----- Forwarded Message -----
>From: вιкαѕн <bikash.abys...@gmail.com>
>Subject: Bhavna becomes World’s first graduate using ‘eye – pointing’ system
>
>
>Bhavna becomes World’s first graduate using ‘eye – pointing’ system  
>The first thing that strikes you when you meet 
Bhavna Botta is how full of smiles she is. Not surprisingly, she was 
voted Miss Smiley — and Miss Final Year — at her B.A. Corporate 
Secretaryship department farewell party in Ethiraj College this year.
>It has been a remarkable journey. Bhavna was born 
with Athetoid Cerebral Palsy, which means she is unable to walk, write 
by hand, or communicate verbally. Yet, she has defied all odds to 
complete her Class XII exams from a mainstream institution, Lady Andal 
Venkatasubba Rao Matriculation Higher Secondary School, and now her 
Bachelor’s degree from Ethiraj, all using a unique system of 
communication by ‘eye-pointing’.
>“She is definitely the first person in India — and possibly in the world — 
to have finished a college degree using the eye-pointing system,” says 
Kalpana, her mother. With this system, Bhavana communicates — and writes her 
exams — using a chart of alphabets in numbered columns, spelling 
out what she wants to say by pointing at the columns with her eyes. The 
chart was developed specially for her at Vidyasagar (a voluntary 
organisation that works with children and young adults with cerebral 
palsy and other neurological disabilities), where she studied until 
Class X. That’s what she uses during this interview as well, spelling 
out her answers so rapidly at times that Kalpana can’t keep up.
>Foremost on her mind is her emotional parting with M. Thavamani, her principal 
>at Ethiraj College who retired recently, and 
whom she went to college to say goodbye to. “It was a very unique 
feeling,” says Bhavna, “something I’ve never experienced before.”
>Thavamani describes the meeting in touchingly similar terms: “It was a very 
>emotional moment for both of us; I can’t begin to express the kind of 
>affection Bhavna’s shown me, the department and her classmates.”
>She adds: “When I first met the child, I did wonder 
if she would be able to manage. But today I can say that having been 
Bhavna’s teacher — I taught her accountancy in her first year — is 
something I’m truly proud of in my career of 35 years.”
>Like any youngster, Bhavna’s fondest memories of her 
three years in college are of the friendships she formed and of all the 
fun she’s had. The word she spells out most often is ‘fun’, amidst 
plenty of laughter, as her mother talks about her adventures in learning to 
wear a sari and her insistence on going to the beach even though the salt water 
plays havoc with her wheelchair.
>Is she signing up for a postgraduate degree? Her 
family is trying to convince her to do so. But her mind’s made up and it has 
been since she was in Class VIII — Bhavna plans to start her own 
business. “She’s geared all her decisions towards this, whether it was 
taking accountancy in Class XI or choosing Entrepreneurial Development 
as her elective in college,” says Meenakshi Subramanian, member of 
Vidyasagar’s Disability Legislation Unit (DLU), and Bhavna’s close 
friend and scribe.
>She’s already decided on the sort of business she’s 
like to do — a socially responsible venture selling organic cotton and 
ahimsa silk saris and dress materials — and she has friends and family 
collecting information for her on different aspects.
>But when Kalpana talks about family funding the 
venture, Bhavna protests vehemently — she’s determined to start her 
business with a loan from the National Handicapped Finance and 
Development Corporation (NHFDC) instead. Her answer to my question “Why 
business?” was simply to spell out “independence”.
>“What’s the next step?” earns a similarly simple 
response: “Launching the business.” With this plucky young woman’s track 
record, you’ve got to believe it will happen, sooner rather than later.
>
>
>Cheers.. !!!
>"Develop a passion for learning. If you do, you will never cease to grow..."
> Bik@sh... 
>
>
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