From Kashmir to Kanyakumari, Dildar Ahmed Shapo’s journey is one of grit and mental strength

Every day, for the last 20 days or so, Dildar Ahmed Shapo has been waking up at midnight, getting dressed, having a cup of tea and a biscuit before getting into his modified car to drive 500 kilometres.

Since August 19, Mr. Shapo, a wheelchair user, has travelled to over 20 towns in 10 states to say: ‘being confined to a wheelchair does not mean it’s the end life of your life.’

“I was 18 when a freak accident put me on a wheelchair. For eight years, I waited to die,” says the 39-year-old from southern Kashmir, who was in Chennai on Sunday. He recalls: “Back then, there were no rehabilitation centres where I lived and it took me a long time to recover. It was even more painful as I was the breadwinner of the family at the time of the accident.”

Speaking to wheelchair users across the country in his travels, he says he has seen that even his own home was inaccessible, let alone public spaces. “Very few wheelchair users go to school as the space is not accessible and even fewer are financially independent. When it comes to marriage, I have seen women marrying men on wheelchairs but not the other way around,” he says.

During talks in schools and rehabilitation centres, he focuses on mental strength. “I encourage them to be tough and to focus on a destination, a goal. While looking out of a window, you do not see your wheelchair,” he elucidates.

Mr. Shapo’s aim is to bring wheelchair users and organisations that work with them together, across the country, and perhaps create a pan-India portal. He will be visiting Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Odisha, West Bengal, the Northeast and other States before completing his trip.

While a majority of spinal injuries are caused by road accidents, there are also many caused by construction site accidents, sports injuries, surgeries gone wrong as well as congenital defects, points out S. Vaidyanathan, a volunteer at The Spinal Foundation, a self-help group for people with spinal cord injuries. On September 25, Mr. Shapo is hoping to reach Delhi, where ‘India Spinal Cord Injury Day’ is to be launched.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Chennai / by Zubeda Hamid / Chennai – September 14th, 2015