MYSURU: Mocked for choosing mathematics in her childhood and discouraged by several institutions and teachers against pursuing science, with a ‘caution’ that it would be too difficult for her, visually-impaired entrepreneur Vidhya Y dared to dream big. She defied all odds to not just bag gold medals in her Masters, but is today leading other visually-challenged people to taste success, through effective learning in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) courses.
Visually challenged since birth, Vidhya faced several difficulties in studying science and mathematics, owing to their visual nature. Completing her early education at a village in Bengaluru Rural district, she joined a formal school for higher education but struggled to cope. Though she developed an interest in maths and science disciplines, including the curricula involving equations and diagrams, all tasks seemed uphill to her.
She also sought a tutor’s help after school to learn the basics. But a lack of access to technology, especially resources related to STEM subjects, more so for the visually impaired, threw up more challenges.
Determined, Vidhya still opted for mathematics as an elective in her pre-university and became the first visually-impaired student from the state to clear the subject with good marks. “Since childhood, I have been fond of numbers. Even now, my mother recalls instances of how I used to count each and every mustard seed and rice grain as a child. It was by nature that I had a fascination for maths and science.
But there was no content available to teach these subjects for the visually-challenged,” recalls Vidhya. After her PUC, she did her Bachelor of Computer Application. After completing it, she enrolled in a Master’s programme in Digital Society Programming at IIIT-Bangalore and excelled in the course, bagging a gold medal too.
Despite her achievements, however, no company was willing to hire her. That’s when she decided to use this setback as an opportunity and decided to create jobs for others instead, as an entrepreneur, with a mission to make STEM education accessible to visually-impaired students.
Vidhya, along with Supriya Dey, an IT professional who was into research at IIIT-B; and Amit Prakash, a professor at the institute, founded Vision Empower (VE), a not-for-profit organisation that has designed an accessible learning management platform to promote experiential learning of STEM subjects, computational training, digital literacy, and early childhood programmes. Its technology arm ‘Vembi Technologies’ has also developed the world’s most affordable Braille book reading solution for children called ‘Hexis-Antara’.
Beginning with science and maths interventions in one school, Vision Empower is currently working with over 30 schools across six states on a portfolio that covers STEM, computational thinking, and digital literacy, especially for visually challenged teachers. This year they have been able to touch more than 18,000 direct and indirect beneficiaries, with the help of more than 300 volunteers.
As a Research Fellow at Microsoft, Vidhya coauthored two papers published by ACM. She has also hosted 35 episodes as an RJ on science and technology, which benefited thousands of visually-impaired listeners.
“Most visually-challenged students across the country learn in blind schools. They are being told by their teachers, who are also visually challenged, that it’s not possible to learn maths and science. I work to ensure that no visually-impaired child faces those challenges that I had to deal with while studying subjects of my choice. VE provides everything that is necessary to parents, teachers, and other stakeholders. I also represent it at many national and international forums to encourage others to join the movement, create awareness about the capabilities of visually impaired and explore opportunities for people with disabilities,” she says.
Vision Empower co-founder Supriya Dey says that nurturing Vision Empower at its infancy has been an extremely enriching experience. “It is only the dedication and innovation of the VE and Vembi teams and the unwavering support from IIITB and our sponsors, mainly Microsoft India, Wipro Foundation, and Elektrobit India at a very critical time. The real impact will be when the students find access to STEM subjects and are able to create careers if they so choose,” she concludes.
Goals in sight