A few days back, the International Day for Persons with Disabilities was celebrated across the world. This day is commemorated every year on the 3rd of December. I along with my colleagues had decided to felicitate some Kashmiri activists, who are persons with blindness, working for the empowerment of their community.
The Jammu & Kashmir RTI Movement in association with the NGO KOSHISH and J&K Blind Welfare Trust organised an event in Srinagar to felicitate activists working for welfare of blind people and to discuss and debate challenges faced by Persons with Disabilities -PWDs especially visually challenged persons.
We also discussed how laws meant for PWDs like Rights Of Persons with Persons Disabilities (RPWD) Act 2016 could be implemented on ground so that its benefits reach the concerned people. In addition to members of the J&K Blind Welfare Trust, we had invited former Chief Information Commissioner G R Sufi, religious scholars and social workers to speak during this programme.
Showkat’s Struggle
Showkat Ahmad Lone from Lanoora Budgam works actively for persons with blindness. 28-years-old Showkat is blind due to an eye disease which he suffered from at the age of six years. He could not recover and lost his vision. As fate would have it, only after a year, Showkat lost his father as well. His mother and elder sisters were his primary caretakers. They tried admitting him in a local school but the school had denied him admission. The headmaster of the school had conveniently defended his decision of not admitting Showkat by saying, “Mujhe Sarkar Nokri Say Nikaal Degey” (I will lose my government job).
This is the mindset Government officials towards persons with disabilities.
Yet, Showkat and his family didn’t lose hope. By a stroke of luck, in 2017, a visually challenged person who met Showkat told him about an institution which provides rehabilitation services to blind persons.
Visiting NEIPVD Dehradun
In February 2018, Showkat’s mother Zeba Begum, his older sister Haseena and brother Shabir accompanied Showkat to Dehradun to get an admission in the National Institute for the Empowerment of Persons with Visual Disabilities-NIEPVD. This was a decisive decision for Showkat.
In the six months that Showkat spent at NIEPVD, he learnt many soft skills.
The National Institute for the Empowerment of Persons with Visual Disabilities- NEIPVD is one of the seven National Institutes working under the administrative control of the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (DEPwDs) under the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment, Government of India. This institute was established way back in 1943 as St Dunstan’s Hostel for the soldiers blinded in war. In 1982 NIEPVD Dehradun was registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860 and acquired the status of an autonomous body. The NIEPVD is one of the country’s prestigious institutions having completed its glorious 75 years of providing rehabilitation services to the visually impaired persons.
Showkat’s education
In Dehradun, Showkat was asked to continue his education. He completed his matriculation from Seva Koti School in New Delhi where he was enrolled in 2018. In 2021, he then cleared class XII exams from CBSE board. In 2022, he took admission in Delhi University (Distance Mode) and is now taking a graduation course in History and Political science. Showkat also plays cricket and he has motivated many blind youth to play this game.
For visually challenged persons, the Cricket Association for the Blind in India -CABI. has designed a special cricket game. There are some challenges Showkat and his team are facing as they are yet to get registered with CABI. But he is doing a lot of advocacy on this as well.
Setting up Blind Welfare Trust
For a long time Showkat had plans to set up an organisation for the welfare of persons with blindness. A lawyer had taken money from him and assured to get the trust registered but for many months he kept him moving. Finally, Showkat approached me and I got this work done by getting the J&K Blind Welfare Trust registered. The Deputy Commissioner Budgam and SDM Khansahib (Sub Registrar) were really very helpful. The trust was registered early this year and Showkat Ahmad Lone is the Chairman of this trust with some other members as well who too are visually challenged persons. Shafat Ahmad Sofi who is partially blind is its General Secretary. After getting registered as a legal entity, Showkat and his team held several meetings in the last 6 to 7 months and undertook many activities.
Showkat and his team are fond of playing cricket and Birla Open Minds School Pampore provided them with a cricket uniform and entire cricket kit. Recently, they played a cricket match in their school campus which was witnessed by a large gathering. In-fact seeing their talent the school principal Dr Mehnaz offered to take these visually challenged cricket players outside J&K to exhibit their talent in Delhi and Lucknow. I have also requested noted cricketer Parvez Rasool to handhold them and he has given me full assurance to make these people play cricket outside J&K.
Abid Ahmad Dar’s struggle
Another visually impaired person, Abid Ahmad Dar, 41, has also struggled a lot for over 7 years now. Abid who hails from Srinagar’s Eid-Gah lived a happy life 7 years back. He was a cricketer and worked with Kashmiri handicrafts. Abid was married in 2015 and after around 4 to 5 months he developed some eye infection. This became a more serious issue and finally he completely lost his eyesight. Abid has two little daughters and a wife whom he loves a lot. For more than 6 years Abid was restricted to his house and would hardly move. This further depressed him and he suffered from psychological disorder. While staying idle at home he would only think about his past life when he would play cricket and do Kashmiri handicrafts business.
His neighbour and friend Manzoor Ahmad Khanday persuaded him to come out and took him to the composite regional centre (CRC) Srinagar where he started going off and on. This institution is similar to NEIPVD Dehradun, but has some limited facilities. Abid learnt the art of walking , crossing roads and got introduced to Showkat as well. The CRC acted as an institution not only to learn soft skills for blind people but also acted as a platform for socialization of this community plus getting organised as well.
Abid was facing mental depression as he is 100 % blind and was restricted to his house for 6 years, but when he got in touch with Manzoor and then met Showkat, they showed him the new way of life. Abid is again playing cricket and keeps moving out of his house. He personally told me at Pampore during the cricket match that his stress level is completely down and he is physically fit now. When he told me all this I recorded that happy moment and that video became viral on social media and has been watched by more than 76000 people in last two weeks https://www.instagram.com/p/Czx2qSwPt8V/
Conclusion
A scientific study has found that persons with disabilities report experiencing more mental distress than those without disabilities. The only way to overcome this is to involve physically challenged people in different activities and provide them skills to earn a decent livelihood. Involving the PWDs in spiritual and sports activities is also the best remedy to overcome depression. We have several sportsmen and sportswomen who in spite of being physically challenged are bringing laurels for the country. Sheetal Devi who is only 16 is one such person who competed in the women’s compound bow at the 2022 Asian Para Games and received two gold medals in mixed doubles and women’s individual after winning a silver medal in women’s double compound championship. The day is not far away when the visually challenged persons like Showkat or Abid would rise and shine. They are helping their community to come out of the depression and I am sure that one day the J&K Blind Welfare Trust would become a responsible institution in J&K that would handhold persons with vision loss and will provide them a platform for empowerment and growth. In the coming months, RTI Movement and KOSHISH are planning to make members of Blind Welfare Trust aware about RTI Act , Right to Education , Consumer Protection Act and some other pro people legislations. This is the best way to empower and educate them.
- Views expressed in the article are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent the editorial stance of Kashmir Observer
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