Limca Book of Records recognise persons with Disabilities

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Limca Book of Records People of the Year 2016- Celebrating the Spirit of Differently-abled

Celebrating the power of the human spirit and the virtues of inclusivity, on a day that marked the 125th birth anniversary of Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar and also Baisakhi festivities, Limca Book of Records galvanized forces towards making India an inclusive and accessible society.

At the event hosted at Stein Auditorium, India Habitat Center, the Record book’s editorial team, following its long established tradition, announced a list of 15 PwDs, as the “People of the Year (PoY)” 2016. By doing so, Limca Book of Records wanted to showcase examples of people who did not allow physical disability to become an impediment to success.

Akbar Khan

Born visually impaired in a poor family in Rajasthan, he managed to continue his studies with the support of his elder brother who was also visually impaired. He excelled in his studies and was the first visually impaired candidate to qualify in the SSC Hindi shorthand and stenography examination. Currently a Senior Manager with Punjab National Bank, Khan is also a singer and composer with many stage performances and over 50 music compositions. He has been invited in the panel of judges at national level music competitions for visually impaired persons. He received the National Award for the Welfare of Persons with Disabilities in 1989.

Arunima Sinha

A national volleyball player from Lucknow, UP, she lost one of her legs when some robbers pushed her out of a moving train in 2011.Two years later, with a prosthetic leg on, she became the first woman amputee in the world to climb Mount Everest on May 21, 2013. She went on to conquer the highest peaks on other continents too. Her book titled Born Again on the Mountain was launched in 2014. She was awarded Padma Shri in 2015.

Javed Ahmad Tak

Bruised and maimed by a militant attack in Kashmir in 1996, which left him a wheelchair bound paraplegic with 100% disability and a host of other related problems, Javed turned his adversity into a mission. He started Humanity Welfare Organization Helpline, an organisation that caters to the needs of people with disabilities and creates awareness through sensitisation programmes. His legal activism has restored several rights of the disabled in the state. Javed received the national award for working for ‘Welfare of Persons with Disabilities in 2004’ and many other honours.

Aayushi Pareek

Despite 100% permanent sight disability, Aayushi completed her LLB at 19 years and LLM at 21 years and became the first visually-challenged advocate enrolled at the Rajasthan High Court. She achieved the virtually impossible in November 2012, at 21 years, also becoming the youngest and first visually-challenged woman to be admitted to the Bar Council of Rajasthan.

Dr Suresh Advani

Wheelchair-bound since eight years due to polio, he rose to become a prominent oncologist who introduced Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation in India with the first successful bone marrow transplant on a leukemia patient. His contributions in the field won him many awards, including the Dhanvantari Award and Padma Shri in 2002 and the Padma Bhushan in 2012.

Ramsurat Majhi  

A polio victim with 90% disability, Ramsurat of Jalpaiguri, West Bengal travelled 23,000 km by tri-cycle visiting various territories of India as a messenger of peace. He started the challenging journey on Feb 16, 2010 and completed it on Feb 10, 2011. In 2012, he established an NGO, Adarsh Viklang Kalyan Samiti. He was honoured with the State Handicap Award as a role model on Handicap Day in Kolkata on Dec 3, 2013.

Ashwini Angadi

Born visually-challenged in a poor, rural family in Karnataka, Ashwini experienced discrimination and physical and mental abuses as a child due to her disability. Despite these odds, she graduated in 2012 at the top of her class. For her work with disabled people, she received the UN Special Envoy for Global Education’s Youth Courage Award for Education in 2013. After working as a National Facilitator for the Young Voices Project, she set up the Ashwini Angadi Trust under which she runs Belaku Academy for young visually-challenged girls.

K S Rajanna

Rajanna who lost his limbs to polio in his early childhood became the first differently-abled Commissioner of the State Department for Disabled in Karnataka in September 2013. As a paraplegic sportsperson, he had won the gold medal in discus throw at the 2002 Paralympics and also a silver medal in swimming. As a diploma holder in Mechanical Engineering, he also had started his own enterprise providing employment to 350 persons, including the physically challenged.

Major Devender Pal Singh (Retd)

Major D P Singh who lost his right leg during the Kargil war and suffered partial hearing loss and internal derangement of his left knee, has been finding joy in running marathons with blade prosthetics since 2009. Starting with his first half marathon in Delhi on Nov 1, 2009, he has participated in many such races including the 3rd Himalayan Running and Living XC marathon (21 km) at high altitudes (8,700 ft) in Kinnaur, HP on May 2, 2014. He has also achieved a feat by trekking up to 10,000 ft (from Batseri Village to Mastrang ITBP Camp and back in 3 hr).

Saylee Nandkishor Agavane

Saylee was diagnosed with mild mental retardation at birth but completed her studies. She had started learning Kathak at the age of nine. Later she joined Shiamak Davar’s dance institute in 2007 and trained in contemporary dance forms. She has been performing in various dance competitions, starting with Akhil Bharatiya Sanskrutik Sangh’s Multilingual Dance and Drama Competition. In 2010, she won a bronze medal at the 8th Global Olympiad Dance Competition in Bangkok.

Ranveer Singh Saini

The 14-year-old Ranveer, autistic by birth, is one of the youngest golfers at Special Olympics Bharat. He, along with his Unified partner Monica Jajoo, won the gold medal in Golf (Level 2) at the World Special Olympics held at Los Angeles in 2015, becoming the first Indian to do so. He also won two gold medals in his first representation in the Special Olympics Asia-Pacific Golf Masters at Macau in 2013 and another gold in 2014 (team).

Zamir Dhale

Zamir is a deaf-blind person who cannot see, hear or talk but, through years of toil and by sheer grit he has overcome the disabilities to work as effectively as any other. Highly tech savvy, he communicates using a special software on his laptop/mobile. Working as a consultant with Sense International-India, he is actively involved in developing and implementing advocacy plans. He also heads Udaan, a national network for adult deaf-blind and multi-sensory impaired people in India.

Rajive Raturi

Whilst working in the corporate sector in Kenya, he suffered a bullet injury which left him with a visual disability. He rejoined the corporate sector. He then moved to the disability sector and has been working for 13 years with disability rights as his core area of work. He has worked towards building legal knowledge of rights of persons with disabilities, supporting their advocacy by providing legal services and aid. He has challenged systemic violations by filing PILs in High Courts and the Supreme Court. He has authored a compendium titled Disability and the Law. In 2010 the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment nominated him to an expert committee constituted to draft a new disability law. He is now Asia Pacific head for the Disability Rights Promotion International.

KY Venkatesh

Venkatesh is 4 ft 2 inch tall and due to his short stature had to face lot of difficulties but he braved all and decided to excel in sports and started off with chess in school. In 2005 he became the first Indian athlete to represent India at the IV World Dwarf Games. He won six medals in the Games – two gold, one silver and three bronze – in athletics and badminton games (singles and doubles). He is also the secretary of the Dwarf Sports Association of India.

Radhika Chand

Born with Down’s syndrome, Radhika studied in special schools in Delhi, Mumbai, Hong Kong and Sydney. In Sydney, she started painting using a combination of watercolors and acrylics. She has had 10 solo exhibitions since 1992 and participated in several group shows. She has been associated with the Vasant Valley School, Delhi for over 20 years – 15 years in the junior art department and later in the arts and crafts department for special children in the senior school. In 2012, Radhika was conferred the NCPEDP-Shell Helen Keller Award for ‘helping to create opportunities for employment for persons with disabilities’.