Challenging disability

Aishwarya Pillai is a counsellor at the Rehabilitation centre in LV Prasad Eye Institute. Diagnosed with brain tumour in the year 2008, she started to lose all her senses in a month, which also led to Paralysis in the left side of her body. She was told that she wouldn’t make it and would probably lose her life in the next three months. This did not stop her; she said no to the surgery, and took up homeopathy, which helped her recover most of her senses except for her sight.

“I was an Undergrad student, studying Mass Communication at Loyola Academy Degree and PG College. I had to leave college in my final year due to the tumour. Since then, I was home, writing content for various organisations and was working from home,” says Aishwarya. Her mother and sister helped her by reading out the content she writes.

In the year 2011, she approached LV Prasad Eye Institute as her eye sight was deteriorating. She then met Dr Ramesh and Hema, who had told her about the Rehabilitation centre in the hospital that helped the visually impaired by training them in various domains. She was introduced to the screen reader application at the rehabilitation centre and got well-versed with it.

Seeing her work, the Institute offered her employment at the centre for helpline service and as a counsellor that she happily accepted. She always wanted to get into film making as she had zeal to write stories, she says. It is her story that she made into a short film which is vying in the ‘Holman’s’ Prize competition organised by the ‘Lighthouse for the blind and the visually impaired’, California.

The sole purpose of this competition is to support the dream projects of three visually impaired individuals from around the world. Aishwarya is representing India in this International forum. “Despite my challenges, I have already directed 5 – 6 short films and an audio movie” shares, Pillai. “When it came to filmmaking, my colleagues and my coworkers helped with everything I need to make a film. Priya and my Head of the Department Buela Christy constantly supported me when I came up with the idea of an audio film.

She and her team are also taking part in the “Yes Foundation Film Festival” that will take place on March 10. She made a video about the vocational training organised by the institute for the differently abled, visually impaired and who are from the lower strata of the economy. Aishwarya says, “If I win the competition, I would want to train people with visual disability and make a full-length feature film with them”.

She adds, “Even if I don’t win the competition I would still aspire to do so.” She now seeks help and support from all and urges viewers to like her video on YouTube as a part of the first round - as the contestant with the higher number of likes will qualify for the ‘People’s Choice Finalists’. One can search for ‘The Blind Film maker by Aishwarya Pillai’. The last day for voting is March 7, 2018. “We do not want sympathy but opportunity and want people to accept us the way we are,” she signs off.

By Nathaniel Anthony