[Music]
when I was three months old my mom
realized I had a vision issue she took
me to an ophthalmologist because I was
not making eye contact she soon learned
that this vision issue is incurable
she equipped me with skills like Braille
and the abacus with guidance from LV
Prasad Vision rehab department and she
prepared me for school despite the
initial shock my mom quickly figured out
ways to bring me up just as any other
kid she had this perspective that her
child should have the same opportunities
and experiences as anybody else there’s
a lot of difference between shoot and
wood and my mom believed her child
should have the same opportunities and
experiences from the very early days I
can remember and recall my perspective
had been shaped by the love of my family
her unconventional decision to put me
into regular schooling transformed my
life phenomenally however almost every
school refused my application or to even
talk to her in the first place when all
doors seemed to be closing a newspaper
article about Myra Christine and her
school with inclusion ideas Muraki were
a fresh breath of air my parents
approached her and she readily agreed to
give me an admission I finally got into
America merica was this very small
school then and yet they were very
supportive this wonderful place
introduced me to the experience of
schooling I thoroughly enjoyed it to me
merica is actually very big school it
has place for everybody doesn’t that
sound familiar to the ideal world that
we all want
fast-forward few years I was done with
my grade six and I had to change schools
a few schools refused my application
despite my academic records my parents
approached Meridian with great anxiety
just like any other school in the list
though she did not know the way forward
with me the principal of Meridian agreed
to give me an opportunity to study when
I was in school
I was not aware of the struggle my
family had to go through in parallel my
family made sure I had a very normal
childhood my mom constantly helped me
experience things around me I’m blessed
to be surrounded by people who are
willing to mainstream me over time a
number of instances helped me realize
that I had everything in this world one
of the profound ones that I remember was
when I flew my first kite and I took
down the other one the only way for me
to know where the kite was was with the
string of thread in my hand and my
family enabled me to do it over time
such experiences and sir incidents
helped me experience the lack of want
and this is where the magic of life’s
exploration began learning itself has
not been a very straightforward process
for me you would learn geometry by
drawing diagrams
I learned the same geometry but by
touching figures constructed by sticking
matchsticks and thread on paper you were
busy painting a house on paper while I
was busy building one with some clay and
sand you would give you a physics wiva
by drawing circuit diagrams and
answering questions I answered the same
difficult questions and I also
identified components like resistors
capacitors and the little hearts cookie
to touch yeah you heard me right
I said little hearts cookie I remember
in my class 12 practical exam my
invigilator was handing me these
components and I was identifying them
suddenly he hands me a little hearts
cookie I got it right within a blink of
an eye and I passed we talked about
putting people on Mars we want to put
people on Mars but I think we can do a
lot better for back on earth
understanding education for the
differently-abled improving it through
technology redefining concepts to learn
I never got it done easy at times I
struggled to explain my teachers the
slightly different ways of using
assistive technology
and everyday objects as learning aids to
teach me certain concepts but their
willingness to quickly learn and adapt
slowly made learning a truly educated
experience for me I was into regular
schooling my friends could have reacted
to this in a number of ways they could
have isolated me
they could have bullied me but they
chose to understand the situation and
include me the first moment of extreme
surprise with the computer was when I
was eight one day I heard my computer
speak out my lessons to me I was
fascinated over time I realized that
technology can profoundly impact the
quality of lives of people it has
certainly improved mine a lot of water a
lot of what I do today would have been
possible only in science fiction movies
a decade ago I decided that I wanted to
take up a career in computer science but
unfortunately I was not allowed to
choose math and science in my class 11
and 12
not because of I’m not because I was not
academically capable but only due to the
fact that I was a visually impaired
student I was denied the opportunity to
give the air at Ripley the entrance exam
for most engineering colleges in India
Institutes disregarded the fact that I
could do a program in engineering and
denied my admission their reasons varied
from I quote engineering can endanger
his life too
this guy just can’t do engineering I
started to understand that proceeding
with an admission in an engineering
college in India is not going to be easy
not because of my academic capabilities
but only due to the misconceptions about
vision impairment according to
International Institute of information
technology Hyderabad based on merit the
decision to give me an admission was
solely based on merit I’ve done my
masters by research in computer science
focus on accessibility and assistive
technology access to mathematical
content is a significant challenge for
people with vision impairment
the research component of my course
we’ve taken a small yet significant step
towards solving this we’ve proposed and
developed techniques to render
mathematical content in audio in such a
way that a visually impaired listener
can understand them experimentation
showed that using our techniques
visually impaired listeners were able to
answer basic math questions with the
correctness of 95% to put this in
perspective this was a meager 30 percent
when the equations are spoken as regular
English sentences our work was presented
and published in the 11th International
Conference on natural language
processing and the 30th technology in
persons with disabilities conference
recently I graduated with flying colors
a proud moment for my family hey I got
this far I after all these years of my
journey realized that I’m in a position
to impact the lives of many more through
my technical contributions I now do this
through an internship with a fantastic
team at Microsoft I don’t look at this
as a job but as a fantastic opportunity
to improve technology for the
differently abled through my
contributions perhaps me trying to solve
a challenge that I face every day and
looking at a problem from a user as well
as a developer’s perspective has put me
in this position not every day has been
all about studies I have just as much
fun as anybody in their 20s I enjoy
music not just listening to it I play
the drums I’ve been a part of couple of
rock bands in the city and I’ve also had
the chance to share the stage with music
maestro ar-rahman once that was an
overwhelming moment for me my family has
given me an abundance of experiences
tower jumping the 50th floor of a
building deep-sea diving
paragliding horse riding these are just
a few of the many amazing experiences
I’ve had I’m blessed with a sister who’s
my friend
and who’s been very supportive of me
through the ups and downs of my life
today it’s very natural for my friends
to include me we going to a movie a trip
or a track getting here is half the fun
being here is all of it I stand here
with this bold dream of revolutionizing
assistive technology as we know it today
with advances in the field of computer
science and newer ways of interacting
with technology there is an ocean of
unexplored possibilities and I’m all set
to take a deep dive in technology when
designed for everybody can let anybody
do what they love including me
did you know Dragon Dictate voiceover
automatic captioning and translation for
YouTube videos these are all first
developed as assistive technology and
later mainstreamed the next time be
mindful of where it all began we have to
make this world a better place for
everybody and friends we are all in this
together thank you
[Music]
you
[Applause]
[Music]
when I was three months old my mom
realized I had a vision issue she took
me to an ophthalmologist because I was
not making eye contact she soon learned
that this vision issue is incurable
she equipped me with skills like Braille
and the abacus with guidance from LV
Prasad Vision rehab department and she
prepared me for school despite the
initial shock my mom quickly figured out
ways to bring me up just as any other
kid she had this perspective that her
child should have the same opportunities
and experiences as anybody else there’s
a lot of difference between shoot and
wood and my mom believed her child
should have the same opportunities and
experiences from the very early days I
can remember and recall my perspective
had been shaped by the love of my family
her unconventional decision to put me
into regular schooling transformed my
life phenomenally however almost every
school refused my application or to even
talk to her in the first place when all
doors seemed to be closing a newspaper
article about Myra Christine and her
school with inclusion ideas Muraki were
a fresh breath of air my parents
approached her and she readily agreed to
give me an admission I finally got into
America merica was this very small
school then and yet they were very
supportive this wonderful place
introduced me to the experience of
schooling I thoroughly enjoyed it to me
merica is actually very big school it
has place for everybody doesn’t that
sound familiar to the ideal world that
we all want
fast-forward few years I was done with
my grade six and I had to change schools
a few schools refused my application
despite my academic records my parents
approached Meridian with great anxiety
just like any other school in the list
though she did not know the way forward
with me the principal of Meridian agreed
to give me an opportunity to study when
I was in school
I was not aware of the struggle my
family had to go through in parallel my
family made sure I had a very normal
childhood my mom constantly helped me
experience things around me I’m blessed
to be surrounded by people who are
willing to mainstream me over time a
number of instances helped me realize
that I had everything in this world one
of the profound ones that I remember was
when I flew my first kite and I took
down the other one the only way for me
to know where the kite was was with the
string of thread in my hand and my
family enabled me to do it over time
such experiences and sir incidents
helped me experience the lack of want
and this is where the magic of life’s
exploration began learning itself has
not been a very straightforward process
for me you would learn geometry by
drawing diagrams
I learned the same geometry but by
touching figures constructed by sticking
matchsticks and thread on paper you were
busy painting a house on paper while I
was busy building one with some clay and
sand you would give you a physics wiva
by drawing circuit diagrams and
answering questions I answered the same
difficult questions and I also
identified components like resistors
capacitors and the little hearts cookie
to touch yeah you heard me right
I said little hearts cookie I remember
in my class 12 practical exam my
invigilator was handing me these
components and I was identifying them
suddenly he hands me a little hearts
cookie I got it right within a blink of
an eye and I passed we talked about
putting people on Mars we want to put
people on Mars but I think we can do a
lot better for back on earth
understanding education for the
differently-abled improving it through
technology redefining concepts to learn
I never got it done easy at times I
struggled to explain my teachers the
slightly different ways of using
assistive technology
and everyday objects as learning aids to
teach me certain concepts but their
willingness to quickly learn and adapt
slowly made learning a truly educated
experience for me I was into regular
schooling my friends could have reacted
to this in a number of ways they could
have isolated me
they could have bullied me but they
chose to understand the situation and
include me the first moment of extreme
surprise with the computer was when I
was eight one day I heard my computer
speak out my lessons to me I was
fascinated over time I realized that
technology can profoundly impact the
quality of lives of people it has
certainly improved mine a lot of water a
lot of what I do today would have been
possible only in science fiction movies
a decade ago I decided that I wanted to
take up a career in computer science but
unfortunately I was not allowed to
choose math and science in my class 11
and 12
not because of I’m not because I was not
academically capable but only due to the
fact that I was a visually impaired
student I was denied the opportunity to
give the air at Ripley the entrance exam
for most engineering colleges in India
Institutes disregarded the fact that I
could do a program in engineering and
denied my admission their reasons varied
from I quote engineering can endanger
his life too
this guy just can’t do engineering I
started to understand that proceeding
with an admission in an engineering
college in India is not going to be easy
not because of my academic capabilities
but only due to the misconceptions about
vision impairment according to
International Institute of information
technology Hyderabad based on merit the
decision to give me an admission was
solely based on merit I’ve done my
masters by research in computer science
focus on accessibility and assistive
technology access to mathematical
content is a significant challenge for
people with vision impairment
the research component of my course
we’ve taken a small yet significant step
towards solving this we’ve proposed and
developed techniques to render
mathematical content in audio in such a
way that a visually impaired listener
can understand them experimentation
showed that using our techniques
visually impaired listeners were able to
answer basic math questions with the
correctness of 95% to put this in
perspective this was a meager 30 percent
when the equations are spoken as regular
English sentences our work was presented
and published in the 11th International
Conference on natural language
processing and the 30th technology in
persons with disabilities conference
recently I graduated with flying colors
a proud moment for my family hey I got
this far I after all these years of my
journey realized that I’m in a position
to impact the lives of many more through
my technical contributions I now do this
through an internship with a fantastic
team at Microsoft I don’t look at this
as a job but as a fantastic opportunity
to improve technology for the
differently abled through my
contributions perhaps me trying to solve
a challenge that I face every day and
looking at a problem from a user as well
as a developer’s perspective has put me
in this position not every day has been
all about studies I have just as much
fun as anybody in their 20s I enjoy
music not just listening to it I play
the drums I’ve been a part of couple of
rock bands in the city and I’ve also had
the chance to share the stage with music
maestro ar-rahman once that was an
overwhelming moment for me my family has
given me an abundance of experiences
tower jumping the 50th floor of a
building deep-sea diving
paragliding horse riding these are just
a few of the many amazing experiences
I’ve had I’m blessed with a sister who’s
my friend
and who’s been very supportive of me
through the ups and downs of my life
today it’s very natural for my friends
to include me we going to a movie a trip
or a track getting here is half the fun
being here is all of it I stand here
with this bold dream of revolutionizing
assistive technology as we know it today
with advances in the field of computer
science and newer ways of interacting
with technology there is an ocean of
unexplored possibilities and I’m all set
to take a deep dive in technology when
designed for everybody can let anybody
do what they love including me
did you know Dragon Dictate voiceover
automatic captioning and translation for
YouTube videos these are all first
developed as assistive technology and
later mainstreamed the next time be
mindful of where it all began we have to
make this world a better place for
everybody and friends we are all in this
together thank you
[Music]
you
[Applause]
[Music]
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