Don’t allow negative ideas to enter your brain while preparing: Tips from a visually impaired teacher who cleared UPSC

In 2011, she enrolled in a BA (Programme) course at Delhi University’s Shyama Prasad Mukherjee College and began working as a teacher in 2012. “While I was studying for my degree, I worked as a contractual teacher at MCD Primary (Girls) School, Rani Khera, until 2016. In 2016, I cleared the exam for the post of assistant teacher organised by the Delhi Subordinate Services Selection Board (DSSSB) and taught at the Government Sarvodaya Co-Education Vidyalaya, Rani Khera, until 2019,” she said.

But her education did not stop once she started teaching. In 2016, Ayushi completed her Master’s in History from Indira Gandhi National Open University. She eventually went on to get a B.Ed degree (2017-2019) from Jamia Millia Islamia.

With four degrees under her belt, Ayushi topped the DSSSB exam for the post of lecturer, History, in October 2019. She has been teaching at Government Girls Senior Secondary School, Mubarakpur Dabas, in Northwest Delhi ever since.
Ayushi credits her mother Asha Rani (54) for her success today: “It was my mother who suggested that I should appear for the civil services exam.” A senior nursing officer in the Delhi health department, Rani opted for voluntary retirement in 2020 to look after her daughter as she prepared for the examination. “I had complete faith in my daughter’s ability to crack the exam,” she said.

Ayushi’s first attempt was in 2016. “As a differently abled person, my strategy for the exam was slightly different from the rest of the candidates. When I started preparing five years ago, there weren’t too many resources available online. I would buy study material from the market and my whole family would audio record it on their mobile phones so I could listen to it,” she said.

Ayushi’s father Ashok Kumar (58), a chief dispenser at Hill India Ltd, Bhatinda, her mother, her younger brother Kumud (26), an Excise Officer in Gujarat, as well as her friends were involved in this endeavour. “It was a team effort,” she said.

Eventually, she learned to use ‘z/OS’ – a screen reading software which translates text to audio which she could access on her phone and laptop.

The UPSC exam provides only two state cadres for differently abled candidates – Delhi and Haryana. Ayushi has applied for both, with Delhi being her first preference, and she wants to work in education. “As a teacher, I realised the role of education as a tool for empowerment. I want to contribute to this field guided by my own experiences,” she said.

As a differently abled woman and a teacher, Ayushi recognises the challenges that aspirants like her face daily. She, however, wants all differently abled aspirants to have faith and confidence in their abilities. “Don’t allow negative ideas to enter your brain when you are preparing. Take criticism as a compeller to push yourself ahead,” she said.

She also wants parents of differently abled children to believe in their kids and provide them with an education instead of giving up on them, and for differently abled women to always aim higher and break the glass ceiling. “I was very blessed that my parents trusted in me,” she said.

In her free time, she likes to read and write poetry: “I write both Hindi and English poems and my favourite poet is Ram Dhari Singh Dinkar. And I love reading books, especially those by Dr APJ Abdul Kalam.”