Warm advance greetings for a joyous and radiant Diwali!
We are happy to report on how Vision-Aid’s Smartphone Program is illuminating the lives of visually impaired individuals across India. In partnership with TFL India—and with their generous 1:1 matching grant—we’ve empowered over 600 beneficiaries with smartphones and comprehensive training, fostering independence, dignity, and learning opportunities. We’re aiming to reach 1,000+ beneficiaries in 2025!
Program Highlights:
- Enablement: Distributed smartphones to over 600 individuals nationwide across multiple phases.
- Education: Provided training to ensure effective use of smartphone features and apps.
- Empowerment: All the beneficiaries are from under-privileged backgrounds and use their smart phones for education (over 70% are students) or for improving their livelihood.
We are grateful for our amazing team on the ground and our network of partners – Eye hospitals, blind schools, and trusts across various cities which included : Hyderabad (L.V. Prasad Eye Institute was the inaugural site for the nationwide rollout) , Vizag, Chennai, Pune, New Delhi, Madurai, Vijayawada, Agra, Shillong, Sitapur (Uttar Pradesh) and Nasik.
We are grateful to all donors of this program and also very appreciative of TFL Foundation for their generous matching grant which doubled the impact of every donation made.
Meet some of the beneficiaries
Have you ever wondered who these people are? Where do they come from? What do they do? And how are they using a Smart Phone? Meet a few such beneficiaries from the Vision-Aid center in the Aravind Eye Hospital Madurai being interviewed by Dr. P. Vijayalakkshmi , Managing Trustee of Aravind and a passionate advocate for the program.
In this video one of the beneficiaries who comes from a village near Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu and had provided a smart phone and training on using it. In this short video she narrates her story. She makes and sells small goods – like bottles of eucalyptus oil, and products like hand-kerchiefs on a train. One direct impact it has had is that when customers come to her with e-Pay or Credit Cards (increasingly common in India these days), now she can use her Phone to collect the electronic payment from her customers. This has increased the sales and helps her to make a better living. She is very grateful for the gift of the Smart Phone. There are many other touching and inspiring stories too.
More Details of the program can be found here:
