A student’s determination despite towering odds, a family’s sacrifice and a school’s support – 19-year-old Sarah Moin from Lucknow has scripted a tale of inspiration and grit with her stellar performance in this year’s ISC examinations. Sarah Moin, who cannot hear or see and has trouble speaking, has topped Lucknow’s Christ Church College by scoring an outstanding 98.75 per cent in the Class 12 board exams. She has secured the highest marks among 258 students from one of the city’s leading institutions. Sarah was just four when she was diagnosed with sarcoidosis, a rare disease that gradually took away her eyesight. Another setback followed a couple of years later when she lost her hearing, too. Sarah also has trouble speaking. “Sarcoidosis is a rare illness that stole both the vision and hearing of my daughter at a very young age,” said her 56-year-old father, Moin Ahmed. “Because of her medical condition, I enrolled her in Christ Church College, which offered special support for students with disabilities. When Sarah scored 95 per cent in Class X, it gave her the confidence to believe that she could do better and compete with everyone else,” said the proud father.Ahmed said he took voluntary retirement in 2020 to support his daughter’s journey. A resident of Lucknow’s Hussainganj area, he took his daughter to Christ Church College every day. The college has a dedicated section for children with special needs and specially trained educators to support them.“The college arranged separate classes for her because of her visual and hearing challenges. I took voluntary retirement from my job so I could fully care for Sarah. A child facing such difficulties needs constant attention, patience and extraordinary support,” he said. Story continues below this adSarah’s mother, Julee Hamid, is a teacher at a government primary school. The couple have two children, Sarah and her elder brother, a lawyer.Ahmed said Sarah’s path to success was also paved by the exceptional dedication of her teacher, Salman Ali Qazi. “He made extraordinary efforts to help my daughter become the college topper. She was given the best possible learning support and special attention. Her teachers lovingly call her ‘Helen Keller,’” he said.Salman Ali said Christ Church College started its section for children with special needs in 2014, and he has been part of the department since then. “Our special education section currently supports 33 visually impaired students, but Sarah’s journey has been uniquely challenging because, unlike many others, she can’t hear either,” said Ali. Story continues below this ad“To help her learn and grow, we used the best available techniques and technology and ensured that she received the support she needed to overcome barriers far greater than most,” he said. Ali said they used an Orbit Reader, a Braille-based device, to help Sarah study digitally. “Her books were scanned, converted into Word files, and then connected to the device so she could read through touch. She was given one-to-one classes, where I explained lessons to her using signals and assistive technology,” he said. For examinations, Sarah used a refreshable Braille display linked to a laptop. Her question papers were converted into Braille, allowing her to read independently, and her answers were later transformed into regular text for evaluation.Sarah has been a student at Christ Church College since Class 1, and her teachers’ support has played a key role in her extraordinary achievement. Story continues below this adPrincipal Enosh Chattree said that out of 258 students who appeared for the ISC examinations this year, two were from the institution’s special education section. “Sarah has emerged as the highest scorer among all students, and her achievement is a source of inspiration for everyone,” he said.Abhinandan, another student from the section who is visually impaired, has also performed commendably, scoring 72 per cent in the board exams.