The able disabled
Staff Correspondent
Physical handicap could not deter Tanvir, a boy with his lower part paralysed, or Sumi, a girl blind since birth, from their educational pursuits. Tanvir, a Class X student of Silmoon Abdul Halim Master High School in Tongi, has shown outstanding brilliance throughout his schooling. He was born without any blemish but suffered complete paralysis at the age of six. "His whole body paralysed due to a severe side effect of the third polio vaccine administered to him," said Tanvir's father Motiur Rahman. Motiur, who runs a small business, said three persons have to help his son to reach his school or in other physical activities. "After initial treatments, Tanvir regained sensitivity in the upper part of his body but the lower part remains paralysed as we could not continue the treatment due to severe financial crisis," Motiur said. Tanvir's ambition is to be a doctor. He sought help from all quarters of the society to help him get treatment to overcome the physical handicap. "If a physically handicapped person gets help and sympathy from the society, it makes it easy for him to live," said the boy. Lack of vision failed to discourage Sumi from completing primary schooling. Like the majority of the visually challenged in Bangladesh, she would like to continue her studies through secondary to higher levels. But a blind student here has to pay a hefty sum to hire someone to recite and record the chapters onto audio-tapes or to have the chapters read out so he/she can put them in the Braille format. Tanvir and Sumi were among some 200 physically handicapped people gathered in a small building in the city's Mirpur who took out a rally organised by Blind Education and Rehabilitation Development Organisation (BERDO) to observe International Day of Disabled Persons. "Physical disability does not eliminate the potentials of a person, as, like others, a handicapped person too can do many creative things, if provided with the required facilities," said Saidul Huq, executive director of BERDO, who lost his vision to typhoid at the age of six. Saidul, an Ashoka Fellow, did his master's in Philosophy at Dhaka University and is leading quite a successful life like any person. Saidul cherishes a dream to set up a Braille press to print books and publish a monthly Braille magazine for the visually impaired. He said the affluent section of the society should come forward to help the physically handicapped out of social obligations.
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