A Light in the Dark: The Vision of Skills Fund Empowers Blind People in India
In a country as vast and vibrant as India, where every corner hums with life, there’s a group of people whose potential often goes unseen—not because they lack it, but because the world hasn’t always known how to look. For the blind and visually impaired, opportunities can feel like distant stars: beautiful, but out of reach. That’s where the Vision of Skills Fund steps in, a quiet force that’s been turning darkness into possibility, one skill at a time. This isn’t about pity or handouts—it’s about handing over the tools for a life of dignity, work, and pride.
The fund started with a simple dream: to train 200 blind men and women across India in skills that could open doors—doors to jobs, to homes of their own, to a future they could shape. They kicked off in places like Jamshedpur, Delhi’s bustling outskirts, and rural Tamil Nadu, targeting trades that don’t need sight but thrive on touch, sound, and grit. Think weaving, phone repair, even basic computer work with screen readers. They partnered with local artisans and tech trainers, gathered some donated machines, and set up workshops in community halls and schoolrooms. What happened next was more than they’d hoped—by the end, 250 people had joined, some traveling hours on rattling buses just to be part of it.
I heard about a woman named Meena from a volunteer’s story. She’s in her 30s, blind since birth, and used to spend her days helping her mother sort lentils by feel—steady work, but it didn’t pay. At a workshop in Madurai, she learned to weave baskets from palm leaves, her fingers quick and sure. By the end of the week, she’d made a dozen, and a local shop took them on the spot. “I didn’t know I could earn,” she said, her voice soft but firm. “Now I want to teach my sister.” That’s the kind of spark the Vision of Skills Fund lights—small at first, but it catches.
The training wasn’t fancy—just practical. In Delhi, a group of teens learned to fix cracked phone screens, using their hands to feel for damage and their ears to hear the clicks of a job well done. In Jamshedpur, a steel town where jobs are tough to come by, others mastered audio transcription, typing out recordings with the help of software that talks back. Each participant got a kit to take home—tools, a braille manual, a little cash to start—and a number to call if they hit a wall. Sugama didn’t just teach; they connected people to markets, coaxing shop owners and small businesses to give these new workers a shot.
