Blind at 13, his vision leads him to top of IT firm

Taken from Tribune India.
“I don’t like recalling my adversity, but if you insist I will…,” Charudutta Jadhav told the audience at the First National Consultation on Skilling the Disabled on Saturday.His was an inspiring narration — he had lost sight when he was 13. Today he heads innovations at TCS, one of India’s leading IT service providing firms. Jadhav is the only 100 per cent visually impaired professional in the country to have made it to the top in the software industry. Ask
him how his dream became a reality, he says: “With constant hope in the feeling… yes I can.”Jadhav is currently the third senior-most executive in the TCS hierarchy in Mumbai. About his vision loss, he said: “I still remember that day. I was in a class and suddenly black spots appeared before my eyes. Then darkness followed. Doctors said I had suffered retinal detachment which shows signs of coming in the form of fever. But in my case, it was like someone had switched off the lights in my life.”Within two years of the tragedy, Jadhav’s father lost his job in the infamous cotton strike of Mumbai in 1982 and the family was driven to penury. “At times, there was no food at home. I continued attending school and learnt by hearing my lessons. Later, I picked up a part-time job as an office assistant for Rs 225 a month to support my family. Those were very hard days,” says the software expert with four registered patents in his name for IT solutions today.Some of these innovations include interaction designs for the disabled which Jadhav developed as Global Head
for TCS’ Accessibility Centre of Excellence.He now plans to work on optical character and speech recognisers in Indian languages. “We need to think about IT solutions for the disabled who can speak and understand only Indian languages,” says Jadhav, who did his BA from Mumbai University; then took two diplomas (one each in software programming and engineering) and finally MA in Computer Applications from IGNOU.“In the 1990s, it was unthinkable for visually disabled to study, let alone do software engineering. I am told I was the first blind man to get the diploma. It was about the same time I picked up chess which honed my logical abilities,” he says, urging his disabled friends to acquire skills and never let anguish get the better of them.Jadhav says it’s equally important for the disabled to reject sympathy. “That’s the only way to enhance your self worth. At TCS, I never seek additional support even when my firm is willing to offer. When you demand equality with the sighted, you get it,” said the man who has been representing India in the World Blind Chess Championships.

Source: Tribune India.

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