Eyeway Conversations

In this episode of Eyeway Conversations, George Abraham speaks with Pranjal Patil, the first visually impaired woman IAS officer in India. Pranjal lost her eyesight at an early age of six due to Retinal Detachment. Following which she was shifted to a special residential School for Blind girls in Mumbai, Maharashtra, the decision she is grateful for and that changed the course of her life.  P...

In this episode of Eyeway Conversations, George Abraham speaks with Preetham Gandhi Sunkavalli, who works with a leading automobile company in Mumbai, as part of their Business Transformation team.  Preetham experienced vision loss at an early age due to Retinitis Pigmentosa. But he was fortunate to pursue a good education from mainstream institutions. His initial dream was to become a physic...

In this episode of Eyeway Conversations, George Abraham speaks with Deepthi Bopaiah, CEO of GoSports Foundation, a non-profit venture working towards developing some of India's top talent in Olympic and Paralympic disciplines.  Growing up in Coorg, Deepthi was involved in sports, playing Tennis and Basketball for Karnataka University and the state. Although she started her career in banking,...

In this episode of Eyeway Conversations, George Abraham speaks with Ruchi Patil, mother of a visually impaired boy. Arijit Patil is a Class XII student in Mumbai who experienced vision problems from an early age. A premature baby born in the sixth month of Ruchi's pregnancy, his retina didn't quite develop as expected. After the initial reaction of shock and panic, his parents got into problem sol...

In this episode of Eyeway Conversations, George Abraham speaks with Apoorv Kulkarni who is a qualified Chartered Accountant and an MBA from Stanford University. After his initial stint with KPMG India, Apoorv traveled to the US to try something new. While pursuing his MBA, he was exposed to a world where technology and innovation opened up a whole new world of opportunities which lessened the day...

In this episode of Eyeway Conversations, George Abraham speaks with Moses Chowdari who is a person with low vision, working with Enable India in Bangalore. Moses was born to a farmer family in a village in Andhra Pradesh and his vision impairment was detected when he was three months old. Growing up, his family wasn't sure what life had in store for him, assuming that blind people generally end up...

In this episode of Eyeway Conversations, George Abraham speaks to Dr. Meghna Varma who was a practicing ophthalmologist. Midway through her professional career and life, Dr. Meghna suffered sight loss due to Retinitis Pigmentosa. She was lucky to have encountered George and Eyeway at a point in life where she was grappling with how to overcome her new challenges. She took things in her stride and...

In this episode of Eyeway Conversations, George Abraham and Shilpi kapoor speak with Neil Milliken, an English Accessibility and Digital Inclusion Advocate. He is one of the founding members of AXSChat, a leading online community that promotes accessibility and inclusion across social media. He is a W3C expert and contributor and Member of the Board of Directors for the World Institute on Disabili...

In this episode of Eyeway Conversations, George Abraham speaks with Penny Melville-Brown, a British Royal Navy veteran, blind baker and winner of the Holman Prize. Penny served for 22 years in the Women's Royal Naval Service (WRNS) and Royal Navy, reaching the rank of commander. She was the first woman to hold the position of naval barrister. She was medically discharged from the Royal Navy in 199...

In this episode of Eyeway Conversations, George Abraham speaks with Payal Kapoor from Hyderabad, India. Payal was working with the famous Oberoi group when she suffered from Meningitis at the age of 22. As a result she lost her eyesight, her hearing and her sense of smell and touch. She struggled for six years until she decided to turn things around for herself.  After rehabilitating herself...

In this episode of Eyeway Conversations, George Abraham speaks with Mahendra Galani who lost his eyesight at the age of 12. Mahendra was studying in a regular school at the time and he sat at home for a year and a half until his family learned about ways to educate blind children. He was then sent to Victoria Memorial School for the Blind in Mumbai, after which he pursued his degree in political s...

In this episode of Eyeway Conversations, George Abraham and Shilpi Kapoor speak with Lainey Feingold, an author and a disability rights lawyer from Berkeley, California. After being fired from her legal job of ten years, Lainey started her journey into accessibility for persons with disabilities. She works primarily with the blind community on technology, digital, and information access issues. Sh...

In this episode of Eyeway Conversations, George Abraham speaks with Anand Kulkarni, the first and only visually impaired filmmaker in Asia. At the age of seven, Anand was diagnosed with Macular Dystrophy which led to a gradual sight loss. But he managed to study with assistive technology and a great deal of support from his family. When Anand applied for a Bachelors in Mass Media, he was reje...

In this episode of Eyeway Conversations, George Abraham speaks with Divyanshu Ganatra, India's first visually impaired solo paraglider. He was 19 years old when Divyanshu lost his eyesight to glaucoma. An adventurer at heart, someone who loved trekking, cycling and exploring the outdoors, he felt trapped by the sudden vision loss. But after the initial hiccups of acceptance and adjustment, he rega...

In this episode of Eyeway Conversations, George Abraham speaks with Sadaf Khan, a Human Resources professional working with a tech company. Sadaf lost her eyesight at the tender age of three but her parents were determined to give her the best education. She studied in reputed mainstream institutions, getting a masters in Industrial Psychology. A choice that is not considered natural or easy for p...

In this episode of Eyeway Conversations, George Abraham speaks with Ritika Sahni, a proclaimed Singer-Performer and a Disability Campaigner. Alongside pursuing her interest in music, Ritika was drawn towards Deaf Education. She is a trained special educator, a communication therapist and a consultant in Disability Inclusion.  She has a vast experience of 30 years in teaching, conducting sensi...

In this episode of Eyeway Conversations, George Abraham speaks with Poonam Vaidya, a Bangalorean who loves to read, write, travel and explore. Poonam lost her eyesight when she was in college, but unlike most people who take a long time to accept the sudden shift in existence, she was back in a week! Acknowledging her blindness, she focused on the next steps instead.  She trained to use a whi...

In this episode of Eyeway Conversations, George Abraham speaks with Dean du Plessis, a Zimbabwean cricket commentator. He is the world's first visually impaired cricket commentator to participate in international matches. Born blind, Dean was sent off to a special school in South Africa where he discovered his love for cricket. He was fascinated by bowl by bowl commentary on the radio. An intervie...

In this episode of Eyeway Conversations, George Abraham speaks with Dr Priti Sharma, an Ayurveda medical practitioner and a trained Yoga therapist. Priti's interests in Ayurveda and Yoga started very early in life, as she was fascinated by the healing benefits of this ancient science. When she suddenly started losing her vision at the age of 30, due to Retinitis Pigmentosa, it came as a rude shock...

In this episode of Eyeway Conversations, George Abraham speaks with Jonathan Mosen, a popular broadcaster, advocate and a teacher. With a passion for politics, Jonathan is also the first congenital blind person to stand for parliament in New Zealand in 1993. Jonathan takes pride in his blindness, almost crediting his disability with a lot of fortune that came his way in around five decades of exis...

In this episode of Eyeway Conversations, George Abraham speaks with Dr Homiyar Mobedji who heads Bookshare in Asia and Africa. Bookshare is owned by a US based company, Benetech, which is a nonprofit social enterprise that empowers communities with software for social good. Bookshare is an online library of accessible ebooks for people with print disabilities, such as visual impairment, severe dys...

In this episode of Eyeway Conversations, George Abraham speaks with Simon Mahoney, a former Royal Marines officer, social work team leader, freelance artist and author. Diagnosed with a condition called Uveitis, Simon lost his eye sight at the age of 64. But in the next ten years, he not only learnt to accept and live a life with blindness but accomplished a great deal.  He has written three...

In this episode of Eyeway Conversations, George Abraham and Shilpi Kapoor speak with the founders of the famous GAAD movement. Joe Devon and Jennison Asuncion teamed up in 2012 to initiate what's well known as the Global Accessibility Awareness Day. It was a blogpost written by Joe Devon that started it all. In it, Joe highlighted the need for accessibility know-how to become mainstream among deve...

In this episode of Eyeway Conversations, George Abraham speaks with Professor M Balakrishnan who is a scientist working with IIT Delhi. Founder of ASSISTECH, a laboratory and a research group, Prof Bala is involved in developing a number of assistive devices targeted towards mobility and education of the visually impaired. One such popular device is the famous SmartCane which was developed by his...

In this episode of Eyeway Conversations, George Abraham speaks with Manushree Singh who works as Lead- Diversity and Inclusion in India for Capgemini. A multinational information technology services and consulting company, Capgemini is extremely inclusive in terms of offering persons with disabilities an equal opportunity of employment. In this interaction, Manushree shares the company's inclusive...