Over 25,000 differently abled persons across India found long-lasting friendships, love and prospective partners, thanks to an innovative initiative called Inclov.
Launched in Bengaluru in 2015, the Inclov app helps differently abled persons connect to prospective partners online, and interact with them personally through its offline meetups.
Shankar Srinivasan, the co-founder of Inclov discusses the key motivation behind the idea of these meetups in an interview with the Times of India.
In a country, where disabled persons are constantly struggling with equal access to transport and public places, Inclov decided to launch its offline meet-up wing called Social Spaces to nurture a more inclusive environment.
“The meetups are inclusive, and our curated locations are universally designed to ensure 100% accessibility in infrastructure so that people with disability can socialise or find friends/life partners,” he said.
Having hosted over 25 offline meetups across India already, the initiative is all set to host a first of its kind meetup in Bengaluru today at Sutra nightclub at Hotel Lalit Ashok. An open event, it requires no prior registration.
The success stories of Inclov and its offline meetups reflects in the story of 31-year-old former runner-up of the Miss Wheelchair India pageant and a national-level rifle shooter, who gave up hope on love after eight years of not finding a match.
She found a perfect match in less than ten days on the app in May 2016. Today, she is happily married to a wheelchair-bound successful working professional, who waited for six long years before finding love in her.
Another 31-year-old schoolteacher who faced immense social struggles due to an intellectual disability found her partner in a similar age Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Lucknow graduate with cerebral palsy. They are set to get married soon.
In addition to helping them find suitable matches, Inclov is also boosting the confidence of differently abled persons to step out and access public spaces.
“A couple of years ago, I was not allowed inside a nightclub along with my friends as I was wheelchair-bound due to polio. I was humiliated and never tried to enter a bar/club till I attended Inclov’s event in Delhi and partied all night along with my friends,” one of the beneficiaries told the Times of India.
Hats off to the Inclov team for this novel idea! We hope many people continue to benefit from this initiative!
The struggles most persons with disability face in all sectors of life, including inclusive education, employment, legal rights and accessibility, is no secret.
Many differently abled persons have voiced these very struggles out at several instances including when the census team, who arrive at households and list down names and details of all other members merely acknowledging disabled persons as citizens.
But today’s story is about the victory of a 27-year-old man, Sanat Maitra with 83% cerebral palsy and how he received his own Aadhaar card after a 2-year battle.
This battle came to its destined end on Tuesday, 11 days after the family knocked the doors of the Calcutta High Court.
While the soft copy of the Aadhaar card arrived on Sanat’s mother, Nupur’s email ID on Monday, the printed copy was delivered in the same place where Sanat had his sacred thread ceremony on Tuesday, making it a sentimental experience for the Maitra household.
Now as visitors arrive, the family proudly shows off the Aadhaar card to them, and even offers sweets celebrating their victory.
Speaking to the Times of India, Nupur who works at IIM Calcutta said, “We held Sanat’s sacred thread ceremony on March 1 this year. We handed him the Aadhaar card to Sanat at the same puja ‘dalan’. It is not merely a new identity card, this is also a victory for everyone like Sanat whose right to life and dignity has been upheld.”
Expressing their deep respect for the high court, the family members were grateful to the UIDAI personnel who came home personally to complete the procedure and told them to stay rest assured. Even though tension clouded the home when the OTP generation took over a week, Monday brought good news.
Nupur will soon be visiting the SBI branch of IIM in Joka where she was asked to provide court papers to validate the use of Sanat’s account.
“This time I will carry the high court order along with the Aadhaar card. I hope they will be satisfied this time. The entire money in that account is used by us for Sanat’s treatment,” she told the publication.
Patriotism is a feeling that can manifest in multiple ways. Showing respect for the national anthem is one of them.
Till recently, it was mandatory for moviegoers to stand up for the national anthem, but unfortunately, in more instances than one, people were thrashed by fellow patrons for not standing up. Earlier this year, a wheelchair-bound disability rights activist was heckled at a movie screening in Guwahati as he could not stand up when the national anthem was played before the show began.
This is even after the Supreme Court had modified its order to exempt differently-abled people from standing up in cinema halls when the national anthem is played before film screenings.
In October, the Apex court declared that one doesn’t need to stand in movie halls to prove their love for the country, and has asked the Central government to take a stand regarding this compulsion.
Avakkai Films, a production house from Bengaluru, has put forth their views about standing up for the anthem in movie theatres. After the Guwahati disability rights activist was heckled, the production house’s team couldn’t wrap their heads around the incident.
“There are so many other issues to stand up for in India, especially the ones that concern people with disabilities. Everyone should stand up for the National Anthem out of respect for the country, but we also need to think about what we’re standing up for. That’s when I thought of doing something on International Day of Persons with Disabilities. I got in touch with Ashwin Naidu (Director & Producer) and we decided to make a film featuring nine super achievers,” Ajay Bhaskar, Creative Supervisor, JWT Bangalore, told The Better India.
Through the video, Ajay wants to urge people to think about what it means to be patriotic, and to discuss what it is that makes them want to stand up for the National Anthem. He wants to spread the idea of making this society more inclusive – one that has a place for everyone.
This heart-warming video shows the different ways in which patriotism manifests itself.
It features marathon runner Shalini Saraswathi, tennis player Prathima N Rao, athlete Sandesh BG, and swimming champion Vishwas KS, among others.
Born in a village in the Nagamangala Taluk in Mandya district, PS Girisha had an idyllic and content childhood. While he enjoyed helping his parents with the household chores, he was also a high-achieving student and dreamed of pursuing a career in medicine. However, he had just completed his Class 9 examinations when an accident changed his life forever.
Girisha was attempting to fix an electric plug but was instantly electrocuted. He lost sensation in both the hands, and it further resulted in the loss of hand function.
The doctors had to amputate his right hand, and Girisha had to stay away from school for almost eight months.
Courtesy: Sunil Dhavala
Thankfully the school authorities provided assistance to Girisha so that he could write his Class 10 exams. Within a few weeks of amputation of his right hand, Girisha had to undergo nine reconstructive surgeries on his left hand to bring the bones and nerves back into the regular functioning and help them recuperate.
He spent days learning to write with the left hand, and while it was a slow and painful process, his disability forced him to accept a new normal. By the time he appeared for his Class 11 exams, he was able to write with his left hand.
His hard work paid off, and he secured a top rank in the Karnataka Common Entrance Test (KCET), but his dream started to fade away. He realised that he could not take his aspiration to study medicine seriously because it would be inconvenient for a one-handed person like him to serve his duties as a doctor, and he did not want to do a disservice to a doctor’s profession.
Girisha convinced his mother about his decision, and while his family was very disheartened, Girisha decided to move forward with his life and overcome the circumstances.
Girisha was heavily dependent on the Karnataka state government’s grant for disabled, which was a small amount of ₹ 500 every month. In 2010, he took up a job with Railways, with an aim to crack the Civil Services.
He succeeded in the second attempt and became an officer in the Andhra Pradesh cadre of the Indian Administrative Service. His first posting was as Sub Collector of Gudur in the Nellore district.
Courtesy: Sunil Dhavala
Our dreams begin to end the day we surrender ourselves to fate, become faint-hearted and lose hope. PS Girisha’s story offers an unblinking view of his commitment and determination, which certainly helped him transcend his disability.
This story commemorated International Day of Disabled Persons (3rd December) and is dedicated to all differently abled readers.
(Written by Sunil Dhavala)
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About the author: Sunil Dhavala has held senior leadership positions at Media & Entertainment companies like Bertelsmann Group, Fox Broadcasting, National Geographic, Star TV (News Corporation Group) and WPP Group.
Sankalpa Das, a student of Class 11, in K.V Ballygunge, Kolkata, was barred from appearing for the CBSE exam and his parents were informed that Sankalpa’s name had been struck off the rolls on the grounds of shortage of attendance.
The parents had moved Calcutta High Court after the school authorities refused to allow Sankalpa to pursue the subjects of his choice. Sankalpa is dyslexic.
Dyslexia makes reading and learning difficult. Picture for representational purposes only. Picture Courtesy: Pixabay.
Sankalpa’s father, Debashish Das, told the Times of India, “The problem started over my son’s choice of subjects during his admission to Class 11. Sankalpa had learning disabilities and was asked to take up subjects like English, Hindi, Economics, and History. We realised that he was not able to comprehend and learn some of these subjects.”
His parents then explained the situation to the principal who suggested that Sankalpa take up simple subjects like Home Science, Music, and Painting. She also recommended that they appoint a private tutor for Sankalpa as the school did not have a Home Science teacher.
His parents agreed, but to their surprise, they faced an unexpected setback. In a complete reversal of their earlier decision, the school authorities informed them that they could not allow Sankalpa to enrol for the above mentioned ‘easy’ subjects and he could fill up the registration form for the CBSE Class 12 board only if he took up regular subjects like the rest of the students.
After his parents approached the Calcutta high court, it ordered the school to allow Sankalpa to rejoin Class 11, and pursue the subjects of his choice under the CBSE. The school complied with the decision and permitted Mr Das to complete the readmission formalities.
Dyslexia is a common learning disorder and needs to be addressed and understood, because the difficulties faced by the people who are dyslexic are involuntary, and they have a healthy desire to learn. Schools, just like society at large, should make an effort to be more inclusive and welcome diversity.
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Quizzes are a lot of fun. The tense moments after a question is asked, the quick guess-work, and the nervous tapping of the buzzer — all add up to an exhilarating experience, for participants, quizmasters and the audience.
Children with special needs love to take part in quizzes as well — if given a chance. Well, now they do, thanks to Quizabled, a one-of-a-kind initiative spearheaded by three friends, and an NGO.
Sharath Babu, Akshat A, and Himadri Banerjee of 4 Edge Quizzing Solutions sat down with the team at Seva in Action, to conceptualise a quiz for differently-abled children. They wanted to do something for these children, as they do not get many chances to participate in competitive events.
Quizabled, a result of that brainstorming, is sponsored by Larsen & Toubro, and is a competition for kids with disabilities from both regular and special schools, across Bengaluru. Kids are divided into four separate categories, as intelligence levels differ across all groups.
The four categories are:
a) Intellectually Challenged Children.
b) Children with Autism and Cerebral Palsy
c) Visually-impaired children.
d) Hearing-impaired children.
The organisers hope that quiz will encourage children to strengthen their knowledge about the world at large, and also foster a sense of team spirit as well.
The questions have been formulated after a lot of research. Coming up with the questions for the first edition was quite a challenge, according to Himadri. The team would visit schools for children with special needs, in Bangalore, to observe the kids.
The data collected, helped in framing particular types of questions, especially for autistic and intellectually disabled children. The latter found the format difficult, and for the second edition of Quizabled, intellectually disabled children got their own category.
The team spoke to specialists in NIMHANS before formulating questions for the second edition. Their hard work paid off, and the quiz was a big hit.
For the third edition, the format has changed. The prelims are being held on December 8th, with the finals scheduled for December 16th. After the prelims, the top 6 teams in every category are chosen to participate, while the ones that don’t make it, become a part of the audience.
Organising an event like this has its rewards. After the first edition, Himadri noticed many of the children went on to write entrance exams. He also mentions that the general knowledge of the children showed a considerable improvement, and many schools introduced sessions focussing on general knowledge in the daily schedule.
Asked about future plans, Himadri says that he wants to take this concept out of Bengaluru, to other cities. While they have faced resistance, they have also successfully convinced many schools and parents to allow their children to participate in Quizabled.
Himadri is optimistic about the future. He believes that the exposure to a vast amount of general knowledge will undoubtedly benefit the children. He wants them to go beyond just living their lives. He wants to help them create a sustainable future, full of promise.
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Kanchanmala Pande created history when she became the first Indian to win a Gold medal at the World Para-Swimming Championship. She secured the first rank in the 200-metre medley event in the S-11 category.
The S-11 category includes athletes who have very low visual acuity and/or no perception of light.
The 26-year old swimmer from Amravati, works with the Reserve Bank of India in Nagpur and is a regular at the Aqua Sports Club there. She trains under Pravin Lamkhade, ASCA Level-1 Coach, and assistant coach Shashikant Chande.
Pande missed a podium finish in the 100-metre freestyle by a small margin, securing the fourth rank and secured the fifth rank in 100-metre breaststroke and backstroke.
However, her Gold medal in the 200-metre medley deserves to be commended.
She was confident about a good performance in the championship, but the well-deserved first rank came as a surprise for her. Pande told TOI, “I had prepared well for the World Championship. I was expecting a good show in Mexico and also a medal. But, securing the top position and a gold medal at the world championship is surprising. I am thrilled.”
Although the results in Mexico are admirable, Pande’s experience in the Berlin qualifiers had proved equally challenging. The Paralympic Committee of India (PCI) failed to provide her with enough funds during her trip to Berlin, although she was promised it was all paid-for.
Pande was forced to take a loan of ₹5 lakh when the PCI declared that they would not be able to pay for the trip since their accounts were blocked. She was even forced to face an embarrassing situation when she was fined for travelling in a tram without a ticket. It was the responsibility of her coach to buy the tickets. He had also enrolled her name in the wrong category for the qualifiers.
None of these challenges would stop Pande from winning laurels.
She successfully beat the qualifying mark in 100m Freestyle (1:34:00), 100m Backstroke (1:41:00), 100m Breaststroke (2:01:00) and a silver 200m Individual Medley (3:03:00) in Berlin. She was the only Indian to qualify for the women’s category.
Pande’s husband Vinod Deshmukh has been incredibly supportive of her journey. Her health and fitness are looked after by Dr PK Deshpande, fitness trainer Sachin Deshmukh and physiotherapist Dr Kevin Agrawal. She dedicates her win to the doctors, her husband, and her coaches.
As per records from NGOs, there are currently around three thousand specially abled, but educated, youth in Jammu and Kashmir who are unemployed.
This even keeps them out of family life, as a lack of a job means they get no marriage prospects.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has approved a three percent quota for persons with disability (PwD) in government jobs.
The reservation has been an appreciated policy as it allows for the recruitment and hiring of PwD candidates. But sadly not many people have benefitted from this scheme, due to a simple lack of awareness.
There is not a single Braille version book available in government schools for blind children. There are no special educators for deaf and dumb children in the schools either.
Courtesy: Qazi Wasif.
“I have seen students being afraid to drink or eat anything as they fear that they may have to use the washroom since the schools in our state are not disable friendly,” says Javed Ahmad Tak.
These are just a few of the numerous problems encountered every day by the specially abled community in the valley. But for a good number of them, especially the children, the future is not so dark – thanks to Tak.
A single bullet changed this man’s life forever. But after battling many hurdles in society, he has been fighting to make a difference. A victim of the conflict, this 41-year-old man is now transforming lives of many specially-abled children in Kashmir.
In South Kashmir’s Bijbehara town, around 45 Km from Srinagar, the then 21-year-old Tak was shot during a militant attack, changing his life forever. “It wasn’t just the spine, my kidney, pancreas and intestines were also damaged, and I had to go through several surgeries. ” the now 41-year-old Tak says.
Tak always wanted to help others. During his college years, he participated in various campus activities like anti-smoking campaigns, eco-friendly campaigns, the integrated Pulse Polio immunisation program and much more.
But Tak’s parents wanted him to become a doctor, so he studied medicine.”My parents wanted me to become a doctor, but fate has something else written for me,” he says. ‘Something else’ is accurate. He was in the hospital for almost two years and received his news of his graduation on a hospital bed.
After the tragedy, naturally, his state of mind was disturbed and unsettled. To find solace and something to do, he started teaching. As most of the families in his neighbourhood came from poor backgrounds, he also began to provide them with free education.
This inspired him to continue his own studies. Now he holds two degrees from Indira Gandhi Open University in Human Rights and Computing and a Masters in Social Work from Kashmir University. “I came to know how to use different techniques as a social worker and how to work for the welfare of the physically and mentally challenged through this course,” he says.
He didn’t stop there. He soon started working for the rights of the physically and mentally challenged in the valley.
Courtesy: Qazi Wasif
“It is only by becoming disabled that my vision of the world changed. It hurt me deeply when I realised the problems that disabled people have to face every day,” he says.
He started filing public interest litigations in the J&K High Court advocating against the miserable conditions of the physically and mentally challenged people in J&K. In many cases, he was successful as well. He also started writing complaints to the Human Rights Commissions – both at local and national level.
“One complaint that I filed was concerned with the Government of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) which was not providing any attention towards affected people in the leper colony in Srinagar. The Chairperson of the State Human Rights took cognisance of the complaint and directed the government to take steps for their rehabilitation.”
He also worked to uplift the status of specially-abled children at the Universities level. Most universities lack facilities for physically challenged children after all.
“During my time in the MSW course at Kashmir University, I organised students with physical challenges so they could put pressure on university’s authorities to address their absent rights,” he says.
“Working with children gave me the real meaning of life,” he says. “I would have never had such dedication to humanity if I would not have met with the attack. Nowadays, I feel blessed for what happened to me, a blessing from God and his everlasting kindness. Although I am a person with a severe disability, I operate in society at the academic and professional level. I have got a number of rewards for my perseverance and social actions.”
He received Rs 75000 as compensation by the state government after the attack. He used that money to open a school, the Zeba Apa institute for specially-abled children in 2007.
It remains the first and only mixed disability school in the valley.
Initially, he started it up to the fifth standard. Now he has extended it to eighth standard and hopes extend it further in the future. More than 120 students have directly benefitted from the school. The first batch comprised of 23 students. But this year the roll call is up to 87, of whom 17 have played national level sports and will compete in games like badminton and javelin throw.
Around 31 deaf and dumb children, originally dropouts, have joined Tak’s school because they faced discrimination or a lack of facilities for them at the government level.
Courtesy: Qazi Wasif.
Tak says the most significant challenge that the institute faces is that there is lack of transport facility. “If we had better transport facility, we would have more than 200 students enrolled in our institute; we have only two busses for which we are still paying the instalments.”
Tak initially rented a single room to teach the students. But thanks to the overwhelming response he received from some NGOs, he was able to rent a building. In a difficult situation, and after facing such personal pain and tragedy, it is wonderful how people like Tak are bringing much-needed light in the lives of children.
For people with hearing and speech impairment, communication with the outside world is often an onerous task. Only members of their close circle of friends or immediate family make a genuine attempt at learning it.
When they step out into the job market, very few people try to learn sign language, and this creates real barriers to any sort progress in the professional sphere. Learning sign language isn’t easy, and it requires the same kind of aptitude and dedication needed to learn any spoken language.
Fortunately, there is an app on the way that could translate sign language into text and speech which will help society understand what people with speech and hearing impairments are communicating and vice versa. This app is being currently developed by a student-teacher duo from IIT-BHU, reports The New Indian Express.
The idea for this app was inspired by what 21-year-old Nikhil Dhaka, a fourth-year dual-degree student in biomedical engineering from IIT-BHU, did in a project for one of his courses. He initially developed an app that recognised hand gestures.
After assessing Dhaka’s project, his professor, Neeraj Sharma, who is also the HOD of the Biomedical Engineering Department, suggested that Dhaka could develop an app that could translate sign language, and thus smoothen the lines of communication between people with speech and hearing impairment vis-à-vis the general population.
If this app comes to fruition, it could revolutionise the way Indians with such disabilities could function in mainstream society.
“There are similar apps but they require some hardware, I’m trying to make this app completely independent of any hardware,” Dhaka told The New Indian Express.
At this moment, the app is in its development stage, and the aim is to bring it out in a year’s time. “There is still a slight delay in the translation, but we are working on it and trying to make it as accurate as possible,” Dhaka said.
For the moment, the app is restricted to translation via text. “We are also trying to translate sign language into speech as well and not just restrict it to text. That will be the next thing we work on after this,” Sharma said to the daily.
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In India, the perception of treating differently-abled people as ill, and marking them out, tends to isolate them. These are the words of the Supreme Court, according to the Times of India. The court wants to create a level playing field for all citizens to realise their full potential.
This much-welcome move and change in mindset should come as a relief for the approximately 60-70 million differently-abled people in India.
A pool with a ramp for the differently-abled. Image Courtesy: Flickr.
A bench of Justices AK Sikri and Ashok Bhushan said government buildings and educational institutes must be compatible with the needs of the differently abled.
The Supreme Court, on Friday, fixed a timeline for the Centre and states to make public places more accessible to the differently-abled, passing directions to integrate them into mainstream society.
The Times of India reports that according to the Apex Court Bench, traditional approaches to disability, terming it a health and welfare issue, which must be addressed through care provided to the disabled from a charitable perspective, need to change.
Differently-abled people are viewed as abnormal, deserving of pity and care, not as individuals who live a full life, like the rest of society. This marginalising and exclusion stops them from enjoying fundamental rights.
The court wants to ensure education is accessible to the differently-abled. School buildings, classrooms, libraries, bathrooms, etc., need to be provided/modified so that the differently-abled to utilise educational opportunities to the fullest.
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Swimming is a tough sport. It requires every muscle in the body to move quickly with perfect coordination. Additionally, swimmers require dedication, discipline and hard work—even more so if you have a physical disadvantage.
Twelve years ago, when Shridhar Malagi, who was then in Class 1, was returning from school in an auto, he met with an accident, and doctors had to amputate his left hand.
Shridhar Malagi with his coach (Inset Image). Inset Image Credit:- All About Belgaum.
He eventually returned to school but was extremely dejected. “I was feeling down and out. We were poor and could not afford any special school. My father works as an assistant in a factory and mother a maid,” he told The Hindu.
The despondent young boy hanging around a swimming pool was spotted by Umesh Kalaghatagi, a swimming coach, who trains children at the JNMC swimming pool, and the Rotary Sports Centre. He asked Shridhar if he wanted to swim.
While Shridhar was initially hesitant, he brought his parents to meet the coach the following day. There has been no turning back and has not missed a single day of training since that fateful day. In his para swimming career of over five years, Shridhar has won 27 medals at national events.
Simran Gaundalkar, all of 14, also has a similar motivational story. She has Achondroplasia—dwarfism caused by a genetic disorder that stunts growth. If that wasn’t enough, neighbours and schoolmates teased the young girl about her condition.
Simran Gaundalkar with her coach (Inset Image). Inset Image Photo Credits:- All About Belgaum
Simran’s parents, however, were supportive. They sent her to Belagavi to study in a regular school. She informed The Hindu that coach Kalaghatagi spotted her and decided to train her. Simran has been training since she was in Class 2, and never thought she would come to love swimming.
Today, Simran has an impressive two dozen medal tally, from national and international events, the most recent being two medals at the recently held World Dwarf Games in Canada.
The two athletes have beaten severe odds, to bring laurels to the country. Befittingly, they were felicitated by R Ramachandran, the CEO of Zilla Panchayat, who also promised help to the swimmers and their coach, Mr Kalaghatagi with their sponsorship hunt, and try to provide them with other assistance, to help them follow their dreams.
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A core part of the web is inaccessible to a large chunk of visually impaired users. This is quite tragic especially at a time when most of the internet is dominated by visual content.
Millions of images, GIFs and screenshots are posted every day on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and our visually impaired folks miss out just because their screen-reading software is unable to ‘read’ images—something artificial intelligence is still not that good at yet. Such software is only helpful in so far as texts are concerned.
However, there is a way we can help them see these images.
Source: Flickr
Rob Long, a visually impaired Twitter user, recently posted about how the rest of us can reach people like him and help them interact with our pictures.
In March 2016, Twitter announced a feature that allows users to caption their photographs before they share them. Once the image is shared, the caption is what a visually impaired user’s screen reader will read each time it encounters a captioned photograph. However, a lot of users aren’t even aware that such a feature exists.
Users have to go into their Twitter account’s accessibility settings on their smartphones and switch it on. Rob has posted instruction on how users can do this:
I’m a blind twitter user. There are a lot of us out there. Increase your ability to reach us and help us interact with your pictures, it’s really simple and makes a huge difference to our twitter experiance allowing us to see your images our way. Thanks for the description pic.twitter.com/hCsjoFdmev
Facebook also has this feature, but it uses automatic alternative (alt) text that uses object recognition technology to create a description of a photo, which cannot be edited. It is supported in various languages.
For this feature to work, every Twitter user has to get on board and enable it on their accounts. In fact big news organisations too should adopt features that help the visually impaired navigate better and make image captioning a mandatory effort.
In 1998 Eric Paul was only ten when his parents decided to surprise the young boy by buying the popular family car, Maruti 800.
So deep was his love for cars, that the 10-year-old slept in the brand new vehicle the first night after it rushed through the gates of his New Delhi home. That obsession would last a lifetime.
Even a terrible car accident in 2012, which paralysed him from the chest down, did not deter the now 29-year-old.
Indeed he drove his way into the Limca Book of Records thanks to three expeditions spanning the length and breadth of India in his customised hand-controlled hatchback.
His first ever expedition, in November 2015, was to undertake the Golden Quadrilateral road task of the Limca Book, where he drove to five metropolitan cities.
Starting his trip from Delhi, he drove to Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai and Kolkata and all the way back to the national capital.
Including night rests, he managed to complete his 6,000 km trip in less than seven days to set the record in his hatchback!
Later, in June 2016, Eric embarked on his second expedition.
From Leh to Kanyakumari. He considers that one his most challenging journey so far. Despite several hardships due to severe weather conditions, he successfully covered 3,917 km in a record time six days, 15 hours.
His latest record in the Limca book of records was for driving across the breadth of India – from Arunachal Pradesh’s Tezu to Gujarat’s Koteshwar. This was part of his campaign ‘Accessible India’, to make the nation a more accessible place for Divyangs (persons with disability).
The ride was flagged off by Union minister Rajnath Singh himself, who wished Eric success. The ride covered the 3697 km distance from Tezu to Koteshwar in 4 days, 18 hours, 44 minutes.
Eric with Union Minister Rajnath Singh
If you meet Eric Paul today, the positivity and motivation he exudes will make it hard to believe he battled depression from 2012 to 2013.
For the source of that depression, we have to go back to when Eric was 14 when he learned driving by observation.
“I would watch on intently as my father drove, changed the gear, used the clutch or the accelerator. Nobody taught me how to drive a car. I still remember how my dad’s jaw dropped when he took me to learn driving on a gloomy day in an attempt to cheer me up, and found out I could drive,” laughs Eric, recalling the memory.
While his father allowed him to drive very short distances occasionally when the family went out, he was adamant the boy get a license first.
“I was waiting to turn 18. I applied to the RTO office six months in advance just to get my license on my birthday – 14 January,” he says.
When his father changed cars to a Wagon R, he gave Eric the Maruti 800 for his personal use. While everyone was sceptical about his father’s decision, Eric’s happiness knew no bounds. He would diligently maintain the car and fill its fuel tank with his own pocket money.
In 2009, the family bought an SX4. Eric calls it his dream car. But the car soon turned into his worst nightmare, in 2012.
Once, when he was driving on a highway, a tempo-traveller jumped a red light and rammed into Eric’s SX4.
“The car was my dream and passion. I was bedridden for over a year and had multiple surgeries. I spent over two weeks on a ventilator, three months in the hospital and then a full year holed up inside my own home. If you could rewind a few years, I would call the car my worst enemy. But if you ask me now, I’d tell you the car saved my life,” he says.
Eric was unaware of the lives paraplegic individuals led at the time. In his head, he still hoped he would recover physically. He suffered severe depression and shut himself down. It took him a year to recover mentally. He decided to go back to his old job and asked his higher-ups to give him a desk-job.
They readily agreed but on one condition, that he would manage his own travel.
While people around him continued to blame his obsession with cars for his condition, Eric never really stopped. He believed the only thing that could help him fight his disability was going back to driving.
His father and brother-in-law did some research and discovered that there was an option for paraplegic individuals to drive as well. All they had to do was modify their car.
In 2013, a year after his accident, both of them gifted him a hand-customised Maruti Swift.
Though Eric had to quit and rejoin his work many times due to health ailments, he decided to involve himself in multiple sports. He started playing table tennis and participated in javelin and discus throw. He played at the state-level table tennis tournament in Delhi and clinched a gold medal too.
Travelling back and forth for his tournaments, his car became his backbone yet again.
“My independence wasn’t shaken. I got to know about the Limca Book of Records from my physiotherapist, friend, and guide Dr Pradeep Kumar. He supported me in ways more than one and continues to accompany me on all my expeditions,” says Eric.
When he asked his father for permission for his first expedition, Eric was prepared to hear a no. But his father never really stopped trusting Eric capabilities.
“When nobody trusted me, and everyone started backbiting, my father was my pillar of strength. He told me to stick to the instructions and put my safety first,” he said.
It took Eric over six months to collect all the documents to register himself – including driver fitness, disability certificate etc. He decided to start off with the easiest expedition – the Golden Quadrilateral first. The success of that first trip boosted his confidence, and he has never looked back since then.
After his first expedition, Eric realised he could make these arduous trips count by promoting social causes.
On his second expedition, he interacted with school kids, Army soldiers, several locals and tourists. The goal was to sweep the streets, including construction sites and parks, in areas such as Leh and Kurukshetra, as part of the Swacch Bharat Abhiyaan.
Eric reaching Koteshwar on his last expedition
“As soon as I returned from my first expedition I went to my girlfriend, who I had cut off from for some time,” says Eric.
While Eric is a Catholic, Payal belongs to a Pandit family. Though they had the usual issues that inter-caste relationships within Indian families tend to create, they earned their parents’ blessings and married on Valentine’s Day in 2017.
His honeymoon to London gave him the idea of ‘Accessible India’ for his recent expedition.
“During my trip to London, the highly accessible public spaces in the city made me ponder on the difficulties persons with disability and wheelchairs faced in India. So, I decided to take the message for the need of a more accessible India forward,” he says.
He is also encouraging his friends and relatives to construct ramps in their homes, buildings, and offices to make them accessible to persons in wheelchairs.
Eric spent Rs 3 lakh on his first trip and a whopping Rs 7 lakh for the second one. While Eric initially embarked on these expeditions with his savings and financial help from family and friends, over the years sponsors have come forward to help him.
Indeed, his place of work, Taj Mahal Hotels, used its network to give him free accommodation during his halts for his last expedition.
Nowadays Eric continues to connect with his ardent supporters and updates them about his upcoming adventures on his Facebook page, ‘Eric Paul Conquering Disability.’ He even counsels many paraplegic individuals who turn to him for guidance and motivation.
He aims to complete all six expeditions in the Limca Book of Records and is eyeing the Trans-Himalayan route next.
As he bids adieu, I ask him what is his dream drive would be. He smiles bashfully and says, “How about India to London?
Did Eric’s story inspire you? Get in touch with him at Conqueringdisabilityindia@gmail.com or whatsapp him on 097111 17441
Think of a Sunday and you might imagine a long day of cricket or football games. But in the case of Jitendra Pathkar, such afternoons are for leaving his hometown in Uttar Pradesh to hit the court and practice wheelchair basketball.
Jitendra, from Lalitpur district’s Beerdha block, is India’s first disabled basketball player from such a remote area.
Sitting in front of a line of trophies he has earned, Jitendra, 26, appears pleasantly serious and comfortable talking to us about his experiences.
He is determined to create a name for himself in the sport, irrespective of the government’s role in providing the support required to make the path more accessible.
Jitendra, specially-abled basketball player from rural Bundelkhand, making waves on his own steam
In theory, state policy in India encourages people with disabilities to participate in sports and leisure activities, particularly with the National Policies for Persons with Disabilities, 2006 and the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2011.
One section maintains that the government must establish a National Body for Disability Sports to encourage all people with physical impairments to participate. Indeed, the Wheelchair Basketball Federation of India (WBFI), one such national body, has been active since 2014, hosting workshops in Delhi, Maharashtra, Kerala, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu, reaching an estimated 256 participants.
Jitendra himself was first inspired to play when he saw his friends, from both Lalitpur and Jhansi, take to the court. In an unusual sight in UP, some of them were in wheelchairs.
“When I saw them playing basketball in a wheelchair, it gave me the confidence to play this game as well,” he says.
His first days of practice were spent in a basic wheelchair, mostly used only for moving from one place to another. But soon after he began playing, he was selected for a national team and travelled to Delhi for his first championship, and continued on to play in another tournament in Chennai.
Access to facilities is a prohibitive factor – the wheelchair used by disabled athletes for basketball costs anywhere more than Rs 33,000. The relatively low profile of basketball in India is another big reason for the lack of interest and hence, funds in the sport. Domestic competitions are not televised, and media coverage is limited, though a scheme launched in 2010 between the Basketball Federation of India and a sports marketing group seeks to bring out new players with a focus on the grassroots.
Since there is no stadium in his village, Jitendra travels on Sundays, and on days when he has time, to a Lalitpur Authority Ground, about 40 kilometres away.
“It is difficult to commute, and no facilities from the government are provided to us,” he says. “The government has not done anything for us although I am the first disabled basketball player from a remote area.”
Meanwhile, the number of people with physical disabilities across India is growing – both in urban and rural areas. A total of 26.8 million people surveyed in the 2011 Indian Census had some form of disability. 18.6 million were males, and 8.2 were female, while 15.0 million of the total were in rural locations, and 11.8 were in urban areas.
Plus, among males, a disability affecting movement was the most common among the types of conditions surveyed; 22.5% of men with disabilities are affected in terms of movement.
“I would like to request the government to provide athletes proper facilities in remote areas so that they make their country proud,” says Jitendra.
But Jitendra is already one step ahead in pursuing his own hoop goals.
“As a sportsperson, the way I practice every day in a wheelchair that was used for mobility and not sports should be encouraged by the government,” he says. “I want to earn a name in this sport, and I hope the government will continue to support me as I go ahead. I look forward to achieving my dreams.”
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Zarana Maheshwary was a two-year-old when she diagnosed with Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP)—a genetic disorder of the eyes which causes loss of vision, over a period of time. Her condition began to deteriorate when she was in Class 5, and she is currently completely blind.
However, she did not let the impairment come in the way of her dreams and received her PhD in English Literature in 2017. She was the second visually impaired woman in Gujarat to be awarded the degree.
Currently, she works as an Assistant Professor in the Center for Comparative Literature and Translation Studies at the Central University of Gujarat (CUG) and has been teaching academic writing to students pursuing their masters in English Literature, and comparative literature to students pursuing their MPhil, since the last five years. She uses a screen reader and text-to-speech converter to teach the students.
When asked how she felt when she first got to know that she was suffering from an incurable eye condition, she said, “When one sense of yours doesn’t respond, other senses are required to work harder as you have no option left.”
Zarana’s parents ensured that she had a normal upbringing. They enrolled her in a regular school and stood by her as pillars of support. Her mother used to read out lessons to her, while her friends would help her keep up with the rest of the class.
Zarana struggled with schoolwork—what other children could do in 2-3 hours, took her 7-8 hours—but she persisted, and secured and scored 85% in her Class 12 exams, and was ranked second in the arts stream, in Palanpur!
Photo Courtesy: Rittika Bhattacharjee
After that, there was no stopping her. She completed her BA degree, from Hemchandracharya North Gujarat University and secured a gold medal as well. She went on to acquire a Masters’ degree in English Learning Teaching and completed her MPhil from CUG.
However, this journey was definitely not smooth for her, and she has struggled a lot through every step. She faced a lot of discrimination in her school and college life, where people used to doubt her capabilities and interest towards accomplishing her goals, and constantly tried to pull her down. It was only her determination and willpower, and the support of her close ones that gave her a helping hand to fulfill her dreams.
Zarana wishes to see a world where people do not give respect to the differently abled just because of their condition, but because it is something they deserve.
(This article has been written by Rittika Bhattacharjee)
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Popcorn has become such a popular snack in movie theatres, that it is almost impossible to imagine a good movie experience without it. Salty, buttered, or cheesy, popcorn is the perfect binge while you enjoy a movie.
Differently Designed, an initiative born out of a collaboration between Kai Rassi (an NGO) and Rubecon (a creative agency) has vowed to take this experience a step forward.
The initiative aims to showcase the artistry of differently-abled people through unconventional mediums, and empower them by getting them to design custom invitations, stationery, clothing and of course, popcorn packaging!
Straying away from the typical popcorn containers, which have either unimaginative designs or the name and logo of the movie theatres, Differently Designed gives a whacky flavour to the popcorn tub.
One of the designs is of yellow taxis crowding a road in a city, while another design is a painting of mighty snow-capped mountains beneath a serene sky.
The taxi design on the popcorn tubs. Courtesy: SPI Cinemas
There is also one of a mother in a red saree, holding her baby. This particular design has a traditional Indian feel to it, both due to the way this woman is dressed as well as the design style.
Swami, Anjana, and Narasimhalu are the artists whose designs adorn these tubs. Swami and Anjana have been diagnosed with autism, while Narasimhalu has cerebral palsy.
One side of the tub carries the name of the artists and their preferred medium of expression. Make sure you read them, as a gesture of appreciation for the talented artists.
The description of the artist, along with the art. Courtesy: SPI Cinemas
Indira Reddy, one of the three founders of Kai Rassi told The Better India, “Great designs come with great stories. We hope to tell the stories of our artists through their unique designs. So far we have played around with a wedding invitation and fabric design for friends, but the popcorn tubs are our first product under the Differently Designed label.”
SPI Cinemas in Chennai is working closely with Kai Rassi and Rubecon on this initiative. Preetha Ramaswamy, the spokesperson of SPI Cinemas and Volunteer Creative & PR Consultant, who played an instrumental role in the collaboration, spoke to The Better India about this.
She informed us that the idea was the brainchild of Bhavesh, the Head of Experience at SPI Cinemas, who was inspired by the work of ‘Casa de Carlota,’ a Spanish agency in Barcelona. The agency brought design students, and kids who are differently-abled together, and art made by the children was converted into labels and packaging by the design students.
Preetha said, “We are always looking to do things a little differently, so we are only too happy to be the first clients for Differently Designed.”
The Kai Rassi team. Courtesy: SPI Cinemas
The beautiful tubs will be available in premium theatres of Sathyam, Escape and Palazzo in Chennai, Le Reve in Mumbai and The Cinema in Bangalore and Coimbatore.
So the next time you buy popcorn in these theatres, make sure you have a good look at these tubs. Not only are they a container for your movie snack, but are also the canvases of highly talented artists!
Following this school of thought, Leo Club of Poona Nature Lovers, an NGO from Pune, organised a talent show featuring differently-abled people who are also extremely talented artists. The show included spectacular dance and music performances as well as art displays.
EPIC—Encouraging Potential in Community—is not just an annual show of dance and songs. For the performers, it is a platform of recognition to the world. Sanjay Solankhi, a dance performer of EPIC, told The Better India,
“This art-form and this group gives us an identity in life. We do not do different things but do ordinary things differently.”
A performance by visually impaired artists at EPIC 2018. Courtesy: Sanjay Solankhi
EPIC is an annual event organised by the volunteer organisation, and it spends months brainstorming, planning, and executing the work that builds towards and culminates in a one-day show.
Although the NGO is based in Pune, and the event is also held there, the organisers make sure that the performers come in from other parts of India as well. Residents of Gujarat, Karnataka, and Odisha have participated in this show.
Pratik Kela, the organiser of EPIC and founder of Nature Lovers, told TBI, “The concept was initiated in 2014 with the sole purpose of encouraging the exceptional and outstanding potential in the visually impaired, deaf, mute as well as individuals with physical and mental challenges.”
The motive of the show goes beyond the display of talents. Pratik told TBI that for many performers, this is the stage that brings them respect and recognition in society.
Pratik Kela (Left) with Dhaval Khatri, an artist (C) and Nikhil Tatar (a volunteer). Source.
“Since mental illness and physical disability is still a taboo topic in many rural parts of India, a talent show in Pune was where the lives of the differently-abled people changed for good,” said Pratik.
“There’s a dance troupe from Orissa who was ignored, if not underestimated, in their village. After their performance at EPIC in 2017, all of the performers were welcomed with garlands and bouquets at the railway station when they returned home.”
Such recognition goes a long way in the lives of the performers, and additionally, differently-abled icons are invited to these events in order to provide even more inspiration and encouragement to the performers.
One of the guests at EPIC 2018 was Abhishek Taware, who has been an inspiration to the differently abled since he became the first Teeth Archer from India. Read more about Abhishek here.
Dhaval Khatri, an artist without arms, was another guest at this year’s event. You can read more about him here.
An eminent list of guests and recognition from the media has encouraged performers to keep practising in the field they excel in and bring the world’s attention to their talents.
For the organisers and performers of EPIC, it is all about the recognition “for their abilities, not disabilities.”
Featured image (L)- A performer from EPIC 2017. sources: Instagram/ Facebook.
Nisha Gupta has emerged as an inspiration to people across India after she overcame a terrible accident which left her wheelchair bound.
Nisha was just 18 when she slipped and fell, suffering a spinal fracture. The result was that she was confined to a wheelchair.
“I couldn’t accept what had happened to me. I had all these negative thoughts and felt so demotivated. My dream was to be an air hostess, and now I couldn’t,” she informs The Better India.
That was when sports came into her life. Beginning with swimming, she also expanded her horizons to include basketball. She now plays in a team of other para-athletes, part of the Maharashtra Women’s Wheelchair Basketball Team.
Slowly, but surely, things started to take a turn for this young woman. She began making friends, and she realised she was much happier than she had been in years!
“I swim only with my hands. Before, people used to demotivate me. Now, they use me as an example to others. I feel so happy, and lucky that I have met such good friends, who have motivated me to do better, and try new things”, she explains.
As part of her rehabilitation, she would visit the All India Rehabilitation Centre, where other people who were in a similar condition, would wait to hear her story, and be inspired by her journey. Nisha is a shining example that hope is never lost, and that it is possible to fight back in the face of adversity.
Vitamin Stree, part of Supari Studios, a content platform which focuses on cultural, political, artistic and ideological perspectives, met Nisha as part of a series they were doing.
Executive Producer, Tara Kapur says, “We were working on a concept where we wanted to showcase how fitness was not defined by physical limitations, and we found her story inspirational. We saw that though the team was playing together really well and supporting each other, they lacked the proper infrastructure and facilities to reach their true potential. That’s why we wanted to do something for them.”
The basketball team currently shares wheelchairs, and they book grounds for practice in various schools and campuses. Vitamin Stree wants to support Nisha’s dreams, and the dreams of hundreds like her, to make India more friendly towards those with disabilities, and are raising funds for the same.
Watch the video below, to see how Nisha continues to follow her dreams, and inspire people with her determination!
The World Health Organisation (WHO) removed India from the global list of polio-endemic countries in 2012. However, many still live with the crippling disease, and 38-year-old Satish Jangade is one of them.
Satish belongs to the Nandani village in Kolhapur district of Maharashtra, and contracted polio as a child, which eventually led to him becoming 42 percent disabled.
Even as a child, Satish was driven by the desire to work for the betterment of disabled people, and change the outlook of the society towards them. He refused to let his disability come in the way of his dreams, and till date, Satish has helped in raising funds for 40 operations. The amount of these operations ranges from a few thousand rupees to lakhs at times. He has also raised money for close to 200 prosthetic legs, 400 hearing aids, and a countless number of wheelchairs and canes.
“Whenever somebody asks for help, we start working immediately by reaching out to people who are well-off. At times it becomes difficult, but we keep approaching people till the money is raised,” he says.
So, how did a man who had to drop out of school after completing Class 9, achieve all this?
“I couldn’t complete my education beyond Class 9 because of my family’s poor financial condition. My dad used to work as a labourer in a spinning mill,” says Satish.
“I couldn’t walk properly, but I wasn’t completely handicapped. At the age of 12, I started collecting milk from the village and would cycle 24 km back and front to Ichalkaranji town to distribute it. I would go to school only after completing this work. After I dropped out of school, I started working in the credit society where I earned Rs 200 monthly. Even today when somebody asks about my education, I feel ashamed that I did not study enough.”
Because of the hardship that he has endured, Satish grew up believing that disability should never become a hurdle in education. To ensure that no other child suffered a similar fate, he embarked on his journey of helping people.
Satish who worked for 23 years in the credit society in the village, would always find reasons to work for disabled people. Ten years ago, he started a trust to amplify his earnest efforts. One of the first initiatives that the trust took up was to raise funds for disabled people who came from disadvantaged backgrounds and could not afford an operation. As mentioned above, this initiative was a roaring success.
Buoyed by the positive results of his efforts, Satish decided to dedicate himself to the cause, full time. About one-and-a-half years ago, he quit his job at the credit society and decided to help eight children who were physically disabled who belonged to low-income families, and couldn’t afford education.
With a meagre income of Rs 5,000 per month, this decision was not easy for him, but he powered through.
“All the eight kids come from eight different villages of Maharashtra, and come from a background where education remains a distant goal because of the way society looks down upon them,” explains Satish.
Satish opened a hostel, which he named Shravanbal Viklang Vastigraha. “My wife, Manisha Jangade, has been a constant, support in this journey. She cooks food for the kids daily, washes their clothes, and also looks after the hostel,” he says.
These kids aren’t charged any money, and all the expenses are taken care of by Satish and his group of friends. To guard the hostel, one of his close friends lives with the children.
14-year-old Sameer Bailkar is one of the eight students currently enrolled in the hostel from Karanjivane village of Kagal block in Maharashtra (95 km from the hostel). He says, “When it comes to academics, many times other students in my class ask me for help. My parents are poor farmers, and next year, I will get other disabled kids from the village to the hostel.”
Satish dreams of starting a school for disabled kids and is currently working on his new objective of helping people who cannot afford postoperative care. “We have started collecting wheelchairs, cots, walkers, polio sticks, and other necessities and will soon distribute it, ” he says.
Kudos to Satish for all the hard work that he is doing to make the lives of disabled people easier, and for inspiring an entire generation of kids to achieve their dreams!
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“I feel I was born as a star. You know why? Because I have this joined thumb on my left hand – just like Hrithik Roshan,” 22-year-old Shivam Porwal says and joins in our laughter.
Porwal was affected by phocomelia syndrome, a disease in which the arms and legs are either missing or impaired while he was still in his mother’s womb.
Shivam was born with just three fingers in his right hand and a joined thumb in his left hand. His legs were completely impaired, and he still walks on his knees.
Shivam Porwal
“When I was born, most people told my parents to kill me immediately. People would come from far off places just to see me and would pity my parents. But I was a rebel right from the beginning. I would always take it as a challenge to do everything that normal kids did,” recalls Shivam.
Shivam was staying in his little ancestral home, in a joint family of 16 members, in a small town called Mahidpur in Madhya Pradesh.
His father was working at a paan shop with a salary of Rs. 100 per month.
Shivam’s father’s present paan shop
Though Shivam could not do the physical activities of other kids, he was a very quick learner and was highly determined in whatever he would do.
“I was the first one in my school to write in cursive, which was kind of an achievement for a kid in Hindi medium. That’s when my father realised that only education could make me self-dependent. He left no stone unturned to do that. Imagine a person having no education, no money and not even a normal child, but still aspiring so big. He was a true hero in that sense,” says Shivam.
Though most of his teachers loved Shivam, other kids would make fun of him or tease him for his condition.
Moreover, as the school had no facility for the disabled, Shivam had to face a lot of difficulties.
“There was only one washroom, which used to be dirty and wet all the time. We didn’t even know about kneecaps those days, and so I would walk bare-kneed. To avoid going to such a place I would hold for six hours straight and would use the washroom only when I came back home,” he explains.
Eventually, Shivam moved to an English Medium school. Despite being from a Hindi Medium background, in Class 10 he stood third in the entire city.
The college presented even more hurdles in Shivam’s path, and the difficulty of going from home to his classes would often cause him to burst into tears.
But a turning point came when his father bought him a scooter – despite it being a huge financial burden.
“That was the first turning point of my life. You can’t imagine what the right assistance can do for a disabled person. It was the first time that no one had to pick me up and drop somewhere. It was the first time that I was going out all alone. It was the first time I could interact with people socially,” says Shivam.
Another turning point came during his B.tech when he was staying with a relative for his studies.
That relative happened to be a national level swimmer. One day Shivam accompanied him to the swimming pool. The coach there asked him to try swimming.
Shivam had never failed to try something new, so he did. Impressed by his attitude, the coach began training him for the Para-Olympics.
The third turning point came when his father pushed him to apply for a station master’s job since he felt a government job was better than a private sector one. Shivam had a good chance as he was applying through the physically challenged category.
“I am glad he did that because that changed my life completely. I saw people who were in worse condition than I was. They lacked what I had the most – hope.” he says.
“There were people who had never tried to dream anything bigger than just settling down with a government job. Many did not even want to think about places like IIT or even engineering. I realised that if you want to help physically challenged people, then the biggest thing you can give them was ‘hope’. And now I wanted to be that hope for them,” says Shivam.
Shivam took another path. He prepared hard for GATE and got into IIT Patna. He then took up an offer to work as a telecom officer for BSNL.
“I blamed the government for everything. So I wanted to join a govt job to see how it works. I was the first one from IIT here and was surprised to know that everyone wants to enjoy government services, but none wanted to serve as a govt servant. I wanted to utilize my time in learning as many things I could, so I could let others know that one can do anything if he/she is determined,” he says.
Today Shivam is a motivational speaker, a singer, a swimmer, a poet and he has also learnt to play the guitar recently.
“Someone once told my father that instead of wasting money on my education, he should ask me to sit in his paan shop. When he took me to a computer institute, he was told that I would never be able to type because of my fingers. There was a time when I tried to hide myself from the world. I thought I was ugly and useless. But today I am an IITian, a computer engineer, a programmer and enjoy my appearance on the stage. All that my father gave me was hope – hope to grow as much as I can and I want to become that hope for many others like me,” says Shivam.
In the end, here’s what Shivam wanted to say to everyone reading his story –
2
“I was brave enough to fight with the world. But the more dangerous fight is the fight with yourself and the key to win that fight is acceptance. Just accept yourself! If you don’t accept yourself then how can you expect the world to accept you? I can just say one thing, that ‘If I can, then You Can’. If it is possible for a disabled paan seller’s son to reach till here, then anything is possible!
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