Visually impaired gather at national convention

Agra: “This is scientific that we don’t see from eye but from brain. Then why people take blindness as disability? I have no regret that I don’t have eyes but I am thankful to god that atleast my brain is fine,” said Mohammed Khalid, a bank employee in New Delhi and founder member of Blind Stars during the inaugural day of the three-day-long national convention of Blind stars kickstarted here at at Dr BR Ambedkar university on Friday.
The jubilee hall of the varsity saw a unique gathering of people, around 125 in numbers, who were visually challenged during the national convention of blind stars organized in collaboration Antar Dristi, an organization that seeks to spread awareness about the need for more eye donors. The visually impaired participants who earlier were only facebook friends bridge the boundary from virtual world to the real one and shared their struggle of life with each other.
Mohammed Khalid is the one who started facebook called Blind Stars in October 2012 alsog with his friends Avinash Shahi, Iffat Siddiqui, Sayyed Mohammed Raza Hasani, Kapil Mittal. The motive of the facebook page was to provide a platform to the blinds where they can get the information regarding their problems and can share the opportunities. Presently more than four thousand people from national and international levels are included in this group. A 21 member team was formed for the proper monitoring for the work, in which 20 are blinds.
The three day mega-event, national convention of blind stars will have multiple sessions on issues like, how blinds can use media a tool to help them, how the blinds can enter into fields like journalism, etc. Short movies in regional languages will also be shown on the last day of the convention on Sunday.
On day one, on Friday, the event was inaugurated by DP Tripathi, General Secretary of NCP (a blind politician) along with Sangeeta Bhatnagar, Chairperson of Aksansha Samiti. The event was also attended by managing trustee of Antardrishti Akhil Srivastava along with Mohammad Muzammil, VC, Dr BR Ambedkar varsity.
Talking to TOI, Mohammed Khalid said, “I am a born star. I am an attention seeker since childhood. I never took blindness (by birth) as disability. One day I had a thought, If I can be a star, which I feel I am among my friends, family and colleagues, than why other’s like me cannot? Then I formed a facebook page with my friends called blind.”
He added, that this surprise people but the facebook page, blind stars, is now having around 4000 blind stars following each other.
DP Tripathi, General Secretary of NCP also motivate the visually impaired participants during the convention with his life story. The minister appreciated the organizers of the event and expressed wish to organize such events in future as well.
“I was told that blindness is a curse. I was barred to attend family functions when I was a child. Blindness made me lost everything but since the day I decided to overcome the disability, I was free. I believe that if we lost one sense we get another, we just need to balance it,” added DP Tripathi.
Addressing the blind stars on the occasion, Sangeeta Bhatnagar said that the convention will circulate a message in the society that blinds are not only for sympathy and pity, but blinds can also work like normal people and can move with main stream of the society.
The managing trustee of Antardrishti Akhil Srivastava informed that this is the first time in the country that a huge convention of blinds have been organized which has the participants from across the country. The 150 visually impaired participants of the convention are almost working in government, non-government and corporate companies.
“There is zeal and enthusiasm on every face. Their confidence can shatter anyone who think that they are smart. These people, with a major disability, are leading a wonderful life and are setting examples for others which we with all sense organs are not,” said Shraddha Mathur, a student of MA from BR Ambedkar university.