"I have a request. Please stop labeling the blind as “special people”. We are every bit as normal as anyone else.", Dr. Kamal

I was stricken by meningitis in 1968 when I was a high school student aiming to become an aeronautical engineer. It robbed me of my eyesight completely and I had to adapt my life according to the new situation. In those days, there were no course books in Braille. I would ask my friends to come over to my house, read, and record the textbooks in a tape recorder. I would play them to learn the material.

I completed my master's program this way and started working as a lecturer in Forman Christian College. In 1993, I enrolled at Punjab University and became the first blind student to get an MPhil in English.

I got the Fulbright scholarship for a PhD relatively late in my life - just eleven years ago when I was in my 50s, which is normally the age when people retire. Before my doctorate studies began, I undertook a phenomenal program that teaches independent living. It was in a facility in Minnesota known as BLIND, Inc, a nationally renowned foundation that offers training programs for empowering blind individuals. These independent living skills were extremely valuable and something which isn’t taught in Pakistan. It gave me tremendous freedom. I could do just about every task on my own, including cooking for myself and sometimes for my friends in the US!

The Fulbright experience and living in the US gave me an appreciation of how accommodating, thoughtful and considerate American people are and how much they respect the white stick. Independent living for the blind is a reality over there. Every store will have a shopping assistant who can direct you and accompany you to the right aisle. People can travel across the city and on the subway alone with their white stick unobstructed. This is a difficult and impossible scenario in Pakistan because pavements are always blocked with someone or something and people have no regard for the white stick. People have an attitude of pity with the blind. Rather than encouraging and facilitating a blind person travelling alone, they will recommend staying at home and not hampering their safety by venturing out.

I have a request. Please stop labeling the blind as “special people”. We are every bit as normal as anyone else. We are merely differently-abled. We also have the talent to excel at our professions if we are given the right training. I have mentored several blind as well as sighted students who now have illustrious careers. I lead a very fulfilling life. I have a loving and supportive family, and I look forward to going home and playing with my grandchildren every day.

Dr. Kamal Ud Din
Professor of English, Forman Christian College
Fulbright PhD Scholar (2005-2008)
PhD in English Literature, Indiana University of Pennsylvania
(Professor Kamal Ud Din specializes in Modern African American feminist poetry. He has the distinction of being the first visually impaired candidate to complete his PhD with the Fulbright scholarship within a period of three years)