Srikanth Bills faced discrimination due to his disability early on in life. After he
was born blind, his parents were advised by the villagers in Sitaramapuram in
Andhra Pradesh to let him die.
At school too, he was excluded from sports and pushed to sit in the last bench away from the whole class. But Shrikanth topped in Class 10 Board exams. At the intermediate level, Shrikanth wanted to study science but he got a rude shock when the Andhra Pradesh Education Board refused to grant him permission, stating that Arts was the only stream the blind could opt for. Not one to give up, he filed a case and after a six-month long wait, the Board agreed to let him pursue Science. At the end of two years, Shrikanth topped Class 12, securing 98%.
Shrikanth wanted to study engineering at the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology but he was denied an admit card to the IIT entrance examination.
He then proceed to apply to schools in the United States for an undergraduate programme and ended up securing admission in MIT, becoming the school's first international blind student.
After
graduating from MIT, Srikanth felt the need to do something about the lack of
opportunities for the disabled in India. Thus, he gave up lucrative corporate
opportunities in America, he returned to India and started Samanvai, a
non-profit organisation based in Hyderabad with the aim to provide
'individualized, need-based and goal-oriented support services to students with
multiple disabilities.
Shrikanth is the living example of the fact that talent, hard work and determination can get you past any difficulties.
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