Raja is a sight better human than many : Chennai

The biggest strength a man can possess is the ability to transform his shortcomings into positives. Being visually-challenged doesn’t stop him from having a vision in life. “The government has to look beyond pr­oviding the white cane and dark glasses for the visually challenged. There are th­ings in which we need furth­er support, to have a le­vel playing field,” says R. Raja, 26, a visually-challe­nged research scholar at Pr­e­­sidency College, Chennai.

 

Visually challenged research scholar Raja of Chennai

His research work focuses on ‘The contribution of physically-challenged personalities in Tamil literature’. His professor, Dr P. Mahalingam, head of Tamil Department, Presidency College, wanted to understand more about the topic through him and thus chose him for the study.

But things were not easy for this inspirational person. Even after clearing the junior fellowship research examination, he saw students without eligibility grab admissions in top universities. Yet, he did not give up and still continues with the struggle to create equal opportunity for all, irrespective of physical abnormalities.

Apart from academics, there are several activities he is proficient at. He is an ace sportsperson and has bagged three gold medals in running, long jump and shot put in tournaments held at Bengaluru in 2007. He was also featured in a movie that highlights the fact that kids born to visually impaired are generally ‘sighted’. An interesting aspect is that the film is proposed to be sent to Limca and Guinness Book.

While conversing with this gentleman, you understand he clearly categorises people as being sighted and not having sight – not as normal and ‘abnormal’ people. Not being able to tolerate the manner physically challenged people were treated by professors in the college that he graduated from, he decided to return his Bachelor of Education degree to the then higher education secretary Gan­eshan, and made sure the people responsible for it were punished. “As I don’t have to look into the eyes of wicked people, I gather enormous strength to fight against them,” he grins.

He is the student secretary of the arts and literary association for the visually impaired graduates union and has been chosen for the best social worker award in several forums. He has been fighting hard for the rights of the most ignored group, the visually-imp­air­ed. “Our demands are ba­sic and we want reservations we are entitled to. Our life has been very challenging and we desperately want to bring in change for the most deserving,” he tells DC. “Frankly speaking, we, as office-bearers of forums, have done much more than the state has in all these years,” he adds.

“I aspire to become an educationist and would like to start institutions that impart knowledge to all and treat all, including the physically-challenged, equally,” says a tearful Raja who wants to go further than challenged persons. He can be contacted at 9940393855.

Source : Deccan Chronicle ( 22nd April 2013)