My experience at the not-so-swift NADRA offices
“What’s so special about this special Computerised National Identity Card (CNIC)?” I asked. The man wearing the volunteer card replied, “It will give you small privileges over the rest of the people.” “Such as?” I asked, curious. “You won’t have to wait in any long lines, for instance, and all of your work will be done on fast track.” Having visited a National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) office once before, I had learned not to trust any claim of this agency. But this was not any Nadra office — it was a camp organised by an NGO at a local university in Karachi for ...
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I am blind, not disgusting
His name was Hamza and he wasn’t born blind. He was the only son amongst five daughters and was not very well off. A cricket ball plunged to the back of his neck took away his eyesight but was not able to take away his desire to learn. He had a beautifully haunting yet a wise way of looking at the world and accepting it. I was assigned as his teacher during an internship at the Ida Rieu School for Deaf and Blind in my final year of undergraduate school. He was placed in the special class, where students who weren’t ...
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They are differently abled, not disabled
Who among us has stopped at a red light in the inner city and not been visually assaulted by a dozen individuals with gross physical abnormalities walking, limping, crawling and rolling towards our cars? What we’re observing is not necessarily poverty, but ‘ableism’. ‘Ableism’ is a belief that only those with a certain set of physical and mental attributes may be counted as a normal part of the society. Those lacking such attributes must either hustle to fit into a non-compliant society, or remove themselves from the mainstream entirely. One of the most heart-rending sights you may come across is that of a ...
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Why Barfi made me barfy
Last week I watched India’s foreign film Oscar contender, “Barfi”. This is the story of a young man who is deaf. He lives in Darjeeling and falls in love with a girl who he can’t have. He gives up on her and falls in love with another girl who he can have, but not without the requisite twists and turns, including a murder investigation, a kidnapping, poverty, and a lot of singing and dancing. Oh yes; the young man is deaf, the first young woman is able to hear, and the second young woman is autistic. While the movie was beautifully shot, ...
Read Full PostMy brother has Down’s Syndrome, not a contagious disease
Coming from a closely knit family, it was a tradition for all of us to personally go and receive any relative coming to Karachi, at the airport. My aunt was expected and all of us including my youngest brother, who is a special child, suffering from Down Syndrome, went down to receive her. On our way back from the airport, we decided to stop at a restaurant to enjoy some family time. The restaurant was jam packed with people, as it was a weekend. Mostly families from the colonies nearby were there with their kids. We led my brother to ...
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He who changed my life
I was part of the elite ─ the privileged, the damned. Yes, I was a part of those cadres of people who have dominated this country since its inception, crippling it in the nexus of nepotism and corruption. Fickle lives and distraught ambitions were what defined me in that period. Life was great or at least it felt to be so. All that changed on that fateful night. The night of March 3, 2005 changed who I was. It was around three in the night. Coming back from the usual late hangout with my friends, I stalled at the Atom Chowk, since the ...
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A wheelchair shouldn’t be a curse
It was just another day at work. I was enjoying my coffee and looking out of my office window at the magnificent headquarters of a renowned commercial bank close by. Admiring the architectural beauty of the building, I suddenly stopped when my eyes caught sight of a heart-wrenching sight. A man had just come out of the main door of the bank on a wheelchair and was looking extremely distressed. On closer inspection, I realized that the gentleman was wondering how to get off the beautiful platform which sprawled across the bank’s front. The platform had a grand staircase, however, ...
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For the disabled, inclusive education is a must
Like many other days, the International Day of Persons with Disabilities was also observed on Saturday with government and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) working for physically challenged persons holding walks and seminars. This year the emphasis was on inclusive education systems and a discrimination-free, level playing field for such persons. Speakers at these functions demanded that the authorities should provide inclusive facilities in educational institutes to the disabled persons. Although the government has allocated special quota for disabled persons in jobs, it is not yet being implemented in a transparent way. The educational institutes, especially higher education institutes, lack special facilities for ...
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Truly special children
She sat there, on that tiny green chair, with her head resting on the hands folded before her on the table. She was a pretty little girl I thought to myself, her black hair contrasting beautifully with her alabaster skin. It wasn’t until she lifted up her head drowsily, gazing blankly at the instructor standing before her that the look of admiration in my eyes was muddled with tears of sorrow. She was visually impaired, to the extent that her left eye was a mere slit on her radiant face — she was special. The sympathy at that point was ...
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