``No organisation is prepared to take a chance with us. The society and even parents treat us with little sympathy. Even after doing PHD in Mathematics, I am looking for a job,'' said a bitter Dr Agarwal. Despite the several hardships she faced, Agarwal said she was very excited when she got a doctorate in 1996. But her enthusiasm soon evaporated when no organisation was prepared to give her employment.

She is at present a research associate at CSIR, an assignment with a stipend for three or five years, after which she will again have to look for a living.

Compared to her plight, 21-year-old Sudha Patel is a success story. She is the first blind woman to have been elected sarpanch of a village. Sudha holds a degree in law and is now pursuing her doctorate. She says a blind lady must get propereducation and see that she is independent in her mobility.

Sudha, who is the sarpanch of Changallage in Gujarat, says she wanted to do something constructive for the blind people of Kheda district in general and Anand taluka in particular. Her emphasis is on protecting the rights of blind girls and convincing their parents that they could be assets to their families. She is at present working in 85 Villatlad taluka and has registered 123 blind persons (out of which 65 are women). She has so far succeeded in getting school admissions for 81 blind children.

J L Kaul, secretary general of the All India Confederation of the Blind (AICB), an organisation that looks after blind women, said that the Government has made no special efforts during the past 50 years for improving the lot of visually handicapped women. ``There are very few schools and opportunities for vocational training for blind women, as compared to blind men,'' he said.

Shubhangi S Mishrikotkar, general secretary of the AICBAL forum of blindwomen said that only about one per cent of visually impaired women currently benefit from services offered by the Government and NGOs. There was an urgent need for supporting the cause of such women, of whom about 70 per cent live in rural areas.