
## What is Accessibility?

People often get confused about accessibility. Is it just about being able to reach something? Or is it about actually being able to use it? Let's break it down in simple terms.

The real question is, what is the meaning of the word '**accessibility**'?

Let's take a look at the definition of the word 'accessibility' in Wikipedia:

> Accessibility is the design of products, devices, services, vehicles, or environments so as to be usable by people with disabilities.

From my perspective as someone who is deaf, accessibility goes far beyond mere access – it's about enabling everyone to participate fully and independently in daily life. It's about creating an inclusive world where disability doesn't mean dependency.

## Real-World Examples

Let me share a common scenario. In banking software, when you log into your account, you often have to enter a CAPTCHA code to verify you're human. If you're visually impaired, you might need to use the audio CAPTCHA option. This works for many people, but what about someone who is both visually impaired and hard of hearing? They can't see the visual CAPTCHA or hear the audio version. In this case, the software isn't truly accessible because they can't use it independently.

As someone who is deaf, I've faced numerous accessibility challenges in my daily life. Here are some real experiences: (these barely scratch the surface)

### 1. Getting Food Delivered
- When I'm hungry late at night, I order food online
- Delivery people try to call me for directions
- They can't reach me by phone
- Sometimes they just cancel my order because we can't communicate

### 2. Getting a Ride
- Booking a cab or auto becomes unnecessarily complicated
- Drivers usually call to confirm my location
- Most don't text back when I request them to
- Rides often get canceled due to communication barriers

### 3. Work Communication
Think about those work calls. Everyone's having this flowing conversation, but for those of us relying on captions, we're always a few seconds behind. This can't be solved easily; it needs significant effort and time from major corporations to make it happen.


You know what's really frustrating? When simple everyday moments become awkward just because we haven't thought about different ways people might need to communicate. It's not that the delivery person or driver doesn't want to help - they absolutely do! But when systems are built with just one type of person in mind, they unintentionally shut others out. It's not just inconvenient - it's isolating.

These aren't huge, unsolvable problems. They're small gaps that, when bridged, could make life smoother for everyone. Because here's the truth: none of us know when we might need a different way to do things. Making services accessible isn't just about helping some of us - it's about making things better for all of us.

## What Can Be Done?

### Use Better Technology
- Create apps that are inclusive by design, considering various user needs, be open to take feedbacks and improve
- Let people choose how they want to communicate
- Use new technology to help people understand each other

### Improve Staff Training
- Teach workers about different needs
- Establish clear SOP's to help everyone
- Make sure everyone knows what to do, even if they don't, making it not awkward for anyone must be the goal

### Expand Communication Options
- Let people choose between calling, texting, or email
- What works for someone might not work for others
- When things work for everyone, they work better for all of us

## Creating Inclusive Spaces

### Understanding Each Other
- Recognize that accessibility needs vary among individuals
- Acknowledge that standard solutions don't work for everyone
- Remember that inclusive design benefits the entire community

### Taking Action
- Advocate for better accessibility features
- Share positive experiences with accessible services
- Provide constructive feedback to improve existing systems

## Looking Forward

Accessibility isn't losing its meaning – it's evolving. As our world becomes increasingly connected, the importance of true accessibility grows. It's not just about making things available; it's about ensuring everyone can participate fully in society, regardless of their abilities.

The goal of this post isn't to highlight problems but to inspire solutions. Every accessibility challenge presents a unique opportunity to innovate and create better experiences for everyone. When we design with accessibility in mind, we create a better world that includes everyone.

Remember: Accessibility isn't a feature – it's a fundamental right. By working together, we can create a more inclusive and accessible world for everyone.


Is 'Accessibility' Losing Its Meaning?


# How Yoga Changed My Thinking

I found my way back to yoga this year. As a kid, I was an ardent lover of it but somehow drifted away. Now I'm back, stronger than ever, with 210+ hours on my mat.

Every morning at 5:50 AM (or sometimes 7 PM), I show up. Each time I roll out my mat, I question myself, but 20-30 minutes in, I feel rejuvenated and proud for showing up.

Yoga has taught me that real change happens slowly. It's in the little things – how I face mornings, handle tough stuff, or just breathe when things get hard.

These days, I meditate too. Five quiet minutes can change my whole day. It's wild how something so simple can do so much. I used to skeptically view meditation, but now I embrace it fully.

I'm stronger now, sure. But the real gift? The peace in my head. Yoga isn't just exercise anymore – it's part of me.

If you're thinking about trying: just start. Do it your way. The magic isn't in perfect poses – it's in showing up for yourself, one breath at a time.

Some Improvements I've Noticed:

- My Heart Rate is Lower while sleeping (avg 55-65 BPM) (measured using Apple Watch, It's pretty accurate)
- I don't care about little things anymore, I've learned to let go
- I'm crazy flexible now, I can touch my toes without bending my knees, lol
- Have a better posture now, I don't slouch anymore :)

> "Yoga is the journey of the self, through the self, to the self." – The Bhagavad Gita

– signing off, probably intermediate yogi :) Prajwal P

FYI I can do the pose in the cover image, If you don't belive me, call me anytime, I'll show you 😂


How Yoga Changed My Thinking


## Living in the present

Recently I came across a video, where the creator tried to live his last 7 days with no regrets, If there is one topic I like that is **Life**, **Living** & **Death**. I really enjoyed that video and It also made me think about my life, it also made me realize that indeed every day can be our last. So why start tomorrow if tomorrow is not guaranteed and "we should take more risks from our dreams, instead of dying with regret" really touched me

Most people think Living in the present is a trendy modern thing, but it is not. It is a profound philosophy of life that can transform the way we experience our existence. It is a way of life, it is a way of thinking, it is a way of being. It is a way of living. It is a way of being happy. It is a way of being free. It is a way of being yourself. It is a way of being alive.

In our fast-paced and constantly connected world, it is very easy to get lost in the rush of daily life and forget the present moment. However, when we take a step back and consider whether we are actually living the life we want, or if we are just following the expectations of the world.

As I sit here typing this blog post, I am constantly reminded of how important it is to live in the present moment. It is so easy to get caught up in our worries, and fears about the future or dwells on the past. But what about the now? What about this very moment that we are in right now?

For me, Living in the present means being fully engaged at the moment, not worrying about the past or future. It means taking time to appreciate the little things in life and taking time to reflect on my thoughts and feelings, rather than just rushing through life which helps me to break free from the **RAT RACE**.

Let's be real, it's not always practical to completely stop worrying about the future. The key is to find a balance between planning for the future and enjoying the present moment.

Believe me, Living in the present is super hard, especially when we have a never-ending to-do list and a constant barrage of notifications from our smartphones. But let's be real, we've all had those moments where we're scrolling through Instagram, and suddenly realize an hour has passed and then we feel guilty for wasting time.

_But hey, maybe that hour of mindless scrolling was just what we needed to recharge our batteries and live in the present… Okay, maybe not, but let's pretend it was._

It's also important to have goals and aspirations. But we should also remember to enjoy the journey and appreciate the present moment. Life is too short to constantly be worrying about the future or dwelling on the past.

"Maybe we should focus more on being instead of becoming", we should listen to more of what our heart wants, rather than what the world wants and maybe we should make more chances of our dream instead of dying with regrets

So, take a deep breath, let go of worries and fears, and embrace the present moment. You might just find that life becomes a lot more joyful and meaningful when you do.

ps: all these are just emotional rants :)

> Learning to live in the present moment is part of the path of joy.
> – Sarah Ban Breathnach

If you liked this, maybe you'll also like this post: [**How Lucky Are We……?**](https://blog.devcoffee.me/posts/how-lucky-are-we)

until next time ✌️


Living in the present


On March 23rd they declared it as a national Lock-down in India, many people freaked out some of them even left the city which had fed them their entire life, some of them pulled their wrists and helped society.

![LockDown Image](https://miro.medium.com/max/700/0*jBgDKoR0AKa5R-_u)

The academic institutions started to teach in online platforms, Now here lies the problem: how can you expect every student to have a stable internet connection and an electronic device to attend moreover the institutions made online classes mandatory to attend them. (This is a talk for another time)

Now I want to talk about the problems faced by Deaf people

How can a deaf student listen to the online classes where they themselves can’t understand the lectures in offline classes?

Deaf students face many problems in listening in the class because they should pay attention to the lip of the professor to read lip

After all you might think several students wear glasses and need no further assistance same happens with deaf students, But hearing loss is more complicated than that.

### I want to clear up some common misconceptions about the Hearing-Aid

This is really a common mis-understanding that hearing aids are just like Glassses, that they enable the person to attain 100% clear vision.

**NO a Big No!!!**

Hearing aids just amplify the the sound received, doesn’t improve the clarity of the sound.

A person might still struggle to understand others even when wearing the Hearing aids, They struggle more now with the masks on (Covid-19) because the person sees the lip movement and try to hear at the same time.

I will explain why a Deaf Person trys to read the Lip:

Imagine that You are Deaf now, You don’t know how a couple words are pronounced, ex: mississippi (classic permutation problem xD)

I will try to speak mississippi to you with the mask on , The Persons hearing aid catch it as misipi, this seems like a new word to you, You Fail to understand what is this word, But when you try to read the lip and listen to the word you might understand it clearly.

We can understand some of the common words like, appa, uta, college, computer, why ?

Because these are the words which we speak Daily, Basically mind is just like Machine Learning, It constantly learns itself by how this word is pronounced, etc…

Listening is a tough task. Hearing loss makes it extremely difficult to hear some speech sounds. Speech sounds are lost in greater numbers as hearing loss is more. Your brain has to constantly understand what someone is saying when you can’t hear particular words/sounds. To interpret what originally sounds like gibberish into recognizable speech, your brain must mentally fill in the blanks, adding missing speech sounds and guessing at unheard words. This requires a high level of focus on the part of the listener. This level of focus exhausts mental resources quickly, leaving the listener exhausted. When all of their mental energy is focused toward grasping what is being said, there are few resources left to truly retain what is being said. As a result, the person may/may not understand what he or she had been telling.

Also we cannot neglet background noises; Hell , A normal person can’t even hear properly in noisy background.Background noise can amplify the struggle to hear.

Lipreading requires a significant amount of mental effort and concentration. People who are deaf or hard of hearing do not instinctively know how to lipread, which is actually a popular belief. It’s an acquired skill that takes years to perfect. Lipreading may be more challenging for people who lost their hearing later in life compared to those who have been deaf or hard of hearing since childhood. Because of the speaker, lipreading can be difficult or impossible. Lips can be difficult to read if you have facial hair. When a speaker makes exaggerated lip movements or doesn’t move their mouth much when speaking, it can be difficult to read their lips. Many sounds are also made in the back of the throat and are not visible on the lips. Lipreading is only possible for 30–45 percent of voice sounds. via (<https://www.huffpost.com/entry/lip-reading-is-no-simple-task_b_9526300>)

Combine all of the above problems with writing notes, it seems like it is a impossible job.

In India the Sign Language is considered as a Taboo, what the people don’t understand is it is a way of expressing the feelings by a person, The people talk like it is a disgrace to the humanity, which hurts the Feelings.

When I planned to write this, I decided do some research, I was shocked to learn that only around two percent of deaf children in India attend school, further perpetuating a culture of illiteracy and low economic opportunity.

Despite a massive audience in India, closed-captioning on television has lagged. Adult lack of education has delayed efforts to extend these services to the wider population, in addition to the lack of investment in technology.

**I tried to give a small insight to the Problems faced by the Deaf Person**, there are so many other un-parallel problems which cannot by penned down. Now enough about problems, Lets look at some of the People who have tried to overcome the challenges,

- Shruthi

  Shruthi is originally from Shivamogga, Karnataka. She had severe to profound hearing loss in both ears and was fitted with hearing aids. She shifted to Mysore and joined the school run by the Parent’s Association of Deaf children (PADC) after hearing news about the school from her grandfather when she was aged about 2.5 years. Initially, she was trained in her mother tongue Kannada for 3 years in the school. Thereafter she got admitted to 1st standard in a regular mainstream school and studied in Kannada medium till 7th standard and later changed the medium of instruction to English. She excelled in her studies and was able to secure a good rank in CET and got admitted to engineering in SJCE Mysore in Electronics and Communication. She eventually graduated from SJCE (8.98 credit points) and got selected to Wipro in a campus interview. Currently, she is working in Wipro Technologies, Bengaluru as a Senior Software Engineer

- Kavitha

  Kavitha has severe loss in the right ear and profound loss in the left ear. She was fitted with bilateral hearing aids. Kavitha joined a preschool run by the Parent’s Association of Deaf Children, Mysore at the age of three and a half years. She underwent intensive training in the Preschool for 3 years. Subsequently she joined regular school in Mysore. She studied in Kannada medium till 4th Standard and later changed her medium of instruction to English. She completed her SSLC with distinction by scoring 80% marks. Later she joined a Polytechnic and completed her Diploma in Computer Science with distinction. Also she did her BCA through Distance education from Karnataka State Open University, Mysore. During her school and college days she had participated in various competitions and had bagged many prizes. At present she is working in WIPRO, Bangalore as a Software Engineer. She is married and has a one year old daughter. Even with many obstacles Kavitha was able to overcome them and came out with flying colors.

- Mahanth Bagi

  Mahanth hails from Belagavi, Karnataka. He was diagnosed with Severe to Profound hearing loss in both the ears and was fitted with hearing aids when he was 3 years of age. Initially he received pre-school training in his mother tongue Kannada for 3 years. Later he was trained in English. After successfully completing his preschool training he studied in a regular school in Belagavi. He cleared his SSLC and PUC examinations with distinction from a regular school and college. He took up the CET entrance examination conducted by the CET Board of Karnataka and came out successful. At present he is studying in 2nd Year MBBS in Mysore Medical College, Mysore

_there are so many people, I will try to post a collection of 3–5 people in comming articles._

Also a important point that I want to point out is each persons learning experience is different

> “Just because you’ve met one deaf person , doesn’t mean you’ve met any deaf person. You cannot generalize anyone and their experiences.”

Also if you are free read [this](https://medium.com/age-of-awareness/virtual-deaf-and-hard-of-hearing-education-f78e31c98f00).

So long….


The Problem which no one Overlooks


Today I went to eat Davanagere Benne Dose, As it had been a long time, I ate Benne. Dose and the weather was appetizing to eat a hot burnt crispy Dose.

I took my Activa and went to my regular Dvg-Benne- Dose, I know the taste of Original Davanagere Benne. Dose is irreplaceable in Bengaluru. But this. Dose’s taste was the closest to the Original Davangere Benne. Dose.

But now, I am not talking about the taste Comparison, It is a Talk for another time.

To give you a small description about the hotel, It is almost 5 ft Wide and is around 25ft long, Basically a small Hotel. It is being run by a couple from North Karnataka. They have 2 children as well.

When I was devouring the scrumptious Benne Dose, I observed that slippers of the owners were placed outside, I asked them why ? This is what they told me,

```
Sir, Naavu ond hattu (10) varsha aytu Bengaluruige bandu,naanu matte nam maneyavaru bandvi,Bandaga naan hattira bari 1000 maatra ittu, naanu yeneno kelsa maadi swlpa duddu save maadi ee hotel na sumaru 5–6 years back open madideve, Ivattu nan makkalu Olle Schoolge hogta idare,nan hatira ond hosa gaadi ide, Idella ide hotelinda agiddu sir, Naavu dina ee hotel ge pooje madtivi, Devasthanakke Chappali hakond ollege hogbardu anta heltare alva, namge ide devasthana,Uta mane, batte yella kottide
```

### Translation

```
Sir, It has been around 10 years, Since we came to Bengaluru.When me and my wife came here I had only 1000 rupees in my hand, I worked some odd jobs and saved enough money to open this hotel back in 5–6 years, Since then my life has been going good, My children are studying in a Good School, I was able to purchase a new vehicle.
It is a proverb saying that We musn’t wear Footwears inside the temple, For us this hotel is the temple, It has given us Food, Home to live, Clothes to wear. We respect the hotel as much as we can..
```

I was awestruck listening, WOW they have somuch respect to a building.

We Indians worship even small thing if we belive enough in them.

It’s so beautiful to observe such small things in our lives.

> God’s supreme word to us is life; our highest worship of Him is love for the living.
> -Anonymous


The Respect !!!


## Bengaluru Daires 1

Bengaluru Daires is a collection of my beautiful memories, experiences and stories from the city of Bengaluru

ಜೂನ್ 26 ಕ್ಕೆ ಅಂದರೆ ನಾಳೆ , ನಾನು ಬೆಂಗಳೂರಿಗೆ ಬಂದು ಸರಿಯಾಗಿ ಆರು ತಿಂಗಳು ತುಂಬುತ್ತದೆ , ಮೊದಲನೇ ದಿನ ಕಾಲೇಜುಗೆ ಹೋದ ಪ್ರಸಂಗ ಇನ್ನು ನೆನಪಿದೆ,

ನಾನು Yeshwanthapuraದಲ್ಲಿ ಇದ್ದೆ, ನನ್ನ ಕಾಲೇಜು kengeriಯಲ್ಲಿ ಇತ್ತು.

ಮೊದಲನೇ ದಿನ ಕ್ಯಾಬ್ ನಲ್ಲಿ ಹೋಗೋಣವೆಂದು ಮತ್ತೆ ಎರಡನೇ ದಿನದಿಂದ ಮೆಟ್ರೋ ದಲ್ಲಿ ಹೋಗೋಣ ಎಂದು ಸ್ಕೆಚ್ ಹಾಕಿದೆ.
ಮಾರನೇ ದಿನ ಬೆಳೆಗ್ಗೆ 7 ಕ್ಕೆ ಮನೆ ಬಿಟ್ಟು, ಮೆಟ್ರೋದಲ್ಲಿ ಮೆಜೆಸ್ಟಿಕ್ ಗೆ ಹೋದೆ, ಅಲ್ಲಿಂದ ಪರ್ಪಲ್ ಲೈನ್ ಚೇಂಜ್ ಮಾಡಿಕೊಂಡು ಮೈಸೂರು ರೋಡ್ ಸ್ಟೇಷನ್ ಗೆ ಹೋದೆ,
ಅಲ್ಲಿಂದ ನಾನು ಒಂದು ಬಸ್ ಹತ್ತಬೇಕಾಗಿತ್ತು. ಬಸ್ ಗೆ ಕಾದೆ , ಸುಮಾರು ಒಂದು-ಮೂರೂ ನಿಮಿಷಗಳ ನಂತರ ಬಸ್ ಬಂತು,
ಕಂಡಕ್ಟರ್ ಗೆ "R V ಕಾಲೇಜು ಗೆ ಹೋಗುತ್ತಾ " ಎಂದು ಕೇಳಿದೆ, "ಹೂ " ಅಂದ್ರು . ಸರಿ ಎಂದು ಬಸ್ ಹತ್ತಿದೆ ಆಕಡೆ ಈಕಡೆ ನೋಡುತ್ತಾ ಎಲ್ಲಿ ಹೋದೆ ಅಂದು ಗೊತ್ತಾಗಲೇ ಇಲ್ಲ,
ಬಸ್ ನನ್ನನ್ನು R R ನಗರಕ್ಕೆ ಹೋಗಿ ಬಿಟ್ಟ ಮೇಲೇನೆ ಗೊತ್ತಾಗಿದ್ದು ನಾನು ಎಲ್ಲಿದ್ದೇನೆ ಅಂದು ?.
ನಾನು ಆಯೋ ಎಂದು ಅಲ್ಲಿಂದ ಇನ್ನೊಂದು ಬಸ್ ಹತ್ತಿ ಮತ್ತೆ ಒಂದು ಆಟೋ ತಗೊಂಡು ಕಾಲೇಜು ಗೆ ಬಂದಾಗ 9:45 ಆಗಿತ್ತು.

ಬೆಂಗಳೂರು ಬಹಳ ವಿಶಾಲ ಊರು, ಇಲ್ಲಿ ಸ್ವಲ್ಪವೇ ಸ್ವಲ್ಪ ಪ್ರಜ್ಞೆ ಕಳೆದುಕೊಂಡ್ರು ಸಾಕು ಎಲ್ಲೊ ಹೋಗಬೇಕಾಗಿದ್ದು ಇನ್ನೆಲ್ಲಿಗೋ ಹೋಗಿಬಿಡುತ್ತವೆ. ಇನ್ನೊಂದು ಉದಾಹರಣೆ

ಆಂದು ಬೆಳೆಗ್ಗೆ ಸ್ವಲ್ಪ ಸಮಯ ಮೀರಿತ್ತು ಹಾಗಾಗಿ ನಾನು ಸಹಜವಾಗಿ ಆತುರದಲ್ಲಿ ಇದ್ದೆ , ಇದೆ ಆತುರದಲ್ಲಿ ಮೆಟ್ರೋದಲ್ಲಿ ಮೆಜೆಸ್ಟಿಕ್ ಗೆ ಹೋದೆ
ಅಲ್ಲಿ ನಾನು ಮೈಸೂರು ರೋಡ್ ಗೆ ಹೋಗುವ ಮೆಟ್ರೋ ಹತ್ತು ಹೋಗಿ ಬೈಯಪ್ಪನಹಳ್ಳಿ ಮೆಟ್ರೋ ಹತ್ತಿಬಿಟ್ಟಿದೆ. ಕೊನೆಗೆ ಬೈಯಪ್ಪನಹಳ್ಳಿ ಗೆ ಹೋದಾಗಲೇ ನನಗೆ ಗೊತ್ತಾಗಿದ್ದು ಎಲ್ಲೊ ಬಂದಿದ್ದೇನೆ ಎಂದು. 😂

ಈಗ ನಾನು ಸುಮಾರು ಅಂದ್ರೆ ಶೇಖಡಾ 25% ಬೆಂಗಳೂರು ಓಡಾಡಿದ್ದನೆ,ಲೆಕ್ಖಗೆ ಇಲ್ಲದಷ್ಟು ಕಡೆ ತಿಂದಿದ್ದೇನೆ , ಆದರು ನನಗೆ ಬೆಂಗಳೂರು ಸ್ವಲ್ಪ ಗೊತ್ತು ಎಂದು ಹೇಳಬೋದು ಅಷ್ಟೇ.


Bengaluru Daires 1


**F\*\*\*** this Covid, I thought to myself, having cursed the pandemic countless times. This time wasn’t that much different. If it wasn’t for the pandemic, I would have had a blissful college life. After finishing my CIE-3, I was thinking of writing the improvement CIE, I sat in my room looking over my “to-do list” which comprised Experiential Learning-Phase 2, English Essay, and lastly CAED submission. I glanced over the deadlines, the English one was due tomorrow so I started to write it. The deeper I went to writing, the more lost I was.

I kept thinking about this cursed pandemic. Well, I’m not the only person who is facing difficulties. Many people are facing problems, and if we look from the perspective of those people, we would feel lucky for not having those problems.

Have you ever seen a child staring at an empty glass cup imagining that his dad would pick him now and play with him? But unfortunately, as he was a COVID-19 ambulance driver he had worked intensely during the lockdown, but The Covid-19 didn’t leave him too, he was affected by the virus and he died.

![covid_croud](https://miro.medium.com/max/700/0*yLsSgVnuYumLZcrV)

Can you imagine that child’s pain, sorrow, the devastating look in his eyes, the cold hand waiting to be warmed by hugging someone close to him but there is no one, not even his mother, he had lost his mother because of premature birth now the only thing he used to hug was also disappeared.

As cold as this sounds, he might be one of the luckiest ones to be born during this era where people have a shot of living even if they get sick. We have been through a countless number of wars because of some trivial misunderstanding and someone’s ego not being able to take that. As clumsy as this sounds, we are still here at this moment. That’s why my favourite quote is “Yesterday was the past, Tomorrow is the future, But today, My friend is the present! That’s why today is called a gift”

You are still here, you shouldn’t exist. Yet you are, so let me say it clearly without a doubt, you are a miracle.

A wise man once said,

> “Our daily lives we spend like this, might just be a series of miracles.” Our existence is so obvious that we take them for granted. That doesn’t change the fact that we shouldn’t be existing right now… it’d take the faintest miracle to be here.”

While imagining these I was suddenly questioning myself, _Why do I exist?_

Well, I’m still looking for an answer.

Shit! My English essay submission is tomorrow I gotta go bye 👋

Hope Y’all had a pleasant read.


How Lucky Are We……?


_Accepting it and Moving on!!!!_

Whenever I meet a new person, the first thing I used to do was to stare at their lips so that, I could understand what they were saying. Even with the hearing aids even now I look into their lips to understand what they are saying. Many people ask me “you have a costly hearing aid, why you cannot hear everything clearly?” That is like asking a man who has no leg and he has a Golden Walker why is he not walking properly?

Hearing aids are just a medium that connects us to the outer world. They are an integral part of my life; I do not go anywhere without them. I got introduced to this world on July 3rd 2002 and was declared deaf within 5 months.

## How was it discovered that I was deaf?

After I was born, I used to stay with my mother and grandparents. In the room where I used to sleep there used to be a huge Almirah, which made a huge sound every time it was opened. A normal child would cry or get startled right? But, I was sleeping like a sound baby. This was noticed by my mother and she took me to the doctor. The doctor broke the news that I was permanently deaf and I might not be able to speak properly.

My mother was completely shattered, but my father was practical, He took us to Mysuru and showed me in AIISH. Somebody in AIISH informed us that there was a school for us known as PADC. We went there and Smt. Ratna Shetty aunty met us and admitted us to PADC.

Had it not been for the concerns raised by my mother. Not only would hearing loss have possibly gone on longer without being detected, but I would most likely not have had a hearing screening at birth.

Now all of you may have visited traditional schools. Well, _PADC_ (Parents Association of Deaf Child) is not a traditional school, here there were very few teachers, Mothers would become the teachers for the child. This was a school for the deaf child and the parent too… this is a PADC (Parents Association of Deaf Child) speciality. Normally, children start to go to school from the age of 6 but the specially-abled children start to go at the age of 2. The special abled children do not learn only academically in that pre-main-stream school training; they learn about life passively. I learned about life — why and what, after four years of training in this unique school. After the age of 5, I started to go to a mainstream school. I passed SSLC and PUC with fairly good marks owing to the good foundation laid by my parents and the school. Currently, I am pursuing a Bachelor of Engineering in Computer Science Engineering at R V College of Engineering.

## What I would like to say to the other parents

Your child doesn’t need your sympathies, it needs your support and encouragement. Maybe they’ll excel in some other area, Marks is not everything in life. Rather than pressurizing and teaching them about marks. Teach them about values, life and allow them to be more independent one by one. That would be more useful than marks. We crave acceptance from society. Teach them how to approach the challenges of life posed by society due to lack of awareness.

## What I would Like to say to other Students

_“Don’t worry about the negativity in the world. Shut it down or ignore it. Instead, cultivate a better social circle; interact with everyone, don’t fear yourself, be ambitious in life. Ask questions. Don’t be dependent on too many people.”_

I know that maybe I am not qualified to say these things to you. But, If I don’t then who will?

I believe that the world is not only made up of atoms, but it is also made up of stories, each and everyone has a unique and different story, the silent struggle behind the story is what brings us together.


The Silent Struggle


## Why India is obsessed with engineering?

In the world japan is famous producing for its electronics, France is famous for producing baking eatables, Italy is famous for producing wine and cheese, America is famous for producing automobiles, aerospace, etc..

But do you know what INDIA is famous for producing (you guessed right !!) ENGINEERS.

India is a diverse country there are many religions, races, food, languages, dressing styles, BUT there is no diversity in graduates, Every year almost 2.9 million (29 lakhs) engineers are set into the competitive world, in that almost 1.4 million (14 lakhs) peoples remain unemployed. Why?

Yes, India has the highest rate of engineering graduates in the world, In India, almost every house has an average number of 2 engineers per family. Imagine the number of engineers in the whole country !!

when shown globally around 85% of students showed the desire to take up engineering, in that 79% of students were from India.

The reason is the INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION when Britishers came to our country they needed some workers to work in their factories in England, the minimum qualification was set to an English speaking person (approx). Therefore so many peoples tried to meet the minimum qualification.

Then in America, the IT revolution happened there American companies started to hire engineers. Indian had only 2 options they can go to Russia or America (IT revolution happened in both countries at the same time) many Indians choose America due to language problems.

The tech giants started to hire Indians because of their talent and also it was cheap and productive for them. Due to the currency variation, many Indians think that they may get a handsome salary if they work in foreign countries. A greater percentage of engineers actually live below-average life in abroad.

IIT’s played a prominent role, they started to educate the students with premium quality education, the students were getting handsome salary after completing the courses in IIT’s now whose parents will not send his/her son to IIT’s, due to this reason AIEEE started which selected the exceptional students to study in IIT’s. What about the remaining students?

India’s problem with substandard engineering education is now widely known. Except for IITs and other prestigious technology institutes, most engineering colleges are unable to provide education to engineering student that would get them suitable jobs. At the root of the problem is mushrooming of low-quality engineering colleges over the years. As students from such colleges fail to get suitable jobs, they face a decline in enrolment. Now a large number of these colleges are being closed down.

![some-statistics](https://qphs.fs.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-bc347f14d2c44a650755be6641a2df44-lq)

Here the financial pressure, social pressure affect the person too much, therefore just to please the society many peoples opt for engineering as their primary educational goal.

Here people don’t appreciate the WHITE COLLOR JOBS who earns much less than others. (sophisticated jobs)

The mad race of JEE has destroyed many peoples lives, Most of the peoples don’t recognize that there is PLAN B PLAN C if PLAN A fails.

In fact, there is a huge community in south India where parents force their children to do engineering and sent abroad, so they could brag about them with others !!


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