Asha Bhatkhande born with a normal vision had a dream to become a teacher. After completing her graduation and D.Ed. Asha joined B.T Shahane Government School, Pune as an assistant teacher. Her dream was fulfilled and she was overjoyed. She got married and had two children. Her family was complete. Asha was very happy with her job and family life.

But Asha’s joy was short-lived. She was diagnosed with Arthritis and lost her vision due to that. Her entire life came crashing down around her. Asha’s sudden and dramatic vision loss sent everyone reeling. She broke down. She took treatment for her eyes in many renowned hospitals but all in vain. Asha even lost her job which was her dream.

Asha was now totally dependent on her family. Due to her condition, she went into depression. But with the support of her near and dear ones she started coming out of it.

She wanted to be independent but was clueless about how to proceed. She slowly started interacting on social media with the visually impaired community. She learnt that people with visual impairment can also learn computers and get good jobs. Asha saw a ray of hope.

Her life took a turn for the better when she came across a message on WhatsApp about the course of Telecalling conducted by The Poona Blind Men’s Association supported by HSBC. Asha enrolled herself in the course.

Asha received training in all the developmental areas like Teleclalling & Communication, Computer skills, Orientation & Mobility, activities of daily living etc. She has come a long way leaving behind the traumatic experiences of her life.

Her hard work, dedication to learning new things and her confidence got her an exciting opportunity to work as a Telecalling Agent at Finolex Pipes Ltd.

Asha says she now feels empowered, and she has the tools to face the future with confidence, “I have to stop and wonder sometimes what my life would be like if The Poona Blind Men’s Association had not entered into it, I would still probably be that depressed person I was. But now, I’ve got such a good outlook. I’ve got my life back.

I am Gaurav Kumar from Delhi and have completed my graduation in Arts.

I completed a course in Accessibility Testing & Programming at PBMAs TTI and today am employed at Exafluence with a salary package of Rs 4,80, 000 per annum.

Prior to joining this course, I could never have thought that I will be able to learn such a course. But thanks to our trainers at TTI who made our learning so effortless.

This training encouraged me to learn many more programming languages like JAVA, SQL, Javascript & python

After my training, I went in for an internship for 3 months as “Jr. Software Engineer-Trainee with a stipend of Rs 15,000/ month. On completion of my internship, my work was reviewed and offered a job in the same company.

I am very much thankful to TTI & HSBC for conducting such a useful course.

Laxmikant Kamble originally Belongs to Nanded district. He has recently completed his graduation in Bachelor of Arts. His special subject was English at SP college

His sings very well and participates in singing at the institute in events and activities, festivals and celebrations. Learning technology is his passion. He is a frank, friendly, creative, quick learner, multitasker, supportive, and helping person. He is not blind by birth but when he was three years old he lost his eyesight due to high fever.

After few years he got to know about blind schools from people. Since he wanted to learn and as a young boy very active and hardworking, he took admission in a blind school. From the time he was 7 years he has been living outside his home away from his parents and everybody as he was very keen to learn and go ahead in life. He completed his schooling from different Blind schools and shifted to Pune for higher education. He took admission at S.P. College for pursuing Bachelor of Arts.

He wanted to learn computers, so he joined the Basic computer course, studies M.S. Office and on completing his graduation from S.P. College, he enrolled for Web Development course at Technical Training Institute of The Poona Blind Men’s Association. He is improving his communication skills and is very fond of English Language. He motivates other students to talk in English and keeps on improving himself.

He is under training and on completion of the course his goal is getting a job in IT sector which will make him economically independent and his parents proud of him.

Shankar Kohle is a very active boy from Parbhani who dreams of becoming a system analyst and database developer. He was born with a small right eye and in 2020, he lost vision in his left eye due to a retina problem, resulting in the loss of vision in both eyes. During that challenging time, his parents were unsure about what to do and worried about Shankar's future. They made efforts to find a solution for his eyes, but unfortunately, they were not successful.

At the time of losing his vision, Shankar was studying B. Com in the second year. However, due to the writer's issue, he couldn't continue with that course. Undeterred, he decided to change his faculty and pursue Arts. Despite the setbacks, he never lost his confidence and continued his studies, now pursuing T.Y. B.A.

During this period, Shankar began connecting with the blind community at a Technical Training Institute. There, he learned the basics of computers using screen readers like NVDA and JAWS. After completing his basic computer training, he developed an interest in learning DBMS and networking, which led him to be admitted into the Fujitsu supported project.

His aspirations remain steadfast, and upon completing the course at Fujitsu, he aims to become a skilled System Analyst and Database Management professional. Shankar's determination, continuous learning, and the support of the Technical Training Institute and technology serve as the pillars of his journey towards achieving his dreams.

Salim Mulani is born and brought up in Pune. He lived in a joint family. His father retired as a supervisor from Automobile company. He is graduated from Pune University and also completed 1 year diploma in Office Automation. Salim was very active in sports during his school days. He started earning money at a very early stage of his life to support his family. He was a very happy go lucky fellow. Salim has experience of working in Call Centers, Supervisor in Construction business, Support executive in Voice and Non-Voice process in IBM Daksh, Senior Billing Executive in Access Healthcare Services. He has vast experience.

Salim got married at the age of 25 years. He had a settled life with a good wife and a sweet baby boy. But life is unpredictable Salim’s vision started deteriorating, he thought that because of working in night shifts he is getting problem in eyes but after taking so many treatments it was not showing any recovery at last he came to know that he has lost his vision. Salim went under depression he thought of committing suicide, but his family supported him a lot.

Salim slowly came out of that phase, now he started connecting with blind community but still he was helpless. Some of his friends advised him to join Technical Training Institute. He learned about The Poona Blind Men’s Association from its website. Salim liked the environment of the Institute and took the admission for Tele calling course because he already had the experience of working in BPO. He also learnt Jaws and NVDA. At Technical Training Institute, he began to use JAWS (Job Access with Speech), a screen reader software meant for people with vision loss. This has helped him ‘listen’ to his academic content and supported in saving time. By attending daily classes he improved his English Communication and computer skills. Because of his talkative nature, Salim has made lots of friends. He is getting good job opportunities and is sure that he will really get the job.

Pallavi Pandit is from Mumbai, Maharashtra. Her father Madhav Pandit is a Government employee working for Baba Atomic Research Centre and her mother is a housewife. Being a Mumbai girl Pallavi was very dynamic and active. She had done her schooling and Junior College from Atomic Energy Central School. Pallavi wanted to become an Engineer and get a high paid job in IT sector but destiny had planned something else. In 2013 she started losing her vision and by the end of the year she totally lost the vision of both the eyes. It was like an end of the life for her, it was like few days back she was able to see the colors of life and now there was only darkness, her parents were also helpless there was no hope. Pallavi started living her life in dark without any aim. No one was there to guide and this led her into depression. Everyone showed pity for her as she was blind, but that made her more determined to stand on her feet. Pallavi started looking out for Blind schools. She came across blind community and started connecting with visually impaired people and with their help in a very short period she learnt Braille, mobility, Basics of computers like keyboard orientation and shortcut keys with screen readers NVDA and JAWS.

She pursued her graduation in Management Studies from SNDT University board, Mumbai. She worked as a Project Coordinator and Spoken English trainer in a nonprofit organization for three years.

What next, was a huge question because she had passion for technology and wanted to make career in the same. Pallavi wanted to develop her technical skills and for that she started doing research for the technical courses. She found out that many VI people work as Accessibility Testers and Software Developers in the corporate sector. Pallavi continued her research for Accessibility Testing and Programming courses and came to know about Technical Training Institute which conducts skill development courses for Visually Impaired and finally she came to Pune to pursue these courses.

She enjoyed the environment in TTI and sincerely attended all the classes and practical’s. She also attended Communication classes which was like cherry on cake. Overall Pallavi had taken the right decision to join TTI.

Pallavi also actively participated in social events at TTI like Ramp walking, dancing and Debates. Listening music and chatting with friends in hostel was her favorite past time.

During Job fair at TTI she got an opportunity to work with an emerging IT company VCreatek as an Associate Trainee. Her dream of working in corporate sector came true. She is very happy for achieving her goal. Now she can even support her family

Mangesh Gugale from Akola, Maharashtra, born and brought up in a middle class family. His father Rajendra Gugale is working in private firm while mother is a housewife. Mangesh was born with low vision and diagnosed with Juvenile Diabetes at the age of 15.

There were no blind schools in Akola and with limited earnings his father was not able to afford to admit him in blind school at other cities, so Mangesh completed his schooling from normal schools. Low vision was always a barrier because he was not able to cope up with sports or other cultural activities in school. This made him stand behind with lack of confidence. Even though Mangesh was average in studies but still he completed his post-graduation in Commerce from Amravati University. After living with visual impairment since childhood Mangesh has perhaps learnt how to live life, despite all odds. After completing his studies Mangesh started hunting for job as to support his father, he wanted to become independent. But everywhere he got rejection and sympathy it seemed like people did not want to take chance with his disability. His confidence that was sky high scarcely a few months before, had started dwindling. He was running out of options. For the first time in life, his disability seemed to pose a genuine challenge. To make matters worse, he could sense an attitude change amongst relatives and family friends. He overheard some of them share their concern with his father. They appeared to be sorry for him But these situations made him more determined and he started searching for some technical options which may provide him jobs. He came across Enable India which conducted Computer courses for VI. He called at the given contact number. Mangesh got the information regarding various courses, but there was language problem as Enable India is in South region of India and he wanted to stay in Maharashtra. Person at Enable India gave him information about Technical Training Institute in Pune. It was feasible for Mangesh. He called at TTI and enquired about the courses and his journey of successful career started from here.

Technical Training Institute of The Poona Blind Men’s Association provides vocational training and employment to visually challenged to make them independent in the society. Mangesh opted for Accessibility Testing and Programming course. He began to use “Jaws” a screen reader software meant for people with vision loss. This has helped him listen his academic content. All the trainers also supported him in his journey. Mangesh also attended Communication classes which made him more confident. He is an enthusiastic learner and very attentive in class, took part in discussions and was also active in sports and social events at TTI. Mangesh uses instincts to deal with matters independently and in a positive way and strives to reach their full potential. His sincerity and hardworking paid him by getting a good job opportunity at the Job fair held in TTI. He was selected as a Trainee Associate for an emerging IT company VCreatek.

Now, he is independent and happy as he has started earning and also supporting his family.