At the tender age of five, she lost vision due to rare retinal disease. However being rendered blind did not deter Poorna Sundari from dreaming big. X user Vikas Alwys recently shared her inspirational journey. At the age of 25, she achieved an extraordinary milestone by securing an All India Rank of 286 in the 2019 UPSC Civil Services Examination, succeeding on her fourth attempt after years of perseverance and dedication.Her ambition to join the Indian Administrative Service took shape while she was studying in Class 11. Around the same time, she faced a life-altering setback when she completely lost her vision. Medical experts informed her that her condition could not be reversed, but she refused to allow the diagnosis to define her future. While the Civil Services Examination is widely regarded as one of the most demanding competitive exams in India, preparing for it without eyesight presented an even greater challenge.— VikasAlwys (@VikasAlwys) The lack of accessible study resources made her journey particularly difficult. Since audio learning materials were not readily available, her parents stepped in and spent countless hours reading books and study material aloud for her. Friends and senior students also played a crucial role by converting printed content into audio recordings. To continue studying independently, she relied on assistive technologies such as NVDA screen-reading software and text-to-speech applications on her laptop.She secured 286th position in UPSC 2019. She was denied the IAS position due to visual impairment and became an IRS. She is currently serving as an Assistant Commissioner of Income Tax.
She became blind at the age of 5. However, that didn’t stop her from cracking UPSC. Who is Poorna Sundari?
Poorna Sundari, who lost her vision at five, defied all odds to achieve an All India Rank of 286 in the 2019 UPSC Civil Services Examination on her fourth attempt. Despite facing immense challenges with accessible study materials, her unwavering determination, supported by her parents and friends, led her to become an IRS officer.
TL;DRAI
Poorna Sundari scored All India Rank 286 in 2019 UPSC at age 25 despite losing vision at 5, leveraging NVDA and text-to-speech assistive tech. Her success underscores how accessibility infrastructure—screen readers, text-to-speech—enables competitive participation, highlighting ROI of inclusive tech design for knowledge-work organizations.
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