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 physicist but given the limited awareness and opportunities, he chose Economics and Management instead. An MBA f...
Feb 07, 2022•29 min
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, she switched to sports administration, after learning about the vision and mission of GoSports. Deepthi an...
Jan 24, 2022•30 min
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 solving mode, visiting top eye hospitals. And finally they realised the need to salvage what they had i...
Jan 17, 2022•28 min
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 to day barriers a great deal. Having lost his vision to an eye condition called Macular Dystrophy, A...
Jan 10, 2022•21 min
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 singers or musicians. But his hard work took him to a college in Hyderabad, where Moses relied on h...
Dec 27, 2021•29 min
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 managed to transform her life in a way very few can. She worked hard to reinvent herself and today s...
Dec 20, 2021•30 min
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 Disability. He is currently the Head of Accessibility and Digital Inclusion for Atos. Neil who has been work...
Dec 13, 2021•30 min
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 1999 after her eyesight deteriorated and she created Disability Dynamics to help other people with disa...
Nov 29, 2021•31 min
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 and working with an NGO for a while, Payal went back to her first love, the hospitality industry. This tim...
Nov 22, 2021•27 min
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 science and psychology. He got his first job with Life Insurance Corporation of India, thanks to an a...
Nov 15, 2021•28 min
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. She is nationally recognized for negotiating landmark accessibility agreements without lawsuits and fo...
Nov 01, 2021•23 min
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 rejected by most top colleges in Mumbai. But life had visual storytelling in store for him, and he began his ...
Oct 25, 2021•30 min
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 regained his mental and physical strength. Apart from paragliding, he is India’s first solo blind trekke...
Oct 18, 2021•29 min
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 persons with vision impairment. Apart from blindness, Sadaf was also struck by rheumatoid arthritis w...
Oct 11, 2021•26 min
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 sensitizing workshops, curating content in the form of music, literature, puppet shows, brochures, radio shows ...
Sep 27, 2021•32 min
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 white cane and computers with screen reading software but her perspective widened after a life-changing exper...
Sep 20, 2021•27 min
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 interview with the legendary Ravi Shastri, where Dean's knowledge of the game as well as his attention to de...
Sep 13, 2021•33 min
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, but even that didn't stop her from practicing medicine. With support from her brother and husband,...
Aug 30, 2021•25 min
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 existence. He started his stint in the radio at an early age of four and since then has worked and set u...
Aug 23, 2021•38 min
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 dyslexia, cerebral palsy, and so on. Born with Retinitis Pigmentosa, a degenerative eye condition, Dr H...
Aug 18, 2021•26 min
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 books, the fourth one is on its way, he learned to cook and then wrote a book about it! He also re-learned...
Aug 09, 2021•26 min
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 developers. Jennison spotted the post on Twitter and the duo ended up pioneering a global campaign! Tune...
Jul 26, 2021•33 min
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 group and is used by more than 80000 people in India and abroad. Professor Bala shares his experienc...
Jul 19, 2021•23 min
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 policies, their work culture that promotes and motivates PwDs to grow at the same pace like other e...
Jul 12, 2021•21 min
In this episode of Eyeway Conversations, George Abraham speaks with Rahul Gupta, a wholesale banker working with a leading private bank. Rahul is a transformational leader, with over 15 years of experience across segments, in India and the UK. His extreme low vision didn't come in the way of securing his BA and Master's degree from prestigious schools in the country, St. Stephen's and Delhi School of Economics. Rahul wants to lead by example, and leave behind a legacy of courage and optimism. He...
Jul 05, 2021•18 min•Season 1Ep. 16
In this episode of Eyeway Conversations, George Abraham speaks with L. Subramani, a journalist and author of the memoir “Lights Out: The True Story Of A Man’s Descent Into Blindness”. After being diagnosed with Retinitis Pigmentosa at the age of 15, Subramani, two years later lost his vision completely, a difficult phase as he recalls in his memoir. Subramani is a postgraduate who currently works with The Deccan Herald, a renowned English daily. He considers his disability as a strong identity a...
Jun 28, 2021•28 min
In this episode of Eyeway Conversations, George Abraham speaks with Ketan Kothari who works as Technical Specialist- Disability at Sightsavers India. Ketan has had an impressive career spanning over thirty years. A post-graduate in Political Science, he started off as a part-time lecturer and then joined National Association for the Blind, Mumbai. In his short stint with BarrierBreak, he learnt a great deal about advocacy and was instrumental in two very important campaigns, Banking rights and C...
Jun 21, 2021•24 min•Season 1Ep. 14
In this episode of Eyeway Conversations, George Abraham speaks with Siddharth Sharma, Asia's first visually impaired Public Relations professional. Siddharth lost his eye sight in a motorbike accident in his early twenties but he didn't give up on life. Once he rediscovered himself and his interest in communications and public relations, he set up his own boutique firm, Foundations PR in 2002. He first started off with a job at the PR agency, Connections. Once he gained adequate experience and c...
Jun 14, 2021•22 min•Season 1Ep. 13
In this episode of Eyeway Conversations, hear George Abraham and Shilpi Kapoor speak with Debra Ruh, an entrepreneur and a Global Inclusion Strategist. A valued leader and a best-selling author, Debra is the Founder of Ruh Global IMPACT, Human Potential at Work (HPAW), AXSChat and Billion Strong. She is North America Consultant for UN ILO Global Business and Disability Network (GBDN) and Global Speaker for the US State Dept. Legislative and Technical Experience. She has expertise with Standards ...
Jun 08, 2021•37 min•Season 1Ep. 12
In this episode of Eyeway Conversations, George Abraham speaks with Madhubala Sharma, who works as a Deputy General Manager, Learning and Development with Concentrix, a technology-enabled global business services company. Madhubala was born with vision impairment but that did not deter her from living an independent life. She went to a mainstream school and college and then went on to achieve great success in her professional career. With over 17 years of work experience, she has spent 15 years ...
May 17, 2021•33 min
