The Insightful Dynamo

The low vision definition that is there in the, in the current RPWD Act

The Rights for Persons with Disabilities Act

I have contributed to that definition because I am one of those few people in the country

who works for people with low vision also

Hi, I am Sachu Ramalingam and I have been a low vision professional, working for children with low vision for the last 25 years

In addition to the professional life that I shared, I have been a practicing low vision professional for the last 25 years

In fact, one of the few low vision experts in the country where I give time to see low vision patients in the clinical set up, here in Mumbai and I used to do it in Delhi too and I am a person who lives with low vision

Low vision is a condition which happens at any part of life in, and it could be in children, it could be in middle age, it could be in senior citizens

It is a condition where after the best possible treatment and standard refractive error correction the vision has not improved for the person to be able to functionally handle his/her life in the way any other person could do, and still there is a visual impairment but there is enough vision perhaps to manage their daily life or their mobility or do reading or writing with low vision devices

I didn’t know that I was a person with low vision until I actually took my own professional course in rehabilitation science, after my grade 12.

Though my vision problem was detected right when I was 6 months and I had undergone a series of six surgeries between 6 months of age to say 7 years of age

But I always was a child in a mainstream school because my mother was very insistent that I study in a regular, mainstream school

So, I have gone through all the challenges that happens to a low vision child

not being able to copy from the board, having resistance from teachers to have me in class

In fact, when I was in grade 10, I didn’t want a reader-writer but they forced a reader-writer to me

and I am a person who can think and write

I can’t think and speak and I had a, the fun part is I had a writer whose handwriting was worser than me

The challenges that a person with low vision faces, especially when you are in a place of employment is being able to work on computer and have that kind of a device where the device can come close to the eyes with a touch screen or with modifications made to the device

So in my office I also have a desktop screen that will come close to my face despite working on a laptop

The other big challenge is when you do outdoor shopping and to identify the product with the price

As a woman, we want to be very elegant and well-dressed and the kind of position that I am,

I really need to be extremely presentable and makeup is an art which I have developed without even looking at the mirror

So that’s one

But you know there are ways in which I can do that. I might look at my phone, magnified camera, etc.

So my life completely came to a full circle the day I received the President of India Award as a role model for being a professional to serve people with disabilities, which I received from our honourable Pratibha Patil 

and also the Neelam Kanga Award which is a very prestigious award

and also the Hellen Keller Award for employment of people with disabilities

So apart from all of this, I give a lot of dedicated time to my spiritual evolution

And I practice kriya yoga and my day starts at 4 am, where I meditate for 2 hours and finish my home chores from 7 to 8 

and then run to office and back again before I sleep, I definitely do meditate

This has been a source of inspiration in right decisions

And to be able to calm, to deal with a team of seventy plus which I deal in my office

That’s it  (laughter) 

All right, see you, bye!