Cracking a smile

Meeting Somarajan at his home in Nedukulanjimuri Village in the south Indian state of Kerala, it was difficult to coax out a smile for the camera. He’s lost one of his front teeth, and is self conscious about showing the gap.

For many years however Somarajan had no reason to smile. He lost his job working a lathe machine when he started to go blind. As he felt more and more hopless, depression set in. He moved to Kerala with his wife and family, and was lucky enough to be identified by the National Association for the Blind (NAB). “He was in a helpless situation,” says Manoj Kurian, Executive Officer of NAB’s Kerala branch. “When I first met him he was in tears.”

The start of a long journey

Ani, a rehabilitation worker from NAB (pictured below in the orange sari), started working with Somarijan a year ago. “He was not interested in anything. He was completely down,” she says. “His attitude was the first thing I had to change. He was just not willing to accept a lifetime of blindness. But I have helped him slowly rebuild his confidence.”

She visits him twice a week, and has gradually been teaching him the skills he needs to adapt to his disability. She also provided support for the whole family, as his wife and children had to come to terms with his blindness

NAB has provided Somarajan with a white cane, which helps him get around in, around and outside his home. “I can walk to places like the nearby road junction without falling down. It also lets sighted people know that I’m blind, such as bus drivers. If I want to cross the road I hold my white cane out and someone will come and help.”

A new vocation

As well as making and selling envelopes to earn money, he has been given a goat by NAB, which he will make money from when it’s older: “I plan to sell the milk from the goat and buy some more animals. They will breed and then I can sell both the milk as well as the kids.” You can view a short video clip of our photographer photographing Somarajan feeding his goat here.

NAB has also helped him access things he did not realise he was entitled to: train and bus passes for disabled people, and a disability pension. He also now has access to the panchayat* house maintenance scheme which helped him renovate the home he lives in with his family, and has national health insurance. These were things he was entitled to regardless of being blind, but many disabled people do not utilise them simply because they do not know this kind of support is available, or think it is not applicable to them because of their disability.

“When I lost my sight I lost the capacity to smile!” says Somarajan. “Things are different now.”

* Panchayat is a system of governance in India. This system has been around for over years, and was advocated for by Gandhi himself. Nowadays the India government has decentralised several administrative functions to the local, panchayat level)