BANGALORE, May 18: Eighteen-year-old Chandana Chandrashekar, a student of Sophia High School, Bangalore, did not let a 100 per cent visual impairment and a 40 per cent hearing impairment come in the way of her academic pursuits.
She scored 76.4 per cent marks in the ISC Class 12 exams, the results of which were announced on Friday.
Soon after the results were out on the Internet, Chandana’s residence at Malleswaram was flooded with relatives and friends. An emotional Latha Shekar, her mother, said, “We will get her whatever she asks for. This is one of the happiest days of our lives.”
Her father, T.S. Chandrashekar, is a pygmy collector at Vijaylakshmi Credit Cooperative Society Ltd.
Sceptical
The parents confessed that they were initially sceptical when she chose commerce after Class 10 as she used to find it difficult to tackle mathematical problems and sketch graphs. It was her love for accountancy that motivated her to take up commerce. She secured 83 marks in accountancy and 88 marks in English.
Chandana said she used a voice recorder to record lectures. “At home, I would listen to them using a hearing aid and make extensive notes.”
She said her mother would scan all the textbooks and send them to the Karnataka Welfare Association for the Blind where the books would be converted to the Braille script. She emphasises that her parents, teachers and friends motivated her at every juncture.
Chandana aspires to pursue human resources management after completing her Bachelors in Commerce. “Many people have told me that I can talk and relate to others. I think this will help me to be a good HR personnel.”
“I don’t think I am disabled. There is so much of positivity in me. That is enough to help me go ahead in life,” she signs off.
