Believe to achieve: How Vashkar changed social mindset on visual-impairment

Stephen Hawking once said, "Disability need not be an obstacle to success." One of the most influential scientists of modern times, the physicist, who used a wheelchair, proved this, and many others have followed suit.

Visually-impaired Vashkar Bhattacharjee is one of many who have walked the trail blazed by Hawking.

Growing up, he always felt that society thought he couldn't do anything. It turns out society was dreadfully wrong.

As a national consultant for Accessibility in the (a2i) Program of the ICT Division, Vashkar has been working to make the life of other visually-impaired people around him easier by providing education and training on using modern technology.

Born in Bagdandi village of Dhalghat union in Chattogram's Patiya upazila, Vashkar's parents realised their child had trouble with his sight when he was only two years old. At the time, it was unheard of visually-impaired children attending schools, so his parents were worried about their child's future.

His father later admitted him to a school for children with disabilities. Although Vashkar completed primary education there, he could not get admission to any high school in the district.

He took his Secondary School Certificate examinations privately. Then came the next hurdle: college. He finally got into Chittagong City College. He chose Arts as his discipline. With braille books available, Vashkar persevered, eventually receiving a Master's degree in History from the University of Chittagong.

"I had to struggle to study at Chittagong University. The university has now been declared as an inclusive university in the country. There are now 150 visually-impaired students studying there. There are many benefits. There are quotas, scholarships and e-learning centres. Accessible reading materials are provided and training is arranged for boys and girls. All in all, Chittagong University is becoming known as a model to others," Vashkar said.

He also completed the Duskin leadership training from Japan and was awarded the ACUMEN Fellowship, APNIC Fellowship, Internet Society IGF Ambassador and a few others.

In time, Vashkar decided that it was time to give back. He had experienced life as someone with a visual disability and knew his learnings could prove valuable to many others.

Over time, Vashkar also dreamed of becoming a teacher in a school for the visually impaired.

In 2002, he got an opportunity to go to Japan after his university studies.

"I completed a one-year training in Japan with educational support. It was there that I got the first computer and the first smartphone. That is also when I understood the importance of accessibility. I realised that disability was not a barrier. That 'I, too, could dream big' dawned upon me."

While Vashkar had learned something valuable, it wasn't imparted to the rest of society.

After returning from Japan, he was unemployed for a year. No one thought that a man without the ability to see could perform any task well.

That is when he came across the Young Power in Social Action (YPSA) of Chattogram. Opportunity had just met preparation.

He began working with people with disabilities, providing them with the necessary skills and training.

He wanted to create an innovation for them and that is where the A2i came into play.

When A2i started in 2009, Vashkar joined as a volunteer and later as an innovator. Since 2013, he has been working professionally at A2i.

Vashkar began focusing on the education of other people with visual impairments. As the first step, he converted all books of classes 1 to 10 into digital multimedia – full text, full audio – books. He also ensured access to Braille books in collaboration with a2i.

Vashkar said employment for people with disabilities has been a big challenge, but work is going on towards that goal. "We are working to create some entrepreneurship. We are promoting e-learning," he said.

An envious list of accolades

Vashkar has been dedicating his time to creating an enabling environment for innovation to empower persons with disabilities. These are then scaled up and made accessible for all.

His current focus is on implementing an inclusive university (University of Chittagong), one of Bangladesh's largest and most prominent universities. He is also involved with an organisation for sustainable development and providing advisory support towards its disability portfolio.

Vashkar is the country representative of G3ict and the focal person for DAISY (Digital Accessible Information System), Accessible Books Consortium (ABC) of WIPO, Bookshare, and the Federation of DPO's Sitakunda in Bangladesh.

He has also worked as the vice president of the Internet Society Accessibilities Standing Group.

Vashkar has been able to innovate with new technologies for people with disabilities, including his work on digital books.

He is also working as an expert consultant with A2I to make around 33,000 websites of the Bangladesh government accessible to people with disabilities.

About the multimedia book, Vashkar said, "I have never found an accessible book in my life. I had to solve this problem. When my elder daughter was in class one, she used to come to me repeatedly with new books and ask me to read them. But I couldn't see, so I couldn't read."

That is when the idea struck him.

"From this idea, I created a multimedia talking book that can be seen and heard. I was awarded by A2I's Service Innovation Fund, which was inaugurated by the prime minister in 2014. Now not only me, but all parents with disabilities can teach their children."

Vashkar has already won national and international awards for his work with the visually impaired. In 2016, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina honoured him as a successful person with disabilities. Among his other international awards are Zero Project Award 2016, which he received from Vienna, Austria; International Accessible Publishing Award, which he received from London Book Fair in 2014; ISIF Asia Award, which he received from Istanbul, Turkey International Governance 2013; Microsoft The Service Innovation Fund Innovation Award was presented in 2013, 2014 and 2015 from the World Bank Youth Awards Colombo.

He also has the Henry Vascardi Award, which he received in 2017 from New York, USA.

The People's Republic of Bangladesh Government's A2I Program won the WSIS Award for Vashkar's innovative multimedia talking book. He was also awarded the UNESCO award in 2018 in recognition of his work.

Vashkar's journey so far is now the stuff of records.

In the book Life and Livelihood of Class Six, his story appears titled "A technological Visionary Vashkar Bhattacharjee."

In this regard, Vashkar said, "I first came to know that my words were included in the book on the day Pele died. I was very surprised. We read the biography of Pele in class five. It amazes me that people will read my biography. But the best part is that the misconceptions about visually-impaired children will be removed. The idea that the visually impaired can't do anything will change."