L. Subramani

Writing & Craft

The Day I Wanted to Write. And Could Not.

Some mornings arrive carrying a strange kind of fog — not outside the window, but inside the mind. A writer’s account of facing the blank page on a day when the body refuses, and what five hard-won lessons finally got the words moving again.

AI & Creativity

Why AI Cannot Replace a Beating Heart

And why writers should never outsource their half of the court

When you are past a certain age, excitement becomes a rare visitor. Not absent. Just unpredictable. It shows up when it wants, flares up for a moment, and disappears before you can hold onto it. A writer reflecting on AI, memory, and what the machine gets wrong.

Disability & Journalism

2026 Forecast of Disability Coverage in Media

Media coverage of disability in India has been on a gradual learning curve, moving from a charity and human-interest narrative to a more rights-based perspective. A forecast of where that coverage is heading in 2026, and what newsrooms still need to learn.

AI & Creativity

When AI Writes and When Humans Write: A Tale of Two Scenes

Two versions of the same scene: one generated by AI, one written by a human. Looking at them side by side reveals, with uncomfortable clarity, exactly what AI cannot do when it sits down to write fiction.

AI & Accessibility

Beyond Eyesight: How AI Is Giving Blind People a New Way to See

For generations, blindness was defined by that one limitation: the inability to access the visual world. AI did not just open a window into that world. It began to rebuild it in a language we could finally understand and interact with.

Disability & Grief  ·  18 August 2023

Lessons from Loss: Gleaning Wisdom on the Path of Grief

Sitting here in this cozy room, I can’t help but feel a sense of emptiness when I look out into the hall. It’s like staring into a void, and it brings to mind that famous quote from Nietzsche about the abyss staring…

Inclusion  ·  25 November 2022

We don’t need a disaster to understand the need for inclusive infrastructure

Whenever I think of inclusive infrastructure, I think of this story which I got from a blind friend during an interview: What does three blind men talk when they mosey down the footpath on a lazy afternoon? Well, if they’re from the…

Blindness & the Pandemic  ·  18 November 2022

I had a piece of my own heaven…until the pandemic smashed it into smithereens

Two years ago (or, was it two-and-a-half?), my mornings used to be quiet. I’d wake up to chirping birds outside my window with temperatures hovering at a shade shy of 20 degree Celsius. I could imagine the thick fog curtaining the street…

Rehabilitation & Training  ·  7 September 2022

The system that trains disabled people is stifling and must change!

The first time I spoke aloud my desire to be a journalist was the butterfly-in- the-stomach moment for me. We’re taught only to survive. Where’s the question of thinking out-of-the-box? It was a drowsy afternoon. Even though college life buzzed with energy…

Disability & Safety  ·  24 May 2022

Trusting strangers in public places is a real challenge for a disabled person. Here’s how you can handle it better!

As a person with blindness, I had always reacted with uncertainty when a stranger held my hand. Of course, there’re occasions when help would be a relief, particularly in crowded bus sheds, where people tend to rush towards a standing bus and…

Inclusion  ·  10 May 2022

Inclusive parties are fun…here’s how you can be an ‘inclusive’ host

There’s always a first for everything. Even party-going has its first, especially if you had lived in India a few decades ago when family or religious events were the only occasions for get-togethers. But a friend who was young and quite willing…

Ability in Disability  ·  26 April 2022

In 25 years of being a professional with disability, I’ve learnt this: don’t afraid to fail

Representative image of a computer The most annoying thing about being blind is that you don’t find shortcuts. Because you don’t have any. You either learn things the hard way or fall by the wayside, which is not an option…not at least…

Disability & Ageing  ·  18 April 2022

How disabled people can be innovative in managing old age? 🤖 🔥

It’s not a pleasant thing to stand before the mirror. Not in April. Especially not in the sea-facing city of Chennai, where you still feel wet after meticulously drying up getting off the shower stall. Heat and humidity in this infernal city…

Living with Disability  ·  15 March 2022

For people with disability, getting in touch with inner child is a wonderful therapy

People ask me whether not seeing the world around, especially after having seen till about 17 years, is painful. And I’ve a very simple answer to them: ‘when did I stop seeing?’ This may sound weird to some people, but here’s the…

Inclusion  ·  11 March 2022

😄 💗 If inclusion is an exciting adventure, would you join the expedition?

On January 1, I started the campaign “Inclusive21C” to ensure people with disability find quality and dignity in the way they are accommodated in various social/official spaces. As someone who has studied and observed inclusion being implemented in many organisations, I can…

Rehabilitation & Training  ·  8 March 2022

🤔 🤔 This could happen to anyone! Are you prepared?

What you’re about to read will shock you. I only hope you aren’t going to tell me “I wish I had known this before.” This happened to a well-known non-governmental organization doing incredible work. Late one day in 2006, I received a…

Philosophy of Disability  ·  8 February 2022

Disability teaches us to break free from the success-failure binary

As a kid, I’d return some evening from school with a big sulk. Mom would look out of the kitchen and ask why I look like someone who bit into a spicy chili. “Mohan had scored more than me in class test,”…

Communication & Storytelling  ·  18 January 2022

Who lost? A close-to-real story

Chris is the recruitment manager of a company who constantly looks to hire the best talent, especially in marketing and software development. He’s thrilled by anyone who can slice and dice data to discern patterns, consumer habits or return on investment. When…

Communication & Storytelling  ·  1 January 2022

🤔 What if I give you a New Year resolution that is both heartrending and different?

Hello: Season’s greetings. What’s your New Year resolution? 🙄 I know it’s a question that we all revisit every year. Some of us are weary enough to conclude that the resolutions will be forgotten by the 15th of January, while others want…

Communication & Storytelling  ·  28 December 2021

When it comes to communicating your disability, make sure you seize the initiative

You can almost see the embarrassment. The cringed face, the mild gasp and the slightly agape mouth. Every time someone assumes that he/she ought to scream into my ears because I’m blind, I cringe in pain. Yes, when the person screams standing…

Philosophy of Disability  ·  21 December 2021

Good or bad? When an able-bodied person thinks a disabled person is “inspirational”

It must’ve been a man, I thought, as the hand that gripped the cuff of my full-sleeve shirt was rough and indelicate. It also didn’t seem like an effort to help. Of course, I was walking on a busy sidewalk to pay…

Rehabilitation & Training  ·  14 December 2021

How to recognise ablist language and correct it!

Until very recently, I didn’t think much of words like cripple, lame, blinded, retard, obtuse, autistic, crazy and words of their kind that could be used in a totally mainstream context. For instance, it’s all too common these days to say that…

Communication & Storytelling  ·  21 October 2021

This woman’s Multiple Sclerosis story is part of my learning curve!

Lying on the couch at her doctor’s office, Tracy Shudo looked at her son who would turn three in three weeks’ time. She had a bad vertigo and numb patches on parts of her body which doctors suspected could be an inner…

Living with Disability  ·  11 August 2021

The painful loss of a caged bird…and how we experienced empathy

Parrot I never heard so much pain in my friend’s voice. Barely five minutes ago we were joking pretty loudly. He got off the phone because someone wanted his attention at home, or so I thought. He then called me back to…

Communication & Storytelling  ·  14 July 2021

Part II of the Club House series: How I came to terms with my grief

The first time I tapped open the Club House app, the homepage truly felt like a silent hallway, conjuring the picture of me walking down the long corridor; the thud-thudding of my shoes ricocheting on the walls around. Scren Shot of Club…

Communication & Storytelling  ·  3 July 2021

How Club House helped me get out of grief and gloom

This might seem like an exaggeration, but it’s not. Imagine talking to people from various countries who share your interests and resonate with your ideas? Person checking mobile phone -Courtesy Patrick Tomasso via unsplash.com Without worrying about processing passports and visas, you…

Blindness & the Pandemic  ·  11 December 2020

In a restricted space, robbed of the freedom to travel, the pandemic’s devastating impact becomes clear

The room at home has lots of comfort. The table at the far corner is the ideal niche to contemplate and comprehend the challenges wrought by the pandemic. It’s at this corner where I sat, hand rested on head, grieving over the…

Blindness & the Pandemic  ·  6 October 2020

Part 5: Will I escape this dark alley with scary sounds?

Back at the single room, I spent the next two days alternating between getting dangerously close to panic and mustering the determination to stay positive. White and grey hallway curtesy #neonbrand at unsplash.com In my frenzy sometimes, I wished I weren’t blind…

Blindness & the Pandemic  ·  5 October 2020

Part 6: How I made peace with my altered condition…after a personal loss

Representation of an isolated patient curtesy #theyshane at unsplash.com Relief turned into grateful tears as I entered home. I wanted to hug, or at least high-five my daughter as I walked in, but I was directly led into my room where I’d…

Blindness & the Pandemic  ·  24 September 2020

Part 4: As a blind man, I survived the horrors of being alone in a covid-19 isolation ward

Person injecting syringe-photo by Hush Naidoo curtesy Unsplash.com A brief meeting with my uncle and back to isolation again Sunlight slanted in from the open window and the road down below looked busier than ever. It was just 10.30 am, but I…

Blindness & the Pandemic  ·  19 September 2020

As a blind man, I survived the horrors of being alone in a covid-19 isolation ward. Here’s my story (part 3)

Hospital Bed And A Couch courtesy Martha Dominguez De Gouveia -Unsplash I needed help to move around. It’s nothing new for a blind man stepping into a restricted area where only doctors and other medical staff are present. This was the first…

Blindness & the Pandemic  ·  19 September 2020

As a blind man, I survived the horrors of being alone in a covid-19 isolation ward. Here’s my story (part 2)

Man riding an autorickshaw curtesy Tsion Chudnovsky (Unsplash) I wasn’t too shocked when the test results were positive. But the scan of my lungs revealed that the virus had infected nearly 40%. Though doctors officially adviced home quarantine, there were concerns that…

Blindness & the Pandemic  ·  18 September 2020

As a blind man, I survived the horrors of being alone in a covid-19 isolation ward (part 1)

Building representing hospital curtesy Samuel Scalzo (Unsplash) Building representing hospital curtesy Samuel Scalzo (Unsplash) Room 209 had a single bed and a side bench. It faced up to a busy road where you could hear the constant rumbling of traffic and the…

Self & Growth  ·  14 July 2020

Programme yourself to learn anything in 30 seconds

Once Swamy Vivekananda watched a bunch of students taking turns to aim a gun at a branch of tree and kept missing their target. He went up to them, grabbed the gun and shot the target in no time. The astounded students…

Self & Growth  ·  7 June 2020

The secret to a stress-free life

When everyone from a newscaster to a national leader talks about the “crises” and the “pandemic”, it takes quite a daring to make this declaration. I’m not unduly stressed. In fact, I’m very positive about this situation. May be it’s because where…

Rehabilitation & Training  ·  30 March 2020

Lockdown special: I’m sharing how to build a personal narrative to impact your audience

https://grapplingwithrp.wordpress.com/2020/03/30/ockdown-special-im-sharing-how-to-build-a-personal-narrative-to-impact-your-audience/ In 2011, as I met more people blinded by Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP), the same disease that blinded me in 1991, I realized conditions in India weren’t better twenty years since I became blind. In those twenty years, India’s global reputation as…

Gradual Vision Loss  ·  21 March 2020

5 tips for the blind to stay safe from Coronavirus pandemic

Blindness in the time of Coronavirus could be dangerous for some, especially if they live in a densely populated country like India. What makes it even more of a risk is the fact that it won’t be always possible to avoid physical…

Family & Caregivers  ·  7 March 2020

On Women’s Day, a tribute to my mom, my greatest cheerleader

In everyone’s life there comes a moment when you stop crying, take a deep breath and tell yourself to fight on. Very often, that moment is when life knocks you to the ground and you lay sprawling, bruised and battered, all your…

Gradual Vision Loss  ·  5 February 2020

My tryst with blindness: As a child, I was bullied for wearing eye glasses

The neighborhood school where I studied, amidst the chaos of the vegetable market nearby and the peal of bells from the temple opposite the building, was as noisy as the scene outside. Kids ran helter-skelter, teachers had a hard time shouting over…

Self & Growth  ·  4 August 2019

Want to empower yourself? Here’s how

Empowerment means different things to different people. If you’re unemployed, in a bad relationship, or have the funny feeling that you don’t know where you’re going in life, empowerment would mean doing anything to get unstuck or disentangle yourself from the self-limiting…

Self & Growth  ·  22 July 2019

A life changing choice you need to make right now

How many times you say ‘I can’t’ coming across an excellent job offer, a chance to find a life partner or when someone tells you that your business could be much bigger? How many times you end up saying, ‘it’s not for…

Self & Growth  ·  13 July 2019

You’ve beaten your challenges, you’re a hero. Now, let’s hear your story

I still remember the evening as if it’s yesterday rather than the August of 30 years ago. I sat in the auto-rickshaw that added its share of toxic smoke to the air that got cooler with the sea breeze. Traffic crawled along…

Self & Growth  ·  5 July 2019

Don’t shy away from talking about your true self

Do you feel uncomfortable when someone talks about skin colour, disability, or even a seemingly frivolous thing like absentmindedness, because the comment is up close and personal? Do you stay away from family or social gathering to avoid a blindside on your…

Self & Growth  ·  28 June 2019

A band aid to stick back your broken self…and get out strong from tough situations

image source: https://teamcollinsworth.com/professional-athletes-yoga/ Do you get overwhelmed by challenges? Do your limitations scare you? You’re not alone. In fact, we both are sailing pretty much in the same boat. But we’re lucky to have our unique challenges, because if you don’t have…

Philosophy of Disability  ·  17 June 2019

Yes, I’m a person with disability. And I’m proud

Here’s a common experience among people with disability. Our friends and well-wishers squirm when we make a direct reference about our disability. Like this gentleman, who was quite alarmed when I used the word “I see” in a casual and, without a…

Ability in Disability  ·  19 May 2019

Here’s a blessing of blindness that sales managers envy

Whenever you talk about a thing like blindness, the first thing that comes to mind is the negatives. Even the blind people (and I’m not generalizing) who’re usually positive are made to feel quite defencive about their disability, not because they lack…

Gradual Vision Loss  ·  2 August 2018

Embrace the change, how much ever difficult it is. Here’s Why?

My friend, my greatest supporter and my well-wisher, More than anyone else, you know what I mean when I say “embrace the change”. Challenges don’t highlight our limitations; they are signboards along the way that help us find the right path and…

Rehabilitation & Training  ·  24 July 2018

How to raise genius kids?

Sujitha J It’s each parent’s wish that their child should be an achiever, genius, a superstar and what not? In this post, I will share with you, how are kids that are genius are made. We all want our children to be…

Inclusion  ·  18 July 2018

Here’s the greatest secret to lead a long and passionate life

More often, it’s not the story, but the actions, the principles and the ideas we glean from their stories that provide us the seedlings for success. This inspiring person who we’ll be featuring in our first newsletter, for instance, never allows the…

Rehabilitation & Training  ·  12 July 2018

Why self-doubt is the worst enemy

Friends: Self doubt is the worst enemy to progress. It often begins like a faint dot in the horizon and snowballs into an avalanche that shatters our confidence. For persons with disability, it’s vital that we snuf out self-doubt before it could…

Ability in Disability  ·  18 May 2018

Believe me, you can see without eyes!

I don’t have to explain to Indians and a few others from outside the subcontinent about Lord Shiva’s third eye, elegantly portrayed in pictures of him adorning the prayer rooms of devote Hindus across the country. Across the world, people believe in…

Rehabilitation & Training  ·  8 May 2018

How to cope with gradual vision loss (Part 4)-Grab the white cane

Nope, my intention is not to bore you out of your mind by talking about white cane again. I write this because so many people still hesitate to grab the white cane and discover the feeling of liberation. No gradual vision loss…

Philosophy of Disability  ·  2 May 2018

Is blindness a sickness, a disability or a different way of experiencing life?

It’s strangely amusing how some people react to your challenge. There’re those who blame you for finding yourself in a difficult situation. And there’re those who chide you, with all good intentions of course, for having failed to care enough to avoid…

Family & Caregivers  ·  19 April 2018

A time machine to the lost summer

Talking about summer is a joy. Oh, I know some of you wonder what is so joyful about the time of the year when the heat threatens to melt the ice, the tar and even the brain in spite of the thick…

Family & Caregivers  ·  13 June 2017

Commander cool

It was 1981, or so I think, when I was about eight. Mom and three of my siblings were returning from a visit to our grandparent’s house, about five stations away from ours on the suburban train in Chennai. It must’ve been…

Rehabilitation & Training  ·  23 March 2017

How do I handle my gradual vision loss? (part 3)

3. Don’t feel shy about using your white cane. On the sunny evening, the room where I stood looked shadowy. The lady standing before me watched the mortified expression on my face with a mixture of amusement and apprehension. She was shaking…

Gradual Vision Loss  ·  31 December 2016

How do I handle my gradual vision loss? (part 2)

2. Try for a cure, by all means, but don’t postpone rehab. Should I try for a cure? This question is probably the upper-most in the minds of many facing gradual vision loss. All the family members, friends, the most distant relatives…

Patients & Doctors  ·  16 October 2016

How do I handle my gradual vision loss? (part 1)

What does it feel like losing your sight little by little? It’s more like sinking below the earth on the edge of the twilight zone. Sometimes, the sights, the colors and the precise size of the objects look so wonderfully clear. And…

Accessible Technology  ·  11 August 2016

Dear world, the blind community is taking you by storm

Are you one of those who think the blind are restricted because they can’t see? Well, this post would change that idea. For years, we’ve been saying that the blind can do wonderful things if given the right kind of tools and…

Accessible Technology  ·  3 August 2016

The man behind Hear2Read: making low-end smartphones talk in Indian languages for the blind

Suresh Bazaj is no stranger to the blind community. A retired serial entrepreneur in the U.S. who spent his early life in Banaras, Suresh had seen blind people at a school in the old city which his family has been supporting from…

Disability & Education  ·  6 September 2015

The teacher who transformed my life

We all need a guide, a companion soul who shows up when we are at crossroads; at the moment that could turn our lives inexorably. When THAT PERSON happens to be a teacher, it feels as if god himself is reaching out…

Inclusion  ·  12 August 2015

Inclusion in practice, not in theory

Never in my life did I feel so awkward and…dumbstruck. If you haven’t met me before, then probably I’ll have to tell you that it takes a bit of a doing for someone to make me dumb. The guy in the front…

Communication & Storytelling  ·  18 August 2014

Freedom within limitations

What else do I think on a day when our country celebrates its independence? The Americans celebrate their I-Day on July 4, Malaysians on Aug 31, Singaporians on Aug 9, while South Koreans like Indians mark the day on August 15. The…

Patients & Doctors  ·  26 July 2014

The myth of eye contacts

Eyes, they say, are windows to a person’s soul. Poets, novelists and storytellers describe them as the communicator of truth. “They speak their own language,” goes a suggestion. But if a person loses his eyesight or is born without it, does it…

From the Archive  ·  6 July 2014

The right convergence

The group of experts seated at the dais had barely anything in common. One was an author and an IT industry leader, the other the head of a mental health institution and the third was a former bureaucrat at the health department.…

Philosophy of Disability  ·  11 June 2014

Celebrating our uniqueness

Ok… let me celebrate. I mean let me do that without apology or apprehension, without being crass, cruel or callus. Let me do it without regret and do it by blowing a kiss heavenwards, because if I’m his creation and am part…

Patients & Doctors  ·  30 May 2014

Diminishing vision and disappearing space

It was the same street, same row of buildings on either side. I was sure that the rickshaw puller would get a sadistic pleasure by swerving dangerously close to the startled pedestrian. And the pedestrian must weigh the danger of standing unperturbed…

Patients & Doctors  ·  21 May 2014

Why consulting your ophthalmologist is important after diagnosis?

“R.P. is a progressive degenerative retinal disease with no cure or treatment. Then why should I go to my ophthalmologist regularly?” The question from a patient in the audience almost stunned the doctor who gave a presentation on newly emerging treatments at…

Patients & Doctors  ·  4 May 2014

Where patients should call the shots

Let me put this disclaimer first: doctors out there reading this post, please understand that the idea that I am about to explore is not some kind of patient revolt or Bolshevik-style insurrection on our health system. Let me also admit that…

Accessible Technology  ·  22 April 2014

The voice that helps and hinders

No…I’m not talking about the “inner voice”, the famous personification of intuitive understanding that leads to moral or spiritual epiphany, but an artificial and definitely monotonous voice that shadows every keystroke I make on my PC’s input system. Like many relationships we…

Family & Caregivers  ·  7 April 2014

Blindness doesn’t make you less of a dad

I watched in the direction of the street corner and heard the loud horn. Being a late blind, the tendency to turn my head in the direction of a sound or a voice comes to me naturally. But on that day, I…

Philosophy of Disability  ·  23 March 2014

God isn’t cruel; disability isn’t punishment

One of the greatest disadvantages of having a disability, especially in a country like India, is that you become the focus of prying eyes the moment you enter a public place like a restaurant, the airport lounge or railway station. If you…

Rehabilitation & Training  ·  14 March 2014

The loving presence

There isn’t anything more painful for patients and their caregivers than the days and weeks that follow the diagnosis of a condition like Retinitis Pigmentosa. In a country like India, where awareness about different kinds of ailments among the people still needs…

Accessible Technology  ·  5 March 2014

Find out from an expert: how Apple devices are changing lives of low vision people

Foundation Fighting Blindness (FFB) in the United States has been doing pioneering work in terms of informing patients with retinal conditions about research in finding a cure, besides helping them cope with the diminishing vision. Importantly, the not for profit organization is…

Philosophy of Disability  ·  26 February 2014

The road not taken

They say it’s the regret most feel too strongly on their deathbeds. With their lives reaching an absolute dead-end and no promise of a future, people reflect over their lives and sigh ‘I could have done that’. Indeed, life won’t be any…

Rehabilitation & Training  ·  20 February 2014

Is unequal world a blessing?

If you want to understand the inequalities of the world, you just have to do one thing: walk along the busiest arterial road of your city or town. A busy road is an interesting place. Especially in India where it is harder…

Rehabilitation & Training  ·  6 February 2014

Search for cure or an escape from reality?

After reading my book “Lights Out” published by Random House India, which is recently out in the market, patients and non-patients alike have been asking if I have something against them searching for a cure. It needs no reiteration, but it doesn’t…

Rehabilitation & Training  ·  27 January 2014

A good rehab system for R.P. patients

Is there a difference in the way a total blind person adapts to his environment and the way a low vision/progressive vision loss patient relates to his surroundings? The answer is yes. Traditionally, our rehab and support systems have treated all visually…

From the Archive  ·  19 January 2014

My book “Lights Out” is about R.P.

Retinitis Pigmentosa (R.P. as it is commonly known in the medical language) is a condition that results in gradual vision loss. Persons having this condition could become totally blind or significantly visually impaired. In India, where marriages within close family circles are…

From the Archive  ·  18 January 2014

Doctors’ dilemma and chasing a cure

Sometimes, it doesn’t pay to be a doctor. Yes, I say this despite being a patient and not a doctor. The reason is quite simple: imagine a patient, a young one at that, seated across the table from you hoping to hear…

From the Archive  ·  16 January 2014

A Note from January 2014

One of the questions we are asked whenever we meet with able bodied people is that how much it hurts to be blind? “Jeese man! Are you not brooding over your blindness every day? Are you not feeling bad that you can’t…