A bend in the road is not the end of road.... unless you fail to make a turn
– By Helen Keller
DID YOU KNOW?
One third of world’s blind population is in India
Total Population of Blind Women In India estimated at 15 million
99%
Blind women and girls have no access to any form of education
65%
Expressed the need for vocational opportunities
47%
Require career counselling and guidance
MISSION: TO CHANGE THE LIFE OF BLIND WOMEN IN INDIA
WE EMPOWER THEM TO DREAM
We at NAB India Centre for Blind Women & Disability Studies, welcome blind women from all walks of life - urban and rural, to their second home and in some cases their Only home! We teach them both modern and contemporary professional skills/crafts which help them rediscover themselves and give them a new lease of life!
They, too, are an integral part of our society. We diligently work towards making them believe in this!
* Special thanks to Media India Group for capturing the best.
LET BLINDNESS NO LONGER BE A DISABILITY
which limits a woman to aspire, to reach her true potential and to be both financially & emotionally independent.
Mrs. SHALINI KHANNA SODHI
Founder Director,
NAB India Centre for Blind Women & Disability Studies
WOMEN TRANSFORMING INDIA AWARD 2021
BY NITI Aayog and Women Entrepreneurship Platform
Coffee Table Book WTI 2021
REHABILITATION OUTREACH TILL DATE
Women and Children impacted across disabilities
Empowered them with digital and non-digital programmes
We reach Rural and Urban parts of India
IMPACT STORIES
Neha Yadav
TEAM LEADER, SAARATHEE, GURUGRAM
Neha Yadav
I was depressed post completing my higher senior secondary examination as I started losing my sight completely. After two years of struggle I came in touch with NAB India Centre for Blind Women & Disability Studies. I opted the CCE Training and today I am happily employed at Saarathee.
Neetu Garg
THERAPIST, PAYU, GURUGRAM
NEETU GARG
I was determined to stand on my own feet and never be dependent on my family member. Today I am a therapist at PayU. I went through all the basic training along with my interested course of Massage. I am totally blind but with the help of mobility training provided at the Centre I commute independently with ease.
Rajni
HOME MAKER, NEW DELHI
Rajni
I had never imagined that my life could have a brighter side. I was a very old student of NAB India Centre for Blind Women. I was in charge of the cafe department where I learnt various culinary skills along with kitchen management. I am happily married now and run my family at my ease. I thank the centre for making this happen.
Hasiba
Medical Tactile Examiner,CK Birla, GURUGRAM
HASIBA
I am a Medical Tactile Examiner, from the first batch of Discovering Hands, working at CK Birla Hospital. I am late blind and am grateful that I joined NAB India Centre for Blind Women & Disability Studies. In spite of my disability, with my skills I can now return to the society.
OUR SUPPORTERS
RECENT UPDATES
InSIGHTful: Art workshop with Visually Impaired Women
Being Blind one may not see colours but definitely feel the colours. On 16th of March a workshop was held where the visually impaired women painted the canvases using acrylic colours, brushes, stamps, rollers and many more household items like scrubs etc. The experience of sketching and painting took them back to their childhood memories. The workshop was happening parallelly with live painting by eminent artists in the porch area of the Centre.
Insightful An Ongoing Art Exhibitions at NAB India Centre starting March 21, Monday to March 30, Wednesday
Women Transforming India 2021, Neeti Aayog
Once again we celebrate the valour of Ms. Shalini Khanna Sodhi, Founder Director, NAB India Centre for Blind Women, who has been working towards the upskilling of blind women and is responsible for bringing innovative vocational courses to India.
Including Ms. Shalini, last evening 75 women entrepreneurs of the country were felicitated as Women Transforming India by Niti Ayog. We highly appreciate the diligent and remarkable contributions of each woman working collectively towards their respective vision and mission transforming India.
Christmas Carnival !!
On December 11, NAB India Centre for Blind Women opened its gates to welcome everyone to step in, to an extraordinary experiential Zone.
The excited crowd, especially the young children, were keen to explore the fun-filled activities organized by the Centre. The audience was overwhelmed to learn Braille, play chess with the visually impaired on the tactile chessboard, identify spices blindfolded. They also loved to bead their own neckpieces and bracelets at the counter. It was amazing to watch people fumbling with the shortcut commands while the visually impaired women taught them interesting shortcut commands. The ongoing Christmas carols and musical performances added a sparkle to the entire event.
Along with the fun games, there were also awareness booths set up where our Medical Tactile Examiners explained the concept of Discovering Hands and the Talking Hands Therapists tirelessly rendered their therapy demonstration to the visitors.
Another Feather Added !!
We are glad to share with everyone that Ms. Shalini Khanna Sodhi, Founder Director, NAB India Centre for Blind Women, receives the Rashtriya Prerna Doot Award 2021, for Best Social Worker.
The team effort of NAB India Centre for Blind Women has once again been acknowledged and rewarded. We thank all our dear supporters, employees, trainers and most importantly all the blind women trainees for making this happen.
My Story Session: We proudly presented the journey of Ms. Gunjan Shakya
NAB India Centre for Blind Women & Disability Studies, proudly presented the story of Ms. Gunjan Shakya, Manager at Bank of Baroda, who lost her sight at a very tender age of thirteen. Even though it was a very shocking event in her life, she gave no room for depression to engulf her spirit and strength. She spoke about her life’s journey, starting from the school, that became inclusive. She received assistance and support from all her teachers and students. She enrolled at NAB India Centre for Blind Women after 10 years of loosing her sight where she met Ms. Shalini Khanna Sodhi. Her guidance and the trainings gave her a new perception towards life. At NAB Centre, she learnt Braille, computers, home science, mobility and many more. It gave her immense joy to walk around independently with the help of white cane. She also participated in a unique beauty contest of UJJWALA function. All these exposure carved her personality, because of which she is confident and content in life. Besides being a banker, she is an ardent writer. She began writing lyrics for a band of disabled artists in Mumbai, for their home production, it went on to bloom in future. She also ended up in writing lyrics for some brands like T-series and Big-Bazar. 
Exclusive Diwali Products Made By Blind Women Of the Centre
A Session on Daisy Player at NAB India Centre for Blind Women
A session on Daisy Player was organised at NAB India Centre for Blind Women & Disability Studies, in order to acquaint the trainees with the device for their ease in use. In this session they were trained on various basic features and usage of the device. For the first time the trainees held the device in their hand, learned how to turn on, how to set language, record , set the time etc. The session was attended by all the trainees of the centre along with students of NAB Chitra Vihar who were also present.
This was a very informative which would benefit the Visually Impaired trainees in the long run.
We Thank Haldiram !
The contribution of Haldiram, towards the Centre is highly appreciated. We thank them for their support. 
Driving the Dialogue on Diversity
One has to always go an extra mile to break the stringent irrational thought processes to evolve the society. Here we have four remarkable women who have carved their ways to bring a societal change through their strong vision, perception, commitment and passion. We present to you a must read article by Ms. Shruti Pushkarna, who interacted with Ms. Shalini Khanna Sodhi, Ms. Richa Bansal, Ms. Shanti Raghavan and Ms. Shilpi Kapoor, where each woman shared their views opinion and experience so far in order to bring inclusivity along with diversity in the society. Read more – Driving the Dialogue on Diversity 
This Women's Day we celebrated the valour of Ms. Neha Suri
When Neha was 3 year old she was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa and was gradually losing her eye sight. She says “When I was losing my vision, I had to request my teachers to assign me the front rows so that I could read from the black board. If my room was dark, I had to sit all alone in the sunlight to appear for my exam which was really embarrassing. After completing my graduation, I entered into a new phase of my life. I got married. After two years of our marriage, I was blessed with a son Harshit. Handling the child was little difficult with my low vision. I used to be mostly dependent on my husband to help me provide him medicines, or manage his books. However, while growing up, my son understood my troubles and from a very young age started helping me whichever way he could. My life turned upside down in the year 2016, February when my husband was diagnosed with cancer. My son was in 7th Standard and he had to drop his school so that he could help me take care of his father. We suffered financial crisis as his chemo therapy had started. His business came to a shut down. With time, his cancer spread to his entire body and his bones were then affected. I lost my husband in December 2016. I was emotionally broken and took time gathering myself from the loss and trauma. By this time, I had lost my vision completely. I was clueless and terrified about me and my son’s future. Soon I got to know about the trainings of NAB India Centre for Blind Women from my sister. I enrolled myself for the Discovering Hands Training. I qualified the admission test for the training. I was one among the first batch. Post completion of the training I was working with Fortis for some time, as the MTE. Before joining NAB I had never touched a computer or did not know about the wide range of vocations available for blind people. Today I stand tall and run my tiny family but am happy!An Incredible Journey narrated by Ms. Shiv Kumari of Baksar Bihar
Ms. Shiv Kumari, a young woman who belongs to rural area of Samastipur, Bihar, lost her vision at the age of 3 year due to a Medicine Reaction. She pursued her graduation in B. Ed while working in a factory. And, desiring to work in her own home state, managed to get a government job in R K High School in Baksar, Teara Bihar. Today, she is immensely proud of her achievements in life. Her father, farmer by profession and a leader by heart, knocked every door of every hospital within his reach for her treatment. Unfortunately, he got no success. Her father being a man of principle, participated in several movements and revolutions. He once had to even go to Jail from where he got to know that education for blind was also possible. He soon enrolled her to Darbanga Blind School despite huge criticism from society. It was difficult for Shiv Kumari to sustain in school while she was studying as there was no light, no water sometimes no electricity also. However she managed to complete her boards and went back home. She was keen to study and soon she got to know about open schools. She completed her higher secondary from CBSE. Post that she enrolled herself at NAB India Centre for Blind Women & Disability Studies and got trained on mobility, handicraft, computers and other basic life skills. On completion of these trainings, she got placed at Radnik export house. She turned out to be an remarkable employee who was punctual sincere and apt at her skills. She also completed her B.Ed. while she was employed and cleared her exam with flying colors. She has been a true fighter and today she is happily married and teaching in a government school in her village as an english teacher. We wish her all the very best and no doubt her story is inspiring for all of us. 
'My Story' by Ms. Veena Mehta Verma, shared her journey and endeavors
Ms. Veena Mehta Verma, is a true role model for visually impaired women & girls. Through her hard work, sincerity & devotion to her ambitions in life, she has carved out a bright career for herself & opened doors for many. She has been awarded National Award from President of India, Mastery over Disability Award, Ability Foundation and many more. She is currently working as a HR Manager in a leading PSU. She was always blessed with a well bonded family who has been very supportive and very progressive towards raising her. Since was then residing in the interiors of Keonjhar, Odhisha, where there was minimum exposure and awareness on dealing with blindness she was not exposed any sort of education till the age of thirteen. While her parents kept looking for possible treatments for her vision, one doctor suggested them to start looking for options of education besides just treatment. As destiny had decided she came to Delhi and a lady known to her relative connected her with NAB R.K. Puram and soon got enrolled. That was the time, when she started learning basics for the first time at the age of thirteen. After one year, she was enrolled for standard VI and with everyone’s support she was progressing. Initially she was going ahead with the conventional way of education, but one of her teachers, could sense her potential and insisted her to take up subjects like, math, science, accounts etc. Post her higher secondary, she further studied Commerce & Management at college level which were considered very difficult for blind persons & have been attempted by a few. She even had to fight legal battles with leading Universities for getting admission into MBA course. University of Delhi & Jamia Milia Islamia denied admission, stating that, there was no provision of admitting blind persons in their MBA courses. A complaint was filed against this discrimination with Chief Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities along with NAB Delhi, and since then most Management colleges have opened their gates to visually impaired persons. She completed PG Diploma in Industrial Relations at Bhartiya Vidya Bhawan, Delhi & MBA with specialization in Human Resource from VAMNICOM, Pune a reputed B-school. Although, she completed MBA, she had to struggle finding a job. However she was determined to do something different in life. She appeared for several competitive exams and got selected in NTPC. As always she had to prove her efficiency and put efforts in delivering her tasks and take up further challenging tasks. Step by step she made her workplace accessible and sensitized her colleagues to get used to her ways of working. 
Ms. Reena Bhatia: Sharing her story of grit
‘Reena Bhatia’ from Simla, lost her eye sight at the young age of 19 years due to dropsy; oil adulteration. Owing to this and medical negligence, was in the state of coma for a period of two months. In the process, all her functional organs became inactive. Speech, eye sight, ability to walk, to name a few. Graduation was left in lurch and life suspended. Despite her ordeals, Ms. Reena who is currently a consultant at Ernst and Young, braved her life again with the support of her parents and came to Delhi to join the NAB Centre for Blind women & Disability studies. With modern technology and training in life skills for one’s survival, she started harbouring a bleak thought to be independent again. Soon after completing the basic and advanced trainings at the Centre, she resumed her college which was at halt for ages. Post completion of her in B. Com. (Honours) with help of NAB she took another risk of working part-time as a legal researcher with a law firm during which she cleared her chartered accountancy (CA) entrance. She decided to leave her job to start her mandatory article ship with a CA firm. To know more about Reena, please visit our Facebook Page 
'My Story' of Monica Bharadwaj, another inspirational Blind woman achiever
If you wonder, how a child.. born blind grows and copes up with then very visual world we live in the must watch our next session in the series of ‘My Story’. Another inspirational Blind woman achiever who is happy to receive life as it comes with open arms and a sense of humour. Monica Bharadwaj, currently deputy Manager, learning and training, IBM. Born 100% blind, she says ‘My parents got to become aware of my condition only when I was a few days old, and I did not blink my eye at the flash of the light bulb. Teaching life skills was the first of the challenges for my parents, and following the grip and direction of their hand was one for me. I was still not completely on my own, when I was admitted to Rashtriya virjanand Andh Kanya Vidyalaya. Coping in the hostel life and learning Braille took its share of time. I was enrolled in the integrated setup of education through the National Association for the blind. Availability of Braille books or audio books was another challenge and was forced to write chapters in Braille. Career molded itself in the direction of the qualifications I had. first as a teacher in NAB, and then as a trainer in IBM. At the personal front again, looking for a partner was not difficult. I found him in NAB where I made a come-back as a resource teacher post completing education. The journey to motherhood was amazing. But with Dhruv’s entry into the world, learning to feed him was the first lesson. Changing diapers was the next.’ 
Ms. Mandvi Garg, made impossible ... POSSIBLE.
Ms. Mandvi Garg, is a Mountaineer, Cyclist, Marathon Runner, Scuba Diver, and a Banker in a Public Sector Undertaking. She has completed advance Mountaineering Course from Himalayan Mountaineering Institute, Darjeeling (World Record),Climbed 19,600 ft. Mt. Kanamo in Spiti Valley, HP (National Record) and she achieved all of this despite being diagnosed with an eye condition of `Retinitis Pigmentosa’ at an early stage. Ever since her childhood she had been a sport enthusiast who took keen interest in Judo, Gymnastics & Swimming. But her degenerating vision temporarily put a pause on her passion while she was studying in 9th standard. On completion of her graduation, studying & managing all my routine activities, on her own became a dreadful task. She got enrolled to NAB India, Centre for Blind Women for courses to get hands on training in Technology & Mobility, which headed her towards Independence from Dependence. She equipped herself with access to information and communication technology, through which she has complete access over Computers & Mobility. As a social activist, she always observed that persons with disability tend to pursue a typical thinking pattern that they can’t enter in any kind of sports. In order to change this stereotype thinking pattern, she started engaging with NGO’s and is actively involved with Unique Foundation & Blind Cricket Association, particularly championing the cause of women with blindness. 
Ms. Rizwana khatoon, a banker, a wife, a mother and a role model of a blind woman.
Ms. Rizwana Khatoon, an assistant manager at Indian Bank (previously known as Allahabad Bank) and a mother of two kids, Rizwana is married in a joyful family of 3 visually impaired siblings, including a blind sister in law. And yes, just like a lot of sighted women, she is seamlessly balancing her married and work life. With her mother’s strong will and constant support Rizwana could complete her education to become a successful banker. While growing up she faced several rejections from the society as the people around her did not allow their children to play or mingle with blind thinking they also might get blind. She gradually overcome such thought process. Soon after completing her board exams she decided to enroll herself at NAB India Centre for a bridge course where she strengthened her mobility skills, learnt home science and computers so as to equip herself enough for her future endeavors. In 2015, she entered another phase of her life, given the opportunity to join and assist at the NAB India Centre’s Research & employment training unit. She helped in conducting the research work with digital training. She also helped the Centre conduct a physical survey of the blind population residing in rural belts of Balia-UP & Baksar-Bihar to assess the needs of self-employment opportunities. She went into the village homes of blind women and motivated the parents to let their girls come out of homes for training. As a result of the efforts of the team, many VI girls and boys started joining training to learn computer, braille, mobility and their choice of vocation in Baliya. 
One Proud Moment
We are proud of our Chairman, Mr. Ajai Malhotra, for his contributions to Human rights in the world.
