NEW DELHI: He dedicated 25 years of his life creating opportunities and facilities for visually-impaired students that he couldn’t avail of during his student days.Now 59, Anil Kumar Aneja, a professor at Delhi University, calls himself a “rebel”, who considers his “disability as an asset”.
He said numerous challenges came his way since childhood, and, into school, college and beyond, but he overcame each and every one of them undaunted, with the same steely determination with which is striving to provide better learning infrastructure to visually-impaired students.
A PhD holder in English literature, Aneja said he had to battle prejudices harboured by his own against those of his kind. Visually-impaired since birth, Aneja recalled that he was barely five when he had to fight his family, which didn’t consider it necessary to send him to school. He had to literally go on a hunger strike to be allowed to go to school, Aneja recalled.
“Though my father was very caring, he simply didn’t understand the importance of sending a visually-impaired child to school. My elder sister, who also battles the same disability, was made to sit at home. However, I rebelled against my family and even stopped eating till I was allowed to go to school,” Aneja recalled.
“Eventually, my family agreed to send me to a special school at Panipat (in Haryana). My uncle used to take me there. However, that school only taught us music and similar disciplines and I wanted to take up subjects that regular students pursue,” he said.
He said he kept changing schools before eventually settling on Blind Delhi Association, where he completed his schooling. He then took admission to St. Stephen’s College where he pursued higher studies in English literature.
During those days, there was no reading material available in Braille or audio for the benefit of visually-impaired students. There was neither any infrastructure for the disabled at any of the city’s educational institutions. There was discrimination at every level against the likes of Aneja and even some job sectors weren’t open to hiring visually-impaired people.
“After completing my BA Honours in English, I decided to sit for the IAS exam. However, public service wasn’t open to hiring visually-impaired people back then. I got myself enrolled at a reputed management college but it had little in the way of infrastructure,” said Aneja, who is currently serving as the Officer on Special Duty (OSD), Equal Opportunity Cell at DU. He is also the nodal officer for Persons with Disabilities (PwD) at the university.
A professor of English, Aneja labours 19 hours a day in his quest to give visually-impaired students their due. He also takes advocacy work for the All India Confederation of the Blinds (AICB), in his capacity as its vice president. The AICB has 25 affiliates across the country.
He recently filed a petition seeking availability of specially- designed currency for the visually impaired. Last month, he won a case, demanding transport allowance for the visually-impaired at banks, at par what with what PWD staffers of the central government get.