Just the other day, I was crossing the road to catch the mini bus when I saw some beggars sitting outside the famous sweet shop ,” Palawan’s” at my home town in Jammu and Kashmir.. The vision was a bit disturbing and they were the people who were disabled with different qualities. Seeing them struggling for survival itched me.
I say this because, a cousin, my age relates with a disease called “Dyslexia – a learning disorder which she suffered during my school days. But this disease did not stop me from doing anything hard.
A friend of mine suffers from Macrocephely due to hydrocephalus in brain, during her adolescent age she was treated as a very caring child but these things itched her within and made her fight to live a normal life, now she is working with an IT company in Bangalore. People who didn’t know her well, she looked like any other person out there, bright and talented young women in her thirties now. She said, when people learn about her problem, they are shocked and look at her with different prospective.
To be compared to other individuals with disabilities is just insensitive since they are able to relate to their struggle in life.
The struggles we face in life are challenging, But we do not see ourselves being limited by our disabilities. Instead, we have different abilities that play important roles within our communities and work environments. Though people doubt our abilities, we often prove them wrong about our capabilities.
There are people who doubt about the sufferers abilities. However, with positive thought they take these negative vibes into motivation and move ahead in life. They apply the motivation for self improvement.
During one of my visits to Pune command Hospital in the year 2006; I came through a pamphlet where famous personalities changed my outlook of life completely.
There are so many disabled persons contributing to society to change the world. So many scientists, actors, leaders, and the list goes on, they are fighting with disability and have overcome it, each and every moment they fight.
1} Socrates- who had Macrocephely issue, he was the father of English literature and philosophy.
2) Tennyson and Coleridge, the famous poets of William Wordsworth era had suffered Alzheimer- a memory loss issue that lasted for short period of time
3) Albert Einstein- He was a great physicist. He explained many physics theories for which he was awarded Nobel Prize. Einstein had learning disability and also physical disability.
4) Thomas Edison- He is one of the great scientists who invented bulb. Without bulb we could not imagine the world. Edison also invented phonograph. He had physical disability.
5) Mr. Walt Disney- The Mickey- Minnie mouse is a gift from Walt Disney. It is a world famous animated cartoon. He has also created a park called Disney land. He had learning disability.
Disability is natural. There are some critical problems when child is growing in mother’s womb it is not Childs mistake, we have to accept it. It may be called good luck or bad luck depending upon our thinking, on 3rd December, world celebrates disability day. In my opinion, it should be differently abled instead than disabled.
The Pune trip, brought a spark of,” I can do it” in me even if I am fine or disabled.
Accomplishing the achievement have put down a lot of doubts of people and allowed the disabled to make new friends in their professions in different ways. The feats have given them confidence to self educate and tell other disabled that they can achieve anything when you put your mind in it.
Fr. Greg Abel Fernandes, thank you for guiding me. It was he, who taught the world that everyone can learn from people with disabilities. He is an inspiration to many people including myself. I believe that if he had not come in my contact, I wouldn’t have understood life better, I wouldn’t be in the place that I am today, that I have really started giving my help to disabled and my respect to them as a deed.
Make it a point that,” You have a different ability not a disability”. That different ability of you can make a difference wherever you will be in life. Right now, the different ability person is might be reading my columns and look life through holistically.
The youth of today is well educated. I conclude that we all have different abilities and we should use them for what we are truly passionate for in life. We all can make a difference in the world, no matter how little or big the difference is.
“Everyone is special.”
