Metro Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Coimbatore
Delhi
Hyderabad
Kochi
Stronger, swifter, faster
|
Nandini Nair speaks to some of the participants of the Olympics of abilities of the disabled
|
Flaunting talent Some of the participants of the Seventh International Abilympics
The Amar Jyoti campus is silent. The students have gone home. But walk a little further and you will find 29 adults attired in their brightest bhangra wear. In a corner, wearing a green turban, sits Mahendra Singh on a wheelchair. His hands work invi
sibly on a yellow ball of wool in his lap. In five and a half hours, he can knit a cap 48cms around the head and 24cms in depth. He is one of the 29 Indians participating at the Seventh International Abilympics, through the support of the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. The international competition is being held in Shizuoka, Japan, till Sunday. Abilympics are vocational skill competitions for persons with disabilities. Abilympics empower contestants and help create public awareness about their abilities. The International Abilympics are held every four years. The winners of the 2nd National Abilympics, held in Amar Jyoti, will take part in events like artificial limb making, water colour painting, computer programming and photography, to name a few.
Different skills
The contestants, from across India, suffer from disabilities like locomotor disability, mental retardation, visual impairment and speech and hearing disabilities. But the focus of this competition is simply on what they can do and not on what they cannot do.
Aiyub Nagori, from Surat, is a proof that they can do a lot. He is the National gold medal winner in mechanical assembling. Confined to a wheelchair, he says that he takes one hour and 15 minutes to de-assemble and then assemble a two-wheel bicycle. He learnt this skill, watching the mechanics in his father’s shop. He is adept at repairing mopeds. But his biggest achievements are making a three-wheeler from a two-wheeler, for disabled riders. In five minutes, he can also attach a rod to a car, which will do the work of a clutch and brake, for drivers who cannot use both legs.
Varied inspirations
Aabha, a young girl from Jabalpur, is participating in the water colour painting competition. Using an interpreter, due to her speech and hearing impairments, she says she has been painting since her childhood. Her surroundings inspire her. In the six-hour long contest, her strategy is to paint for five hours and to check and cross-check her work for one hour. Celebrating her birthday the same day, she hopes to become a professional artist, she says with a smile.
Adjacent to Aabha lies a table scattered with flowers. Pune’s Sheetal is intently preparing a bouquet. Making flower arrangements for over three years now, Sheetal says she uses colour and the purpose to determine the kind of bouquet.
Suffering from a visual impairment, Babu Bai Parmar, from Gujarat, is participating in artificial limb making. In this contest he prepares the socket from fine leather, which will serve as the knee joint for a prosthesis. His philosophy is simple, “What I do, I do well, because it is for those with disabilities.”
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Metro Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Coimbatore
Delhi
Hyderabad
Kochi
|
