Providing an Insight

James Mathew is on a mission to bring the visually challenged, who are otherwise shunned by the society, into the mainstream
James Mathew, coordinator for KFB Insight Project, instructs a student at Kerala Federation of the Blind headquarters  B P Deepu
James Mathew, coordinator for KFB Insight Project, instructs a student at Kerala Federation of the Blind headquarters  B P Deepu

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: James Mathew works in the information technology field. But he is not the typical IT professional. As the coordinator of an IT Training Centre (KFB Insight Project) run by Kerala Federation of the Blind, James is on a mission to bring the visually challenged, who are otherwise shunned by the society, back into the mainstream. A master trainer since the inception of Insight in 2007, James has changed the lives of over 2,000 visually challenged.

Under his training many have overcome their disability to enter into employment with multinational IT companies and also land government jobs. Timi Sebastian from Ettumanoor, Ajeesh Thomas from Kollam and Sunder from Thiruvananthapuram are examples.

Instead of accepting lucrative jobs offers, James chose to set up the training centre with the modest resources provided to KFB by the Social Justice Department since he values his role as an enabler.

“It has an element of activism. Out of the many whom I have trained I could bring a few back to life. The jobs I could have had would not have given me this satisfaction,” says James. After completing BTech in mechanical engineering from College of Engineering here, he worked in a private company in Bengaluru and shifted to the city to work with various NGOs like Free Software Foundation etc. The 36-year-old stays with his parents P G Mathai and Mariyamma at ‘Kanikunnathu’ in Nalanchira.

A few hours spent at the training centre at Law College junction will give a person an insight into what it means to be visually challenged. Over the years it has become the sole hope for the visually challenged to address various issues that affect their daily lives.

From checking lottery ticket prizes to filling out application forms and knowing the details of modern gadgets, the centre remains open for the needy. Trainers also go to various centres in the state to teach various courses designed by Insight. But the most attractive service offered by Insight is the six week residential programme which teaches the basics of computers, something that has enabled many to gain meaningful jobs.

“Insight is the only centre funded by the government which enrolls the visually challenged without any filtering. Our role is to facilitate a better life for them through technology,”  says James.
The centre has a series of training programmes planned on teaching, digital payments etc. A firm believer in technology as an equaliser, James dreams of the visually challenged helping others in learning
technology.

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