Life in wheel chair couldn’t deter Javed from studying

Tuesday, 02 Oct 2012 at 09:20

Tawseef Ahmad

Srinagar, Oct 02: Javed Ahmad Tak, 38, has spent 18 years of his life in a wheel chair.
Tak, who hails from South Kashmir’s Islamabad district, was hit by a bullet when he was 20.
Though the initial days of his disability at times forced him to live a bed-ridden life, he tided over.
He completed a course in human rights from Indira Gandhi National Open University and Master’s in Social Work.

Moved by the plight of disabled people, he started a school for disabled persons.
He said since 2001 there had been no census for the number of disabled people.

According to the 2001 census, the number of disabled persons had been put at 3.03 lakh but some independent researchs have put the figure much higher.

“The tragedy is not only about the total number of disabled persons or the trauma that we have been facing. The bigger tragedy is the sheer apathy of the government toward people who have been suffering since years on account of the disability that jolted their lives forever,” he said.

“We want implementation of Persons with Disability Act 1998 in letter and spirit. We are being provided monthly package of Rs 400 which is a joke with us as the prices have sky rocketed,” Tak said.
The problems that they have to encounter in their daily life include the inaccessibility to public places and non-inclusion in the decision-making process.

The differently-able persons from Kashmir are aghast over the indifferent attitude of the government toward addressing their problems.

They have been on a hunger strike for the past two days at Press Colony here demanding better living conditions.
“There is a need for the conduct of door-to-door census in order to know the accurate figures of persons with disabilities in the State as there has been increase in disability due to turmoil in the Valley, ” said another differently-able person Mushtaq Ahmad.

He said they are facing lots of problems and struggling for their survival.

“We are not able to do work and are dependent on our family members. We are not able to send our children to school. Executing the idea did not take much efforts, but it takes money which we people do not have much of,” Ahmad said.

District Social Welfare Officer, Bashir Ahmad Bhat said they would look into the matter but did not provide any time frame for meeting the demands of the differently-able persons.

“If the government will increase their monthly package then only we can do anything,” he said.