When Sushmeetha Bubna, founder of Voice Vision, an NGO that works to empower the visually impaired, attended some matrimony get-togethers, she encountered another problem the specially-abled face.

“We found that at these meetings, challenged candidates are called last, and are asked to wait till the others are done interacting,” Bubna, visually-impaired herself, said.

This gave her the idea of organising such get-togethers specially for people with disabilities.

Voice Vision, with the help of college students from around Goregaon and Andheri, now routinely organises such meetings, where the specially abled people of an area can register and meet each other. The organisation is helped by alumni from colleges such as SNDT University and Saraf College in Malad. The fourth matrimonial meet-up organised by the Goregaon-based organisation was held in Malad last week, with around 78 interested candidates and 70 parents attending. However, the get-together was not restricted to candidates meeting and trying to get to know one another. They also added a brainstorming session, where each candidate could share his or her views on overcoming disability. According to Bubna, most specially-abled men would look for women without disabilities for marriage. “We came across cases where a visually impaired man would look for a sighted woman, etc. We wanted to change this perception. Hence, besides the interaction, we included this brainstorming session. This helps change people’s minds, which is the ultimate aim of organising these get-togethers,” said Bubna.