drums and Rhythm Pads.
My life’s best experiences were giving musical performances in USA and meeting the former president of India - Dr. A P J Abdul Kalam.
NGO Post: What are your areas of interest in the social sector?
Vishal:* Creating awareness, at a global level, to both - the physically challenged and general public regarding the facilities available for the betterment of the lives of the physically challenged.
* Setting up of resource center in every district of the country focusing on Awareness, guidance, computer training, communication, etc for physically and economically challenged people.
* Improving the quality of education, especially for the physically and economically challenged students.
* Guiding people to make them feel independent and self-sufficient.
NGO Post: What are your current activities for the non-profit sector?
Vishal: Managing a website which highlights resources for visually challenged like achievers, softwares, Education, Employment, NGO’s, mailing lists, blogs, etc.Founder member of the student committee “Synergy”, established with the aim of organizing extra curricular activities to the students beyond academic domains that focuses on self-enhancement programs.
Owner of “Linking Leads” an online platform using Yahoo Groups created to link the interested volunteers and the students wherein, Students post their requirements and interested volunteers come forward to help them.
NGO Post: How did the story come about?
Vishal: Though, I discontinued my studies for three years due to lack of awareness, learning to operate the computer enriched my knowledge about the various avenues available for one’s growth. I then realized that I could create awareness among the people. To start with, I wrote this article for my college magazine which had a strong impact on the lecturers and the students. From then onwards I kept modifying it to suit to varying needs.NGO Post: You are in a contest where you can present an idea and win $100,000 to implement that idea for social welfare. What will be your idea?
Vishal: I have a dream of conducting a nation wide awareness campaign for physically challenged and general public.According to a survey only around 8% of the visually challenged are literates and among them only 4% are computer literates. The root cause of this is lack of awareness.
There are many facilities available which would empower visually and physically challenged people to lead an independent and happy life. they are assets to the nation and can contribute to the development of the nation on par with the other citizens provided they are motivated and made aware of the available facilities.
The question arises as to how to reach every Visually Challenged individual and, where is the human resource that can do this project effectively and efficiently? It is practically not possible to approach each person individually and give them the awareness. Hence a source should be identified which interacts with the visually challenged regularly.
All hospitals, clinics, individual doctors and all the medical students are the best source to create awareness among people because every patient suffering from any disability will definitely approach a doctor at least once. The doctors should be regularly updated with the information about various facilities, organizations giving opportunities to visually challenged persons, their contact details, etc.
Again, doctors cannot afford to spend their precious time to create awareness considering their primary duties. This problem can be solved by using other alternatives like pamphlets, audio video cd’s, audio cassettes, etc in Regional, National and International languages.
Therefore doctors need not spend their precious time in giving information orally. On the other hand mass media should be used to create awareness about the project in order to attract all the others who did not have access to the above.
This concept is suitable for all kinds of disabilities and it can be innovatively used for many other problems.
I conclude by highlighting that these kinds of projects can bring a remarkable change in the quality of life of every physically challenged.
I am confident of executing this dream project at the earliest.
