No sight, but a lot of vision: Ashish Goyal, first visually challenged trader on Wall Street

Where could a female Afghani tech entrepreneur, a young Japanese politician and an international financial markets expert share a future-redefining platform? Mumbai-mulga, Ashish Goyal believes that being one of the World Economic Forum's (WEF) 187 Young Global Leaders (YGL), offers the opportunity to "shape global thinking and movements–both business and non-business oriented; represent India as well as the disabled community; and learn from a highly successful and motivated group of people".

The 34-year-old has been challenging limitations since he was a child. An outdoor enthusiast to the marrow, he could swim, cycle, ride horses and shoot by age five. He would spend hours on the cricket field, but hoped to be a tennis star. His life was perfect until balls started disappearing from his field of vision, the lines in his text books began blurring and he was tripping over things and walking into people. Diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa at age nine, he was legally blind by 22. He entered college with 15 friends and left with 5.

"Why me?," was a question he struggled with until the words of Balaji Tambe, his mentor and spiritual guide, cut through the clouds surrounding him,"It's only one sense you've lost. Don't look at this as a problem and sit with it. Find a solution". It took Goyal a long time to internalise this message, but he did. "Live with your challenges and deal with them; go find solutions; never give up," is the rule of three he lives by. From working with ING Vysya to graduating from Wharton to joining JP Morgan to become the first visually-challenged trader on Wall Street, the road has always risen to meet him. "Today, people can challenge my disability, but not my intellect," he says.

Now, a portfolio manager with BlueCrest Capital Management Ltd., a leading macro hedge fund, he has accrued about a decade of experience in international financial markets. When he's not working, Goyal enjoys "watching sports, staying abreast of public policy and keeping an eye on human rights violations". The many people who queried him about his marriage prospects, may be delighted to know that he is happily married to a girl, "who saw him as just a regular guy with his own set of challenges".

Thanks to technology, he never had to learn braille. There's software that reads the print off his computer screen and even his mobile at high speeds. Public transport is far easier to navigate in London, where he's now based, than in Mumbai with its missing pavements and rush-hour trains. But the "eternal optimist", as he describes himself, has no qualms about returning to Mumbai, if the right opportunity arises.

His sightlessness has taught him to trust people—taxi drivers in Jakarta, shopkeepers in Philadelphia, people on the streets of Delhi, Mumbai, New York and London. "The more you trust people, the more they are empowered to help," he says.

Honoured with the National Award for the Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities and the Joseph P Wharton award, he believes he has been blessed to receive help—from family, the community and even strangers—when he needed it. Convinced that "a little bit of help can make a big difference," he has raised over US$50,000 over the past three years to aid the education of underprivileged Indian children, global disability research and international peace.

According to the WEF, "Current and former YGLs head governments and Fortune 500 companies, win Nobel Prizes and Academy Awards, become UN Goodwill Ambassadors and Social Entrepreneurs". What's next for this insightful young man who believes he can make a difference? You'll have to wait and watch as Goyal believes that "life is about living every minute".