The society is quick to write off a person who is disabled and poor. But time and again, persons with blindness have challenged this common belief with their grit and hard work.
 
Blind by birth, 20-year-old Rahul Gajare hails from Solapur, Maharashtra. He was born to illiterate parents who struggled to raise two blind boys. Education was out of question, until a relative intervened to enroll Rahul in a special school when he was seven.
 
Rahul enjoyed learning, and sought to study in a mainstream setup. When he made the move in eight grade to a school in Ahmednagar, he was denied the option to pursue Mathematics. Most academicians believe that blind students cannot be taught complex subjects like Physics, Chemistry, Biology or Maths.
 
Victim to this limited mindset, Rahul shifted focus to computers and made good progress with the help of an encouraging teacher. In Class X, he scored 90% bagging a scholarship that helped him with hostel accommodation and a stipend to support his further education.
 
He thought his extraordinary performance would impress the institution and instill faith in his abilities. Unfortunately, it bore no impact and his preference for Science stream was rejected. Rahul approached the Board of Higher Secondary Education and managed to settle for Commerce with Maths.
 
When it came to the college application process, Rahul was 100% certain that he wanted to be a software engineer. His passion for Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence strengthened after he took a short term course in Python programming language.
 
However, admissions to such courses in most colleges across India required a Science background, which he didn’t have. So Rahul decided to look for options in the US and UK. Finally, his determination was rewarded by an acceptance letter from the University of Sussex.
 
This could have been a happy ending, if Rahul had the resources to pay for his tuition fee and other expenses. He is exploring several scholarships and talking to companies that could sponsor his education abroad.

If you can help in any way or suggest Rahul on how to achieve his dream, please write to us at eyeway.org@gmail.com. This young boy has managed to come a long way alone, he just needs a little support to cover the last few miles.

Team Eyeway