If you need tips on how to hold on to hope when life seems hopeless, you ought to meet Thammisetti Suvarchala, a B.A. first year (Telugu literature) student of the Andhra Loyola College (ALC).
The girl did not allow visual impairment stop her from chasing her dream of pursuing higher education. A recipient of Pratibha Award for scoring the highest marks in the HEC (History-Economics-Civics) group in the State last year, Ms. Suvarchala demonstrates how to stay positive even in the face of an overwhelming despair.
She was born as a normal healthy child to Venkanna and Subbulamma. She was, however, severely infected with chicken pox which affected her vision when she was a one-year-old baby. As she grew up, the parents realised that she did not have normal eye sight.
Doctors at a medical camp held in the Jijjuvaram Government School, where she studied, informed her parents that there was no way her sight could be brought back to normal.
The worried parents consulted many specialists, but in vain.
“As years passed, my parents’ worst fears got confirmed when I completely lost my sight,” she recalls. After a while, the family shifted to Gudlavalleru village where she tried continuing her studies by seeking admission in a local government school. “But due to my disability, I could not keep pace with rest of the class and dropped out of school,” she says. She stayed at home helping her mother in domestic chores. “But the strong desire to educate myself and achieve something in life did not fade with time,” she says. In 2010, an eye camp organised exclusively for physically handicapped at Machilipatnam changed the course of her life.
“The doctor who conducted the eye check up, asked me about my interests and said I should pursue education if I wanted to since there were avenues available. I returned home with a new-found enthusiasm and tossed the idea to my parents. After initial reluctance, my father agreed,” she recounts.
With the help of a local church priest Fr. Peter, she got admission in the Vijaya Mary Integrated Blind School at Gunadala, where she learnt the Braille script in the initial two months before joining 7th class. In the 10th class, she got 462 marks (7.7 GPA).
“For Intermediate, I joined the ALC where Sahaya Bhaskaran, coordinator for Higher Education for Person with Special Needs (HEPSN), helped me get financial assistance from Help the Blind Foundation,” she says.
