Twenty-year-old Khagesh hails from Purnia in Bihar. At the age of three, he was administered few injections to treat a fever, after which he lost his eyesight. Khagesh studied in a local special school for the blind till Class VIII and is currently pursuing Class XII via open schooling.
 
Khagesh operates a bank account with the State Bank of India. Recently, when he called the bank helpline to ask for an ATM card, he was denied the same on grounds of blindness. When he insisted that he can perfectly use one, he was asked to visit the bank branch and meet with the manager.
 
But given the treatment meted out to him by branch officials every time he visited the bank to withdraw money or make a deposit, Khagesh wasn’t confident that they would issue him an ATM card.
 
He contacted the Eyeway helpline and shared his challenge with the counselor. For every bank visit, he had travel at least one hour from his home and the bank manager would invariably make him wait for his own money. The reasons varied from lack of money in the bank, to some systemic error or more plainly, because he was blind. Khagesh often returned home disappointed and cashless. Hence it was important to get an ATM card, putting an end to the physical and emotional harassment.
 
The Eyeway counselor assured him of his rights as a citizen of the country and shared the banking guidelines issued by the Reserve Bank of India which state that no financial services can be denied on grounds of disability.
 
When Khagesh took a copy of the guidelines to the bank, the manager seemed surprised to see him armed with this information. He immediately issued an ATM card to Khagesh fearing that he might lodge an official complaint.
 
Information has the power to drive change. And that’s what Eyeway works towards. We empower visually impaired callers with knowledge and resources that enable independent living and stop discrimination.
 
Team Eyeway