Location: Delhi, India
Medical condition: Visually Impaired
His story:Dr Jitender, a native of Delhi, had everything going for him; a great job as a dentist with two established clinics, a loving wife and a 4 year old son. But things took a drastic turn when he started noticing that his vision was getting blurry. He was ultimately diagnosed with macular degeneration of the eyes, a chronic disease that causes him to slowly lose vision. He was completely devastated. He knew that his struggles were just beginning.
His struggle: In 2004, Dr Jitender had to stop practicing. He became dependent on others for his daily chores. While he still comprehended the fact that he is going to be permanently blind, he felt incredibly bad that the burden was going to fall on his wife. Dr Summan Aggarwal, being a dentist herself, had to manage their two clinics, her husband, housework and her 4 year old son. Dr Jitender genuinely didn’t want to be a burden to anyone around him.
His first step towards making a difference:Dr Jitender got himself trained in screen readers and other softwares that to help him carry out his daily tasks using computers. While he was struggling to learn the softwares, he realized that in India, there must be so many people who are going through the same! “PwD are treated with charity and not financial empowerment.” In 2008, Dr Jitender decided to start Sarthak Foundation with a mission to empower PwDs with the skills so they can find employment and be financially independent. The Sarthak centre in Delhi, trained visually impaired people for medical transcription jobs.
His contribution to the society: Sarthak organization focuses skill development, employment of differently-abled, identifying and preventing dependencies at early age, and encouraging more PwD’s to study. Sarthak foundation now has 17 centres across India. The organization has helped more than 30,000 PwD’s. Through its early intervention and inclusive education initiative, Sarthak has rehabilitated 314 children with disability, trained 4550 PwD candidates, 100+ job fairs have been organized, and 7250 PwD have been provided employment.