73: Reclaiming my identity and life a conversation with Ruchika Singh

Shownotes: What do people think of as they are coming to the end of their college/University degree? The future, a new life, new job, new friends, travel, and new adventures. And most people step into this beautiful but messy world full of hopes and dreams.  My guest this week on The Elephant in the Room podcast Ruchika Singh, had to press pause on the life she was looking forward to when she fell ill suddenly during exams in the last year of her engineering degree. Life ground to a halt as she was diagnosed with CNS Tuberculosis Meningitis. It meant fighting to survive and catastrophically losing vision as a side effect. The road to recovery has been a nearly decade long uphill battle and the social stigma and pressure has delayed her entry back into the life she dreamt for herself.In spite of having one the highest percentage of people with visual impairment in the world - India is woefully ill prepared with the requisite training, support, job opportunities, networks, infrastructure, accessibility to enable people to live a normal life - a life that most of us take for granted. There are systemic barriers to inclusion for people with disability, including lack of knowledge about visual impairment and outdated attitudes/perceptions amongst most people and potential employers. Stigma around any form of disability means millions of Indians are hidden, have no voice, no power and no decision making authority. Other people decide for them, choose for them, what they can or cannot do, about their passions and abilities - they are robbed of their identity. The struggle is everyday, to compromise on what you believe you can do and the reality of what you are able to do. Ruchika has not given up her ambition to have a fulfilling career. Like she says, ‘In another life. I may have joined some tech firm after completing my engineering. I deserve an opportunity to have a career and a fulfilling life.’Ever the optimist - she is dismayed by the lack of support from corporate India. Her attempt at employment in the behemoth that is the Indian tech Industry has been deeply demotivating and demoralising. - lack of response, zero engagement and an attempt to obfuscate on what disability actually means for the companies. She has a question for global and Indian tech companies - why talk about inclusion when you are not inclusive. And what use is technology innovation when it cannot enable her to live a better quality of life.  Every person deserves to be able to live life to their fullest potential - what can we do to make the world more inclusive for people who do not conform to what is considered the norm. I know Ruchika is brilliant, smart, intelligent, well read, ambitious - her visual impairment should not become a barrier to living the life she wants. And I am here ask - @Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Infosys, HCL, IBM, Dell, CISCO, TCS, Accenture, Wipro - what does inclusion mean to you?? It is time to show up and be counted - move beyond the tick-box.“I am going to keep trying on every day to live the life which I wanted to and which I deserve to. And you know, I'm not my disability, I'm smart, intelligent, and capable”Full disclosure - I know Ruchika since she was a child (she is a part of my extended familyMemorable passages from the episode: