Ahmedabad: Maheshwari Dodiyar, 19, a native of Godhra, cannot see and hear and has very limited speech capabilities. Conventionally, she could have been seen as the proverbial ‘burden’ on her family. On the contrary, Maheshwari is shouldering the financial burden of her family of labourers. She earns Rs 14,000 per month working as a serving staff in a cafe on SG Highway and pays the fee of her younger brother, ensuring he does not miss out on education due to the family’s poor economic condition.Maheshwari was a premature baby with multiple medical conditions that resulted in progressive deafness and blindness. She was studying in a traditional school till class 7 but shifted to BPA when her vision started failing and mastered Braille and tactile language. She is a class 12 passout and currently works in Mitti Cafe in the Gujarat high Court campus. “I am not a girl who needs constant monitoring or pity – I have limited vision and I rely mostly on my surroundings for situational awareness. I have learnt the ability to make a good cup of coffee, tea and sandwiches. I even share cleaning duties like other staff members at café. I travel from Vatva to Gujarat High Court daily through BRTS on my own and learned to traverse the known spots on my own,” Maheshwari told TOI through an interpreter.As Helen Keller Day is celebrated on June 27 annually to commemorate the birth anniversary of the American deafblind trailblazer who championed disability rights and political activism, Ahmedabad too has witnessed two deafblind girl breaking away from conventional vocations, jumping into the mainstream work spaces and becoming the `highest earning’ members of their families.Dhruvi Pandya, 20, a native of Sagwara in Rajasthan, who has been living in the city since 12 years, is the ‘visionary’ in her family, standing on her own feet and funding her brother’s college education to become a teacher. Being deafblind, Dhruvi too cannot see and hear but she is the one her single mother leans on for support. Dhruvi works as a waitress in a local cafe and earns Rs 11,000.Both Maheshwari and Dhruvi are close friends and go to work together using public transport. Krupa Velani, project coordinator for deafblindness at the Blind People’s Association (BPA), told TOI that the institution conducted a week-long sensitization and training workshop for both the café staff members so that they can work closely with Maheshwari and Dhruvi.“Both girls have been working for nearly a year now and there is not a single complaint about their work ethic. They are the only deafblind staff in their cafes and their colleagues tap on the shoulder gently to get their attention and instruct through tactile signs. Their success underscores the fact that if given the right opportunity, there is no disability that cannot be transcended,” Velani said.
