In a world where adversity often tests the strength of one’s character, Arun Kumar’s journey is a shining example of resilience, determination, and the power of education. Let us go on this journey as he talks us through his amazing experience.

As summer closes and we enter the Fall, our team is also completing another quarterly review cycle. Through this email, we wish to share with you a report summarizing highlights from some of our programs across India in the second quarter of 2023. We sincerely thank you for your support for these programs that enable, educate and empower the visually impaired to live with independence and dignity.

In 2021, Vision-Aid with support from the Palakurthi Foundation of USA provided the seed funding for the launch of this ground breaking AI-powered Smart Vision Glasses to its partner SHG Technologies of Bengaluru – the first such device in the Indian market, which is priced at less than a tenth of comparable Western counterparts, making it much more accessible to the visually impaired population in India.

Vision-Aid USA announced several notable additions to its leadership team for 2023-24. This year’s 100% volunteer Vision-Aid Leadership team includes its 15-member Board of Directors (BOD), 14-member Board of Advisors (BOA), and 5-member Council of Youth Ambassadors, which provides leadership in the area of community engagement, inclusion and advocacy, with a special focus on youth.The combined team includes an eminently qualified and diverse range of members drawn from a wide range of fields including Ophthalmology, Optometry, Occupational Therapy, Finance, Technology, Health, Management, Academia and Law.

Thank you so much for purchasing tickets or sponsoring Vision-Aid's annual event "The Son of the Wind - The Saga of Hanuman". While joining us for this spectacular and unique visual treat you are also helping us to raise funds for programs of Vision-Aid to Enable, Educate and Empower the visually impaired. 

Mr. Sushil Tuli is the current CEO and Chairman of Leader Bank, and has been one of the leading figures in financial services in Massachusetts. for nearly thirty-five years. Mr. Tuli founded Leader Bank in May of 2002, opening a single branch in East Arlington with seven employees and $6.5 million in assets. Mr. Tuli has guided Leader Bank to become one of the top community banks in the county, with well over 350 employees across seven full-service branches and three loan production centers, and approximately $4 billion in assets. Since its founding, Mr. Tuli has grown all facets of Leader Bank’s business, with a particular focus on retail banking, residential mortgages and both commercial and small business lending.

During the past quarter, all of our Vision-Aid Resource Centers have been relentlessly offering services to the visually impaired, and during January to March 2023, Vision-Aid programs had the opportunity to serve 4846 visually impaired children and adults across 30 locations in India. (Currently Vision-Aid serves ~20,000 annually) 

New England’s ever-popular Din Check band is joining forces with Vision-Aid on Sunday, April 23rd from 4 to 7 p.m. for a fabulous “fun-raiser” in the historic and beautiful Cary Hall in Lexington Center to celebrate Bollywood music and dance. The event supports the programs of Vision-Aid and Perkins School for the Blind to enable children with visual impairment and multiple disabilities (MDVI) served in programs jointly run by Vision-Aid and Perkins India through the Perkins Project Identification and Intervention (IDI) project.

As we near the end of 2022 and look ahead to 2023, there are many bright spots in the past year, but one of the brightest is 42 of our students who are blind or visually impaired landing their dream job in the Tech sector and other sectors. 42 students of our Digital Accessibility Testing (DAT), Python programming), SQL/Database and Corporate Skills training program landed jobs in top companies like Infosys, Goldman Sachs, Cognizant and many others (see list below), as Accessibility testers, software engineers and a variety of other corporate roles. Congratulations to the students and their trainers for this AMAZING accomplishment!

With the turn of seasons, we also have the turn of the quarterly program cycle at Vision-Aid.  During the past quarter [July - September 2022], Vision-Aid Resource Centers and Programs had the opportunity to serve 4366 visually impaired persons across India via various programs.

Belated Dussehra greetings and advance greetings for Diwali – the festival of lights. Amid the festive season, did you know that today, October 15th , is “White Cane Awareness Day”, to increase awareness of the use of white canes by the visually impaired to navigate safely. In our Vision-Aid Agra center, this day was celebrated with the distribution of “Smart Canes” to the visually impaired.

We have a spectacular show waiting for you: “The Jewel of Justice - the saga of Kannagi” on Sunday July 31st, 2022 @ 4 PM US EDT.  Please read this carefully if you are coming to the in-person event in Watertown, MA. (If you are attending the Zoom event, scroll down to the next section for Zoom attendees”

We are pleased to share with you a message from Governor Baker and Lt. Governor Polito for Vision-Aid's upcoming annual event.

Cordial and articulate, with a zest for adventure, Shubham is an Arts major turned tech buff who has thrived on the skill-broadening exposure brought to him by Vision-Aid’s Digital Accessibility Testing and Training Program. Presently employed at HCL as a Digital Accessibility Tester, Shubham fondly reminisces about the series of events that led him to clinch such a covetable position, and how Vision-Aid made a debut at a crucial juncture in his life.

LEXINGTON, MA–Vision-Aid, a non-profit organization serving the visually impaired, announced several notable additions to its leadership team for 2022-23.

This year’s 100% volunteer leadership team includes its 15-member Board of Directors (BOD), 15-member Board of Advisors (BOA), and 4-member Council of Ambassadors, which provides leadership in the area of community engagement, inclusion and advocacy, with a special focus on youth.

The combined power team includes an eminently qualified and diverse range of members drawn from a wide range of fields including Ophthalmology, Optometry, Occupational Therapy, Finance, Technology, Health, Management, Academia and Law.

Vision-Aid’s annual dance productions have become a New England tradition of their own – a remarkable event that the entire community looks forward to with anticipation. This year’s show comes to audiences in a hybrid mode - allowing viewers to choose watching the show in person at a live screening or virtually from the comfort of their homes on July 31st, 2021 at 4 PM US EST, while still preserving the creative, dazzling flavor which have set these shows apart in a category of their own.

While COVID-19 continues to pose challenges, the innovative team leading this year’s effort is finding creative ways to make the show as memorable and vibrant as ever.

The event also aspires to raise much-needed funds for the visually impaired in India – a community which has been especially hard hit by the fallout from the pandemic, at all levels.

For more details of the show, to buy tickets, or to become a sponsor, please visit www.VisionAid.org/event

Amid the searing heat wave in Delhi, which has been in the recent news, a cooler piece of news is that Smart Vision Glasses (SVG) 2.0, the new AI-powered device for the visually impaired made its debut this week in Delhi and is causing some waves. Vision-Aid and its partner SHG Technologies launched Smart Vision Gen 2.0 in Delhi at the Dr. Shroff’s Charity Eye Hospital (SCEH) in Delhi, on May 17th, at an event which was well attended despite the ongoing heat wave.

National Launch of Smart Vision 2.0 On January 11th, 2022 a major all-India seminar was held on the theme of “Technology-based devices for persons who are visually impaired”. The event was jointly organized by the Aravind Eye Hospital and Vision-Aid and was attended by over 60 participants representing eye hospitals and NGOs from different parts of India. The keynote sessions was presented by Aravind Eye Hospital, L.V. Prasad Eye Inst., Vision-Aid and Smart Health Global Technologies – Vision-Aid’s partner who is bringing the first AI-powered , affordable, India-made Smart glasses to the Indian market. The event covered the role of assistive technology for the visually impaired, with a focus on the new AI-powered smart glasses, and a formal launch of Smart Vision Gen 2.0. Vision-Aid is pleased to share the keynote talks and the full session recordings below.

Smart Vision is a revolutionary, affordable, innovative, made-in-India, AI-powered "Smart Glass", the first of its kind brought to India by Vision-Aid in partnership with SHG Technologies of Bengaluru, in collaboration with Aravind Eye Hospital in Madurai and with the financial support of the Palakurthi Foundation of USA.

Short Video Overview of Smart Vision Demo (~30 seconds video):

Smart Vision Testimonials by blind users in pilot (~2.5 minutes)  

Click here to download brochure.

For more information, or to obtain this device, please email: info@visionaid.org 

Touching is believing! For children who are visually impaired, and who have never seen a tree or a star or a science diagram, the world of tactile diagrams and tactile STEM books opens up a whole new universe, using the sense of touch. Vision-Aid is proud to partner with Raised Lines Foundation (RLF) a start-up coming out of IIT-Delhi to provide high quality tactile Braille books to children in blind schools across India replacing traditional Braille books which were lacking diagrams. We are grateful to Meetu & Ram Gupta Foundation of Boston, and several other donors for their generous support for this program.