Agra November 7 (IANS)

 

More than a hundred blind stars from all over India began their deliberations at the three-day national convention being held at the Jubilee hall of Agra University. The convention was opened by DP Tripathi, MP of the NCP, himself a blind.

 

Tripathi said though he was blind but  right from his student days  he never let this disability influence his work or ambitions. History is written through struggles, the blind stars should realise they were equal to the best.

 

Agra University vice chancellor Prof Mohammed Muzammil said every person had special traits. Physical disability should not come in the way of growth.

 

The founders of the Facebook page of blind stars Mohammed Khalid and Mohammed Raza Hussain explained how  social media  had helped  bring together the "blind stars" from all over the country on a common platform to raise their voice and exchange thoughts that concerned them. The group has more than 4000 members.

Marriage was one of the subjects that came up for discussion today. Suruchi of Mathura complained that the blind boys, once they get employed refuse to marry blind girls. They usually want to marry girls without this disability to lead a more satisfying life. But "we want our partners to be blind so that they dont fool or fraud us." It was suggested that a helpline service for the blind be started.

During the session on banking for the blind, it was revealed that the SBI alone had put up 350 talking ATMs. The banks have enough jobs for the blinds but information is not shared unfortunately.