Visual-impairment (blindness) is among the most severe forms of physical disability, and the effects are exacerbated if the affected person is a woman. If that woman belongs to the lower income group, her plight is unimaginable. There are lakhs of such visually impaired women not only in India but in other parts of the world, too. The problems they face everywhere in the world appear to be largely similar, says N.S. Venkataraman, as he poignantly describes the trials and tribulations faced by these women in India today
In India, while the Central and state governments extend some help to visually impaired persons, the support is marginal. Governments can do only so much, considering their other commitments. Even when there is provision for aid, in most cases, no distinction is made between men and women who are visually-impaired.Visual-impairment (blindness) is among the most severe forms of physical disability, and the effects are exacerbated if the affected person is a woman. And if the woman belongs to the lower income group, her plight is unimaginable.
Sense of loneliness
Most visually impaired women, irrespective of financial status, are forced to live lonely and isolated lives. Despite their problems, some of them try to get a formal education by attending special schools, and a few manage to go to college, too. Most visually impaired students are admitted only to Arts courses and not to Science or technical subjects, and a number of them qualify as teachers. There are, however, only a very few educational institutions that can cater to the specific needs of visually impaired women and so, only a small percentage of affected women manage to qualify themselves academically, since many of them live in small towns and rural areas, where accessibility to institutions catering to their special needs is a problem.
Job prospects
There are reservation policies in government schools, colleges and departments to provide jobs for visually impaired persons, but a large number of the posts remain unfilled due to administrative lacunae. Also, in the case of job reservation, there is no special quota for visually impaired women, and they have to compete with similarly handicapped men for these openings. The private sector rarely employs visually impaired people.
Role of family
Visually impaired women usually depend on their parents for care and support, but once the parents pass away, they generally receive little support from other family members, probably due to poor economic conditions. They struggle to make ends meet by selling assorted items on the streets or in running trains. Sometimes a few of them join together to form a music group and go around crowded areas singing in return for some for alms.
As for married life, visually challenged women are usually unable to find partners other than similarly handicapped men, and even when they do get married, the couple separate after a few years more often than not, due to either poverty or other stressors. Fortunately, children of visually impaired couples generally have good eyesight. The parents do their best to get the children an education, usually in government-run institutions, as they are not able to afford private schools. Unfortunately, there are cases where the children grow up and don’t care for their handicapped parents as they should, adding to their woes. A heartening feature amidst all this gloom is that visually challenged women have a habit of getting together and laughing, joking and relieving their stress. They seem to reconcile themselves to their situation, which holds out no hope of relief.
Society’s responsibility
It devolves on society to find some means to support visually impaired women, be it in terms of money and materials, or kind words and counselling. This would alleviate their suffering to some extent at least. Unfortunately, society’s response to this need hasn’t been what it should be – probably because the plight of the visually challenged women hasn’t been adequately publicised. Generous people and service-minded organisations are very few on the ground.
In Tamil Nadu, there are reportedly over five lakh visually-impaired women, 90 per cent of them living in poverty. There must be over one crore people in Tamil Nadu with incomes that can stretch to helping these women. If ten such persons would join together and support one visually impaired woman for their entire life, perhaps, these women would have to bear less pain – and our society would be deemed to be responsible and caring.
(The writer is trustee, Nandini Voice for the Deprived, a not-for-profit organisation in Chennai that aims to highlight the problems of downtrodden and deprived people and support their cause, to promote probity and ethical values in private and public life and to deliberate on socio-economic issues in a dispassionate and objective manner.)
from Webdoux