We seldom meet people today, who envision a future for the benefit of others. Having been deprived of sight since birth, Rahul Gajare decided to redefine the meaning of vision. The world today may not meet the accessibility needs of all persons with disabilities, but that did not stop Rahul from wanting to pursue his passion for programming and artificial intelligence!

Rahul belongs to a small village Bhandishegaon, near Pandharpur, Maharashtra in India. He was born into a family with 2 siblings and his parents are daily wage laborers.

Rahul was enrolled in a residential school for the blind in Pandharpur until his 7th grade. He then moved to a regular school in Ahmednagar and scored 90% in his 10th SSC board exams. His love for computers began while in school when his teacher introduced him to the world of technology. He also understood the importance of communicating in the English language and taught himself through e-books and Youtube videos. He was confident that with such a high score, he would definitely get admission in the Science stream and he would go on to do Engineering. But alas! The education systems in India did not permit him to take science due to his disability. He enrolled himself in Commerce and completed his 12th HSC board with 77.5% from Sir Parashurambhau College, Pune in March 2020.

While pursuing his 12th grade, Rahul learned C programming through online platforms, and also completed a 6-month online certification course in Python programming from the University of Michigan.

Society always questioned him – How can you use a smartphone or a computer? How can you travel on your own? Can you cook? Don’t you need sight for all of this?

His response – “I can do all of this, and much more! I compose music, I invest in the stock market and I make accessible tutorial videos for other persons with vision impairment.”

Today science and technology are booming in every industry. Apps are available for absolutely everything! But are these apps compatible with screen reading software? Are we even thinking about this basic accessibility feature so that everyone can use these services without discrimination?

Rahul wants to help bridge this gap. He wants to educate himself in the field of artificial intelligence and create software and apps to make an accessible world for all! After doing a lot of research within India, he realized that his dreams may not be fulfilled here due to the limitations in the education system and the stigma around disability. He began to look for his options abroad and decided to give it a shot in the Universities of the United Kingdom. Rahul did everything on his own – research, scoring 7.0 on his IELTS, applying to Universities, and finally cracking the interview rounds.

Today, he holds an offer letter from 4 of the applied Universities, including his first choice, the University of Sussex, UK, to pursue a degree in Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence. He only needs some monetary support to accept this offer now, as his family will not be able to afford his education and living expenses, which is approximately Rs. 35 Lacs per year, for 3 years.

At the first glance, the amount may sound like a lot. But you don’t have to be a millionaire to afford this. You just have to be 1 in 3,500 individuals, who pledges Rs. 1000 per year towards his education for the next 3 years. Do you think you could help him?

If these words have piqued your curiosity, take a few moments to go through Rahul’s story, in his own words, and join his campaign to support his further education!

https://www.ketto.org/fundraiser/SupportRahulToStudyAI

-Vanitha Ganesan