Tamil Nadu   

Three honoured with CavinKare Ability Awards

Staff Reporter

Karunanidhi urges the corporate sector to help the disabled

CHENNAI: Their disability might have been apparent, but their ability took the spotlight on Sunday night, as Neha Bansal, Anjali Arora and Kali Vinod Tiwari were honoured at the fifth CavinKare Ability Awards in Chennai.

"Life is not about counting what you do not have; it's about realising your weaknesses and living above it. We all have our weaknesses, some are visible, some are not. It is the perfectly healthy who fail to live to their full potential, who are truly disabled," said a poised Ms. Bansal, winner of the Mastery Award 2007.

The 25-year-old chartered accountant specialises in international taxation at a consultancy firm in New Delhi. Her voice was confident as she moved the fingers of her right hand to add emphasis to her words. That is the only movement she can make below her neck. Ms. Bansal has been a tetraplegic since she suffered a spinal cord injury while she was in Standard IX.

Ms. Arora, who lost her sight at the age of 12, is a Supreme Court lawyer, currently working with the Airports Authority of India.

She never asked for extra favours on the road to empowerment and achievement, but relishes this award as a significant milestone in that journey.

Message to society

"It is recognition, it is motivation, it is a message to society that success, disability or otherwise, is always acknowledged," she said.

The Award for Eminence 2007 honours a man who has gone beyond personal achievement to focus on the needs of others. Polio may have left him paralysed him from the waist down, but that did not stop Mr. Tiwari from providing the gift of mobility to hundreds of orthopaedically impaired people across the country. For almost three decades, his small workshop near Lucknow has been turning out automated three-wheelers designed to suit a variety of disabilities. "I lit a little candle, but no matter how small the flame, it brought a ray of hope to others," he said, vowing to continue his fight for mobility and disability-friendly public spaces.

Presenting the trophies to the winners, Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi called on the corporate sector to help the disabled.

"We know about the achievements of these awardees, but there are many disabled people in the various corners of our country. The Government cannot take care of each and every one of them... We need a thousand CK Ranganathans [CMD, CavinKare] to come forward and take up such causes."

300 nominees

National Women's Commission chairperson Mohini Giri chaired the jury, which selected the awardees from among 300 nominees. She graced the occasion along with fellow members of the jury, Kalakshetra director Leela Samson and Tamil poet Kanimozhi.

Industrialist V. Krishnamurthy and filmmaker Nagesh Kukunoor were unable to attend the event.

The evening, which was compered by actor Revathi, ended with a performance by A.R. Rehman who accompanied two disabled singers in numbers composed for the occasion.

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