Awards celebrate achievements of the specially-abled
When Shailendra Singh Rajput returned to his native place Lalitpur with a national award in wheelchair basketball in 2015, the youths of his village were fascinated. For many, Shailendra, disabled in both legs, became their ideal and so he started to coach them. He started his own team which will play the nationals in Chennai later this month while he has his eyes fixed on the next Paralympics.
The department of disability affairs feted Shailendra with a state level award at the Indira Gandhi Pratishthan on Saturday, for his indomitable will in overcoming all odds.
“I come from a very small town which doesn’t have many facilities for the disabled. But that cannot be my weakness. I told myself that merely lamenting would serve no purpose and I would have to fight myself if I wanted to do something in life,” said Shailendra who has already started his preparations for Paralympics. “The recent Paralympics have been really inspiring and I hope that if I continue to work hard, , I will succeed, ” he said. In addition to spending time for practice and coaching the other disabled youths of his village, Shailendra also runs a computer centre. Also among the awardees was Major Ashok Kumar Singh, recipient of Kirti Chakra from the President and bravery award in 1994. Despite disability in the left leg, he completed the army Jalyatra Abhiyan, covering the four corners of the world on a boat. Maj Singh was felicitated with the role model award during the programme.
There were others who, despite their disabilities, started their own enterprises, ensuring employment for many. Among them was Amish Kumar Sinha, who despite being hearing-impaired, runs a stationary business. Sinha also excels in badminton, football and kho-kho.
Suhas LY, district magistrate, Azamgarh who recently won a gold medal in badminton in Asian Paralympics, was also an awardee. However, he could not make it to the function. Another cerebral palsied youth Uddeshya Singh, who passed Class 10 with a 9.4 CGPA and excels in music, could not make it to the programme as he was in Delhi to collect his national award.
Mahesh Gupta, principal secretary of the department said, “The awardees here have shown that if a person has will power, no disability or weakness can stop him from being a winner.” organisations working for welfare of disabled were also felicitated.