Whenever I think of people in my close circle who are breaking barriers, Rashmi Muddaiah surely comes to my mind. A very dear friend & a gem of a person, Rashmi is an inclusion and diversity community program manager with Cisco.

Rashmi is legally blind with a condition known as Retinitis Pigmentosa, a rare disorder that leads to breakdown and loss of cells in the retina. Despite all this, Rashmi is as independent & as effervescent as one can get. She has never let this come between her goals & even completed her master’s in social work.

At Cisco, she manages inclusive communities and leads programs that support the upliftment of diverse groups within the organization. She has led conversations to influence policies for inclusion of under-represented communities, setup EROs (Employee Resource Organizations) across APJC, has managed NGO partnerships and led disability hiring programs. I have personally witnessed her encouraging brave conversations that help in building inclusive communities.

In this episode we chat about her journey, how she manages her day-to-day activities, her career in a tech company, what keeps her going and also discuss about few resources that can help someone with visual impairments. 

Here are a couple of organizations that help people with visual impairments.

https://www.enableindia.org/

https://www.mitrajyothi.org/

https://www.samarthanam.org/

https://giftabled.org/

https://donation.sightsaversindia.in/

https://www.giveindia.org/