DOUG: Welcome to Episode 6 of Feeling Through Live. I'm really excited for this episode. We're joined by Anindya Bapin Bhattacharyya of the Helen Keller National Center and Bapin why don't you introduce yourself?
BAPIN: Sure. Hello, everyone. Well, my full name is Anindya Bapin Bhattacharyya. But it's a little bit different. Everybody does call me Bapin. So I'm so excited to join this Feeling Through Live with Doug. Currently I am the coordinator of the national outreach technology and development training program. I do coordinate two states. I run Florida and Iowa, and for those states I run the I Can Connect Program which means I provide telecommunication equipment to DeafBlind individuals, so that way they have accessible telecommunication. So really that's my job in a big summary.
DOUG: Great. Thanks for keying us into that. There's so much to talk about today and I want to jump right into it but I think we need to start with your personal life journey. It's an amazing journey that's taken you from a rural village in India that's taken you to being a tech guru here in the states. If you could start by painting the picture for us.
BAPIN: Okay. Sure. Yeah, well, thank you Doug. So, right now I'm fully DeafBlind but I wasn't born DeafBlind. I was just born Deaf. I was born Deaf for reasons unknown. At the age of one my parents started to realize and notice they wasn't responsive to sound. If they would call my name, loud noises, I wasn't responding at all. So that's when they realized that I was Deaf. At that time my parents brought me to the hospital to diagnose me and the doctors were not able to find a cause of my deafness. But at that time I didn't have a traditional hearing aid like you see today that goes over the ear. I had a processer that I wore around my neck. It was really hard at that time to learn language and to lip read. So my mom was really creative in trying to teach me how to actually speak. She had me hold on to her neck to feel the vibrations, to understand the different types of sounds of vowels and consonants. I actually grew up speaking and learning Bengali. However my pronunciation, my parents were able to understand my speech however other individuals different fully understand me. But that's mostly because my family and my close friends knew me, they had that relationship with me so they understood my speech. My parents looked for different schools that I can attend, but in my home country there's no resource or any schools that provided services to meet my needs. So my parents were really creative. First I was born in India, and they were behind in the times. They were very different than America. They were behind in everything. I lived in Telari which is a village south of Calcutta on the eastern side of India. But you have to understand that the village that I lived in, about 80 percent of that population lived in very poverty like state. My parents were middle class and well educated but because I didn't have resources I was really isolated. My parents were proactive and really worked for me to try to help me get the education that I needed. So my parents did send me to a school, a main stream school and the accommodations they made for me were to sit in the front row so that way I had the ability to see my teacher's lips to lip read but I was still missing a lot from that instruction. And I had a really hard time lip reading and having access to the lessons because as you know teachers turn around, turn their back to you or they move around in the classroom. So oftentimes my mom actually came to elementary school and my schools to be able to help clarify the lesson and help fill in those gaps because I was missing what the teacher was actually saying and teaching. Sometimes I wouldn't understand the homework. So my mom actually would always go and get the lesson and, the lesson plans to be able to support that missed learning and those gaps. But at that time in that village there was no electricity, no running water in my village. So it was a very primitive world. And at that time I didn't even know the word technology or what that meant. I was in the village until about nine and how I lost my sight was I was actually playing soccer and all the boys on my team were hearing and sighted. I was the only Deaf boy. So I was really dependent on my vision when playing soccer. And I remembered the coach, he actually picked me to become the team manager. And one of the other boys was really upset over that fact because he really wanted to be the team manager. But the coach knew my skills and felt that I was a better match. So, we got in a big fight and the boy actually picked up dirt and actually threw it in my face. And I actually, when he threw it in my face I couldn't see anything. It got in my eyes. It was really blurry. So the next day I got some of my vision back but it was more like double vision. I couldn't see print. My parents were worried and shocked and they didn't know what to do so they rush me to the hospital. The doctors actually found after evaluation that I had a retinal detachment. And over the course of a three month period that's when I lost the rest of the vision in that eye. But without my vision at that time I was so dependent on lip reading I had no way to access that communication. There was no interpreters in my village. So I had to use print on palm to be able to access information. Or I was dependent on my parents to then tactilely sign to me. I was able to voice and respond for myself but for many years I stayed at home isolated with nothing to do. I wasn't going to school at this time, and I was trying to figure out how to keep myself busy. So that's when I got into the hobby of ceramics and sculpting because it was more tactile for me. My parents wanted me to go to school and they searched everywhere for schools that would be able to accept me and support my needs. They had Deaf schools and they had blind schools but nobody knew how to deal with a combined hearing and vision loss. So my father actually, in searching for me met one of the principals at the school for the blind in Calcutta and that's when they recommended to my parents that I go to Perkins school for the blind in Boston, Massachusetts. My dad also thought that was a great idea. However, the issue was finances. The cost of a plane ticket was so expensive in comparison to what we earned. My parents didn't have enough money to be able to purchase flights for us to be able to go to America. So for the school for the blind, that principal had informed my dad that she had some contacts that may be able to help us purchase those flights. So my dad wrote letters to Perkins School and they awarded me a scholarship. So my dad quickly reacted, filled out all the forms and applications we needed to Perkins as well as other sponsors to be able to purchase my flights to be able to get to America. With my dad's writing letters to Perkins and advocating for me they responded back that they agreed that I was a good fit for their school and I was awarded a scholarship. However, I didn't know English. I only spoke Bengali so my dad decided to accompany me and go to America and go to Massachusetts.
DOUG: Bapin I'm going to interject for one moment. Thank you. That's a great initial introduction and if you are just joining us we are speaking with Anindya Bapin Bhattacharyya of HKNC and he's walking us through his life journey. So far he's described growing up in a rural village in India without technology born deaf and was through an incident with another boy on a soccer will field was actually blinded by that other boy in a little bit of a disagreement and at this point in his life he's a small boy in India who is deaf and blind and he's now walking us through a little bit later on how his parents helped him find out about Perkins, a school that was a good fit for his situation at that moment. And if you are joining us remember you can always write questions in the comments if you have questions for Bapin. And also if you can click the share button on the stream if you are enjoying it so they can join in as well. So without further adieu Bapin please pick up where you left off.
BAPIN: Okay. Thank you, Doug. So once I arrived to Perkins, it was a culture shock. It was a completely different world from being in a small village in India to coming to America. And there was a language barrier. I didn't know English at all. I only spoke Bengali. So my dad actually accompanied me for the first week that I was there and interpreted everything for me. He interpreted everything from English into Bengali sign language for me. It was just such a different life. But I was ready. I was motivated. I couldn't wait to get into school, to start learning braille and English. So I started with just the alphabet. And I only knew a few phrases in English like I love you or can I go to the bathroom or can I go to sleep? I'm tired. That's it. So I was so motivated to learn. So at home every day I studied English and tried to learn the language and then I picked it up from there. But I remember the one thing that really inspired me was all of the electronics, vacuums, wash machines, all the different appliances that they had in America. I had never seen it before. We didn't have that in my village. We had a wood burning stove in my village to cook on. We just had a very different way of doing things and when I came to America I remember seeing all these new things and I had so many questions of how did it work, what does it do? And I remember when I first touched a computer and a braille display. At that time some of the older models of braille displays were heavy. They're about 10 pounds, like big bricks. At that time I had known braille so I was able to read that. So I started with playing some games. I loved trivia. And I just really started learning more and more about the computer. And that was a special passion that I had of my own that was inspired once I came to America. About a year of being in America I really learned to master the language. I had the help of my interpreters, my father had returned home to India and I stayed in Massachusetts. I stayed in Perkins. All of my teachers, my parents, everybody agreed that if I returned home to India and then came back, I would regress. I would lose all the skills that I had gained. And not only did I have a love for learning about technology, I wanted to learn how to build computers. So through the use of some volunteers of SSPs I was able to go to different technology shows. Every weekend I was going and traveling around to different computer shows that were hosted in Massachusetts and I remember you used to have to use floppy disks and those hard disks to run the computer. And so I started buying all the different components and parts that you needed like the mother board, and I brought it back to school in Perkins and with the help of some teachers we were able to build it and build this computer that I wanted to build. So I had my SSPs, a couple of friends that were really tech savvy. And through the use of my SSPs and other people, they were able to actually give me the visual information. They were telling me the different colors of the wires, what the mother board left‑hand lane, where did it go. Where the jumper settings were on the mother board. And I got that up and running. I was able to build that computer. I was able to install DOS. And the disk operating system. That was before Microsoft really was a thing or Windows. That was the time of DOS. And I learned how to actually do some basic computer programming and write some programs. I remember I would stay up all night till 2:00 and 3:00 in the morning just creating my own programs. I remember my parents being shocked that I would just be up all night busy working away but they didn't care. They let me do my thing. Then my dad let me set up a BBS which is a bulletin board system, which is a system where people can actually call through a modem, you can have two lines in so people can call in and you can essentially play a game, similar to modern times of Facebook. So I had three bulletin people where two people would actually call by BBS and I had that up and running for about two years. And that's really where I learned a lot of my computer skills and a lot about adaptive technology. I volunteered to help a lot of my DeafBlind friends with their technology, their computers and I would actually tell my friends, don't get a computer. I'll build it for you and then I would actually teach them how to use the computer, again using DOS and how they can call in to their own BBS systems. And I would teach them how to be able to communicate through that. So it was real hands on learning for the DeafBlind back then and I would say I was around 16 or 17 years old. Then I graduated from high school in 1992. I went to college. I went to the University of Arkansas in Little Rock. At the time the president was Bill Clinton. And that was his home state at the time, Arkansas so people used to tease me about that. And I remember my west friend and I, we actually went to graduate school together and he was a big supporter of mine as well as I supported him. However I did not major in computers or technology or computer science. I majored in political science. My dream was to become a lawyer. And the reason why I wanted to become a lawyer was there were so many challenges or issues for anybody who was DeafBlind. So I wanted to be able to break down those barriers. So I received my degree in political science. Once I graduated, I started looking for a job.
DOUG: So I'm going to stop you right there Bapin. We're going to hold for a moment and we're going to do an interpreter switch. So let me know Bapin when you are set on your end. Are we all set? Great. So as we continue here Bapin, I would love to take a step back for a moment and have a little back and forth conversation about some of the topics that you have just gone through because there's so much interesting stuff there and I want to make sure that we have an opportunity to dialogue a little bit about it. What age were you when you first came over to the United States?
BAPIN: I was 13 and that was 1983.
DOUG: Had you ever traveled anywhere prior to coming over to the United States?
BAPIN: That was the first time I had ever flown was to America from India.
DOUG: So what was it like getting on a plane knowing you were going to a completely different country that was completely different from what you knew?
BAPIN: That's a great question. Like I said, before I became blind my parents tried to expose me to as much as possible. So I had seen what a plane looked like and we were near an airport so I was able to stand on the roof and see some planes go by but I never got an opportunity to fly. So the first time getting on an airplane it was a really unique experience. You know, it almost looked like, I remember it looking like a bird in the sky and you saw the engines spinning and it was really loud and I was scared because I had never been away from home. And the flight was about nine hours from India to Europe and then had to fly from Europe to America. So I was definitely nervous when turbulence would hit in the airplane, I would get scared but my dad had a lot of experience flying so he knew there was nothing to worry about, I thought there was a problem with the airplane bouncing up and down.
DOUG: So having to stop your schooling in India because there was no school that could accommodate you properly to heading over to the United States I believe I remember you saying there was a four year gap in which you weren't in school is that correct?
BAPIN: That's right. Yeah. I was home for four years and what I did really with that time was make a lot of ceramics. And I would get in some trouble at home like any kid would.
DOUG: So I want to now flash forward again to you as a teenager learning how to build computers. You were at Perkins at this time is that correct?
BAPIN: Yes.
DOUG: So I'm wondering you know, this is obviously pretty early on in computing. Do you know of anyone else in the DeafBlind community who, I know you said you were teaching other people but do you know of anyone else before you that was in the DeafBlind community and learning to build computers?
BAPIN: Not that I knew of, no. It was just me. Later once I got a job at Helen Keller National Center there are some DeafBlind students there that are very, very motivated to learn how to use computers but that wasn't until much later but in my early school days no, there was nobody else I knew.
DOUG: So your father traveled with you to America. And he was in a sense, was he initially acting as an SSP for you or can you describe a little bit more your relationship?
BAPIN: So my dad is a very dignified individual. He's formally educated. He's a professional and he was always my biggest advocate and biggest supporter. He was strict in what he expected. He had a lot of rules that we had to follow. Weren't really supposed to stray too far from the path or get in any kind of trouble. You know, and he was a teacher by trade so he expected us to follow the rules and that was my upbringing. Growing up I was a little bit scared of my father, but now I realize that he was actually an excellent, excellent father. He's 81 now, still very healthy and going strong. My dad was very encouraging of my love of computers. You know to this day he loves computers especially now with COVID‑19 going on he gets to be on the computer a lot which is very helpful so he's come to appreciate computers just like I have.
DOUG: Did your mother stay back in India while you and your father traveled to the United States?
BAPIN: Yes my brother was born, I think he was four at the time so my mom stayed back with my brother and my dad traveled with me.
DOUG: Were you and your father able to see your mother and your brother at any point?
BAPIN: No. Not for a whole year we would write letters but it would take about two weeks for the letter to be sent and then for us to get a response so it was very slow communication but we were able to write letters for that year. After a year in America, my dad went back to Massachusetts, sorry, went back to India when it was summer vacation and I stayed behind in Massachusetts. My mom came to visit one time and stayed for about two months and then went back to India but that was the only time that I got to see my mom.
DOUG: So when your father goes back to India at that point was that the first time that you had ever been completely away from your whole family?
BAPIN: Uh‑huh, yeah. So I have been by myself since the age of 14, pretty much. I did go back to India fairly often to visit my family or as often as I could I should say. You know every year or so I would go back to visit but yep that was when I was by myself at school.
DOUG: So I now know you to be a very independent person. We're talking about this time when you are still a teenager where it feels like you are really first learning how to be independent. Can you tell me about going back to that part of your story what it was like to start to be on your own and what, how you were able to manage that in the early stages of being alone for the first time or away from your family for the first time?
BAPIN: Yeah, good question. Being by myself in some ways was good. You know in India I always had my parents to protect me so I wasn't a very assert I didn't have person and being by myself kind of forced me to learn on my own, take responsibility for myself, advocate for myself to get out into the community even if I needed an SSP. Perkins luckily was very, very flexible with me. You know, they knew that I was pretty mature and responsible so they let me take advantage of a lot of opportunities. They let me get out and explore pretty much as much as I wanted to. When I went back to India for vacation I was 16. You know I asked my dad if I could fly back to America myself and he was comfortable with that. But we had a lot of preparation to do you know before I could fly independently because I couldn't see and couldn't hear. But it was something that I wanted to do and I showed my dad that I had communication cards that I could use with the flight attendants to ask for help. I was able to explain to my dad how I would handle certain things, if I needed someone to communicate with me they could print on my hand. We could communicate that way. I needed someone to drive me to the gate. And I know my dad wanted me to learn independently. You know but at the same time he was concerned. He was my dad. He wanted to take care of me but he was also a huge supporter and he knew he wasn't going to be able to take care of me forever so it was important to foster that independence. So once I was able to show my dad that I was able to communicate on my own and travel safely he was very pleased to let me do that. And it also helped him understand better that you know DeafBlind people are able to communicate independently. You know I had my passport ready, I had all my documentation there. It was a little bit nerve racking of course to fly by myself but it's also a nice experience because I get to meet a lot of people, I get to talk to a lot of people. Everybody I encountered was very nice. I didn't have a negative experience at all so that was great.
DOUG: Sounds like you were pretty comfortable traveling and being independent in the world relatively quickly. Is that fair to say? And when did you feel comfortable navigating the world on your own?
BAPIN: Traveling independently was something that I really wanted to do, especially after I came to America. Before I became blind I was always a wanderer. I loved to go out exploring in my village. You know my parents would tell me, it's dangerous. Don't go too far away. They didn't want the kids going out alone after hours but I was stubborn and I did it anyway. I just wanted to see everything that was around me. After I became blind I learned how to use a cane. I had a mobility teacher who always had to tell me to slow down and be patient. I always wanted to jump ahead in the lessons and do things that weren't the safest but once I had that cane I just wanted to go. You know, and they would try to tell me you can't do that, you're not ready, you don't have the skills but again my stubbornness and eagerness for exploration kind of took over. But I always had that motivation to be independent. So I was going to do it regardless. I got really comfortable with the Perkins campus at first and then I started to go out more. I had SSPs and some friends who would help but once you do it a few times you get a lot more comfortable. I take caps by myself, I take the bus by myself. I didn't start out that way but now buses, cabs, subways I'm comfortable navigating alone. You know it all stems back to the really great training they got. Having good orientation and mobility skills allow you the freedom to navigate independently.
DOUG: So you had really great training at Perkins which laid the ground work for you navigating all aspects of your life. But that was quite some time ago. Now in 2020 there's a lot of technology available to you that you didn't have then that really serves you in a lot of ways. So can you walk through what your life is like now and the technologies today that serve each part of your life?
BAPIN: Yeah back in 2003, I was using a braille note which is a really, really old way to communicate. It was like a very, very old GPS that I would put in my pocket and it had a satellite signal that would connect to this braille note and it would allow me to explore places like New York City and other metropolitan areas. I did live in New York for a while. And I also had a guide dog, my first guiding to that would help me get around as well. We would go to Central Park and I would use the GPS around Central Park, I would do that by myself just to try to figure out whether I was in a big place like that. Having the GPS really helped. That was back in the day before GPSs were common place. People were just lost all the time. And that device was able to help me find my bearings and I kind of found my way by getting lost. I would go a direction, check and be like no that was wrong and go another way and be like oh no that was wrong and eventually I would find my way. Then in 2008, you know the devices became a lot more complicated, they were the ones that you could put in your car but I was traveling a lot for work taking cabs, planes, things like that and we were encouraged to use those GPS devices and the skills associated with that improved a lot. So there was no more keeping a GPS in your pocket or anything like that. It just became a lot manufacture mainstreamed. Now there's Lyft and Uber and apps you use to take trains and apps you use to navigate the airport. You know when you go on an airplane I know pilots make announcements all the time. Now there's the television screens that you see on airplanes that you can see you know where the flight is, how high up in the sky you are, how long till your destination. So it just seems like technology has really exploded as the years go on. I routinely travel between home and work sites I use the app on my phone for the train and see all the different stops. I can check flight times and announcements, I can see what gate my flight is leaving from or if there was a gate change on my app. The app tells me the flight is boarding. I can go up to the desk, get on the airplane, I can check flight delays and cancellations. I used to have to go and sit by the gate for as long as possible because I didn't want to wander away but in the off chance I would miss my flight and now I can navigate the terminal a little bit. Now I have the app to tell me if the flight has been delayed or if it's time to board. Sometimes flights do get cancelled and I need to rebook, you know the app will tell me that too and I can use the app to then rebook the flight so technology has been a huge benefit.
DOUG: I know from me hearing your story and how you talk about your persistence and perseverance and curiosity in technology, you know I think that it's easy for someone on the outside to think of, to wonder how you've kept such an encouraged and what seems like positive attitude throughout your life. What would you say to someone who's sitting here wondering how you have been able to be so curious and engaged in your life despite some really significant challenges? What would you say to that?
BAPIN: One thing my dad always said was that I needed to take care of me and that was really important and that's kind of what kept me motivated was knowing that I could always be there for myself so I had to learn everything that it took in order to take care of myself. I didn't want to ever be in a position where I couldn't move forward because I was reliant on someone else who wasn't there. At times I would get frustrated but I can't dwell on my hearing or on my vision loss. You know there are plenty of other people in the world who have similar experiences, similar backgrounds to me. And it's important that everybody feels positive about who they are. You know you need to feel better about yourself whether you have your hearing and your sight or you don't. Keeping a positive attitude and keeping motivated is really important and I also think it's important to explore different opportunities to come your way and that's something that I've always done. And you don't want to let anything stop you. I try not to use the word can't. You know, instead I try to change it. Any time somebody says can't I try to prove that I can. You know one thing that I've thought about a lot has been something like driving a car. They've always said if you are blind you will never be able to drive a car. Well technology is developing and cars will be able to drive themselves so who is to say a blind person can't drive a car. With COVID‑19 going around there's a lot of talk about not touching things and people. As a DeafBlind person, my partner has been my communicate partner. We're talking about social distancing but imagine if we didn't have the technology. You know we have all of these things now to make communication easier. You know, they don't have a robot or anything that could do tactile sign language via Zoom which would be awesome eventually. But we're doing the best we can and considering what we have we have a lot at our disposal.
DOUG: So we have about five minutes left here. So kind of in the closing time that we have I have a couple questions that kind of speak to the totality of your journey but this is kind of related to the last question but I'm wondering now being someone who has this amazing position at Helen Keller National Center and travels the world educating other people about technology, has your own company, what would you say to that nine year old boy who just lost his sight who has not found the education yet that would serve as the foundation for where you are at now and probably a little bit lost and scared, what words would you have to the nine year old version of yourself?
BAPIN: If I could go back you know, I wish I would have seen more services available for people like me, more technology available. I think DeafBlind people are always the last ones to get access. You know we come after even deaf sighted people or hearing blind people. We're always at the end. You know even if getting access to information in the news it seems like DeafBlind people are always a little bit behind. So something I have been thinking about a lot is you know, how to change that. How to get access to information and also how to reduce the stress that comes along with that. You know, and keeping work life balance is something else that I think I would say. You know it's really important, family is really important. It's important to keep those great people in your life. Helen Keller National Center is a really fantastic workplace especially for somebody who is DeafBlind. But gaining the training and experience that you want in order to live a life that you are going to be proud of and that's going to benefit you I think is the best motivator and you have to decide what that life is going to look like for yourself. Setting your own goals, working toward them, staying motivated you know and something I would like to say is someone who is employed of an agency who is welcoming to DeafBlind people I wish more employers were willing to work with DeafBlind employees. America is such a welcoming place. It's very important to be employed and have a useful skill and take it to work with you so we still have a long way to go in a lot of regards but yeah that's something that I would say.
DOUG: So with our last couple minutes here for those who are watching now or might come to this a little bit later who are in need of more of the technologies that you teach about, who are in need to have it serve different aspects of their life, what would you say to those people and where can they go to get more information about various technologies or what advice would you have for them?
BAPIN: Sure. There's a lot of technology out there. And there's a lot of resources and it really depends on what your needs are and what your communication is like. You know, are you somebody who likes to use captions? Are you somebody who prefers to use an interpreter? Do you use hearing aids that help you hear speech or do you have enough sight to be able to see an interpreter? It's really important to develop the partnerships with the people that you think will help you the most. And I think Helen Keller National Center is a really great place if you can get in touch with them. They have partners around the country that can help get the equipment that's best matched to you but there are professionals who can do that if you can get in touch with somebody who can assess what your needs are and match you with the best technology possible. It's really important that whatever system you use just kind of custom designed to you.
DOUG: Great so with our very last question here because we need to wrap up in a moment but Keith asks, how did you meet your wife?
BAPIN: Okay I'll tell you very briefly. I was on the board for the American Association for the DeafBlind. We had a meeting in Atlanta. And I met her there. He was an SSP for another DeafBlind board member, and just over the course of the conference the two of us got to talking. We were friends for a while. Just kept in touch. We exchange contact information at that conference. We were long distance. She was living in California. I was living in New York but we were friends for a long time and we would bump into each other at these conferences. And eventually I had asked her to come SSP for me at a conference in Washington, D.C. We had known each other because we had been friends for a while and I was comfortable having her SSP for me and we found out we both really love to travel. We had gone to India for my brother's wedding in 2006 and that's kind of when we started to fall in love and then we got married a short time later.
DOUG: Great. Thanks for sharing that. That's a lovely note to end this episode on. For those of you who tuned in or are finding this later I encourage you to go to Bapin website bapin.info. He rights about his personal biography, there are videos there of him speaking about his life and experiences. We got through a lot of it today but there's so much more if you want to know about him. There's a link to his company Bapin Group. Thank you so much for joining us today. It's been a pleasure speaking with you and to hear first‑hand from you about being a small boy in rural India to someone who is a tech expert here in the United States and went on to build your own computers and teach about technology around the world. So it's been interesting to hear from you. Thanks to our interpreters Erin and Jamie and to our captioner Laura. For those of you who use YouTube please subscribe to our YouTube channel. In future weeks we'll start live streaming to both. We'll continue to live stream here on took but also to live stream to YouTube as well. And if you are enjoying these episodes please do share them with your friends and family, anyone you feel would be interested in this. We really love when our close knit community shares the Feeling Through Live with others so that we can grow this community and have a bigger voice and a bigger platform for everyone that we speak with on it. So thank you everyone who tuned in. Thank you so much Bapin and we'll see you same time next week on Friday. Bye.