KAILASH CHANDER ANAND CHARITABLE & EDUCATIONAL SOCIETY(REGD.) LEELAWANTI HOUSE, 58/10, ASHOK NAGAR, NEW DELHI-110018 ¬ Ph. : 25146164, 25146165 Fax : 011-25492977, 25130164

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES:

Some of the aims and objects for which this society was established are as under: a) To work for the educational upliftment of the rural and general public irrespective of caste, sex-creed and religion. b) To adopt systems in the school education which would promote and stress ‘Learning by Doing’ through the introduction of Science Laboratories and workshops in all the areas of learning. c) To develop and establish such out of schools activity centers for the children of the underprivi leged class of society where they could have the benefit and joy of participating in sports, games, artistic activities like painting, clay and wood work, music, dancing; excursions, educational trips and such other activities. d) To uplift the moral and spiritual development of the minority community and to spread the teachings of the saints. e) To impart free education to the poor, helpless and needy children/ students. f) To provide free food, clothes, and medical aids to orphans, disabled, homeless, destitute, poor and old. g) To establish, open, maintain and run free clinics, hospital dispensaries and religious institutions for the public. h) To establish and maintain institutions for the handicapped and for adult education, like vocational train ing in vocations of household industries, semi-skilled jobs for self-employment. i) To conduct social and cultural programs for the slum and street children and old aged

‘BLESSED ARE THE ONES WHO ARE IN A POSITION TO HELP’ 5 July-Dec 2008 The VOICE of FOD THEvoice CONTENTS OF FOD Editorial 6

Editor and Publisher Art is Beyond Limits 7 Rajinder Johar Preeti Johar Basra

Sub-editor Enterprising Spirits... 9 Preeti Johar Basra Dr. Navneet Sethi

Members Paralympics 12 K.B. Mahajan, R.S. Bhandari Shilpa Rani Sumit Katyal, V.K. Anand Dr. Navneet Sethi Hearty Matters 14 Rajinder Johar Karnataka Chapter 418, Ist Main, Ist Block, The Unstoppable 18 R.T. Nagar, Bangalore-560032 S. Sreenidhi & Prerna Arora Tel: 080-23330200, 23535787 Fax : 26615101 Classifieds 19 E-mail: [email protected] Coordinator : Ali Khwaja Poor/No Sight: Not a Barrier... 20 Anjali Sharma & Seema Baquer Editorial and FOD Registered Offce B-1/500, Janakpuri, Abortion at Cross Roads 22 New Delhi-110058, India K.B. Mahajan Tel: 91-11-25597328, 41570140 E-mail: [email protected] Tricycle: A Multifaceted Mobility Aid 23 Web: www.familyofdisabled.org Udeetta Chopra

Printed by Common Minerals and Vitamins Deficiencies 25 Graphic Syndicate Watch Out 26 14, Ground Floor Tilak Nagar Industrial Area A poem by Ruth Harrigan New Delhi-110018 News 27 Tel: 011-32968355, 45615591 E-mail: [email protected] Quiz 37 Vinod Kumar Mishra Cover Page : Sheela Sharma, a foot artist Book Review 38 The views and opinions expressed in this issue are of authors themselves. Revolution 38 Our sincere thanks to the members, volunteers, A poem by Sanil Kumar supporters and well wishers of FOD for their continuing precious assistance in running its Questions and Answers 39 existing projects and launching the new ones. Looking Back 40

The Voice... is also available in PDF format for its visually impaired readers

The key to everything is patience. You get the chicken by hatching the egg not by smashing it. Arnold H Glasgow 6 July-Dec 2008 The VOICE of FOD

From the Editor’s Bed

LIGHTING CANDLES NOT ENOUGH

Disability is of two types - congenital and acquired. The latter results from accidents, natural and man-made calamities, violent/ riotous incidents, etc. In an incident like the terrorist attack in Mumbai in November, when a large number of people undergo a physical trauma, the injured far exceed the number of those dead. In Mumbai over 170 died and 300 plus got injured. The injured who do not recover fully functionally are rendered incapacitated in one form or the other. The kin of the dead and disabled need a healing touch through socio-economic, physical and emotional rehabilitation. Somehow the meaning of rehabilitation of disaster affected people has drastically changed these days. Expressing solidarity with the victims in such incidents is fair enough and should be there. Does lighting candles, flashing placards, shouting slogans at selected heritage sites (Gateway of India in Mumbai, India Gate in Delhi) deliver the goods? Or is it some kind of latest technique researched and developed for distance healing? There are many better ways of proving co-citizenship. Terrorism not only mentally and physically traumatise but also financially shatters the victim and his/her dependents. The least we can do is to procure addresses of the victims, and their families, from competent authorities, write a soothing and reassuring line on a postcard which definitely costs less than a candle. Gandhiji always preferred sending small notes in his own handwriting on different occasions. Herds of people burning tons of wax can hardly empathise with the victims located hundreds of miles away, but generating funds for them through concerted efforts will certainly help them restart and rekindle there lives. Board of Cricket Control in India has donated Rupees two crore for Mumbai victims. English cricket team came back from England after the tragedy and played two Tests giving away half of the match fee. Thoughtful and caring citizens from different sections of society also came forward to contribute meaningfully. India where greater number of casualties occur in acts of terrorism than in the battlefield and which is the most affected nation by terrorism after Iraq, in the world, needs to look for different ways of bringing some relief and solace to its people in general and to the dead, injured and disabled in particular. People should donate liberally at the time of such crisis, so that appropriate weaponry could be bought to adequately equip our police and security forces to fight the heavily armed terrorists and anti-social elements. FOD salutes all the agencies who fought the terrorists, in Mumbai, with whatever resources available. Few people believe that the gruesome Mumbai incident was a mini-war of sorts lasting three days. Brushing aside our pain, anger, fear, panic and uncertainty we should behave like socially responsible citizens as we did in the previous wars inflicted upon us post independence. And we should not be tempted to shrug off our responsibility just by burning a candle.

Arpita Ghosh extended her valued help in bringing out this issue of The Voice...

India is home to 1/3rd of the world’s poor. A higher proportion of its population lives on less than $2 per day, worse than sub-Saharan Africa. World Bank 7 July-Dec 2008 The VOICE of FOD

hat is an artist’s innate desire? To present his Wwork before the world so that his art gets appreciated, recognised and reviewed. It provides him ultimate bliss too see a host of art connoisseurs, media and public mesmerised by the appeal of his work. The pool of struggling artists is so deep that disabled among them find it difficult to swim to the surface. Unlike the perception, artists with disabilities can paint and that too, exceptionally well. When provided support in form of a platform to showcase their talent, they are no less than their non disabled counterparts as disability has nothing to do with artistic capabilities. Realising their potential and abundant talent during its ‘Grand Town’- the much appreciated collage work experience with disabled artists, since its inception in by Sriharsha Sukla 1992, Family Of Disabled (FOD) had been wanting to Sukla brothers, the two speech and hearing impaired organise an art exhibition of their works but it remained artists from Orissa have been participating in Beyond a distant dream till the reputed artist herself, Arpana Limits since its beginning in 2001. They are equally Caur came forward to give her gallery space good at water colours, pattachitra - the traditional Orissa complimentary to FOD for organising the show. Hence, art as well as the collage work (done by cutting and the first exhibition titled Beyond Limits was mounted pasting papers from magazines, newspapers, etc). Of at Arpana Art Gallery in New Delhi, in 2001. It saw late, they have totally devoted themselves to collage participation from all the artists FOD could manage to work (Four of their works including ‘Grand Town’ search i.e. 15 and was a huge success. More so, because found buyers in Beyond Limits last year). it was for the first time in Indian history that a national level exhibition was organised exclusively of the works by artists with disabilities. More than half of the works on display found buyers. Media too supported the event by highlighting the abilities of the disabled artists in national dailies. The success of the exhibition was morale boosting for FOD as well as the participating artists and there has been no looking back ever since. The canvas of Beyond Limits has grown with every exhibition- more new artists are identified and given a chance to exhibit their creations. The latest exhibition, fifth in the series, was organised from October 1-8, ‘Mother and Cub’ by Imamuddin this year. It saw an enthusiastic participation from 36 Imamuddin is another talented artist from disabled artists from different parts of India. The quality Ranthambore, Rajasthan, whose works are usually of art on display has been continuously improving, mistaken as photographs. He is an illiterate person and which is evident from the sale of 38 works out of 80 speech and hearing impaired too. Born and brought up that were on display at Beyond Limits- 2008. in Sawai Madhopur, he is inspired by tigers and paints

If you’re not failing, you’re not trying anything. Woody Allen 8 July-Dec 2008 The VOICE of FOD only them. A look at his artwork would surely have many individuals, small and medium level enterprises you gaping at it in awe. How can anyone be that perfect and government bodies. Krishnan family of Surajkund, in making a tiger? He earned the most in the last Haryana, who has been sponsoring this magazine exhibition; poverty-stricken - he was also the most published by FOD for about 15 years, whole-heartedly needy. sponsored this year’s Beyond Limits as well because of their love for art and concern for the cause. The paintings are invited from the artists from all over India which are carefully selected by a jury of eminent artists before they go on display. The aim of Beyond Limits is not to generate sales on sympathetic grounds but to nurture genuine fan-following for these artists. As the aim is to establish them as the mainstream artists, only selective works are put on display. The artists whose works don’t get selected are given tips and guidance/counselling to participate in the next exhibition. They are encouraged to create artworks from their imagination and develop their own style. These artists may not look compatible and strong body- Sheela Sharma, painting with brush between her toes wise but have proved time and again that their brush is The latest exhibition also saw the participation from a as mighty as anybody else’s. If a person is skilled and foot artist from Lucknow. Sheela Sharma lost both her his spirits are high nothing should stop him from arms in a train accident at the age of 6. She paints by exhibiting his talent and earning laurels. For him, it is holding a brush in between of her toes. Her oils on immaterial, whether his body functions normally or not. canvas look nothing less than a miracle. Such opportunities help these artists reach out to people Neha Bhagat, 20-yr-old speech and hearing impaired with their imagination and creativity; it is a way to artist from New Delhi, was the youngest among the express themselves. It makes the masses look beyond participants and this was the first time when she got their visible disabilities and provides these artists a such an exposure and platform to exhibit her works. sense of achievement while being a valuable form of Her beautiful works were so creative that five of them relaxation. It provides them financial support and helps got patrons. them earn public recognition and appreciation. Beyond Limits has become an eagerly awaited event in the lives of the disabled artists, a platform available to them, which they can rely on, which is solely for them. It focuses on their strengths, acknowledges their passion and dedication to the art, impacting artists’ psyche in a positive manner and uplifting his spirit to perform better. We thank media for its support to the event. Now, FOD wants to take the exhibition to different parts of India, Mumbai being the first choice. We look forward to the support of Mumbaiites, please contact the author in case you can offer any kind of help. ‘Horses’ by Neha Bhagat -The author is sub-editor, The Voice... There were other artists from Haryana, Noida, Chennai, E-mail: [email protected] Delhi, Kolkata, Bihar, Orissa and Allahabad. The last version of the exhibition was a milestone supported by

In India 456 million people or 42 percent of the population live below the new international poverty line of $1.25 per day World Bank 9 July-Dec 2008 The VOICE of FOD

The extraordinary courage displayed by four enterprising, physically disabled women , based in New Delhi is profiled here by Dr. Navneet Sethi to highlight the milestones in their lives and to make us rethink if in a democracy, right to citizenship goes beyond the right to vote .

hat is common to Eshu, Manjari, Jyoti and At 25, Megha W Megha is not gender or disability. What joins Sharma is a them together in a bond are their spirits, their untiring wheelchair user, efforts to move on in life in spite of physical challenges with the condition of that are severe and devastating. paralysis, and yet They are sisters, bonded by their initiative of not there is nothing allowing disability scar their lives in gloom and ‘passive’ or nothingness. What is admirable is that out of the ‘immobile’ about nothingness that they had to confront, they have Megha, whose retrieved life giving strength and hope, not just for youthful dynamism themselves, but for others around as well. generates hope and positivism. At Megha Sharma has 60% disability, Jyoti Mendiratta present, working has 90% disability, Eshu has 85% and Manjari Sinha towards a Master’s 50%. Does difference in the percentage of disability degree in commerce mean any variation in the degrees of passion and self - from IGNOU, New Megha, with her confidence? Delhi, Megha is supportive family actively engaged, since 2008, in working from home as a content writer for various companies. Her interest in writing and her ability to create informative and vivid contents for websites encouraged her to take up this vocation and what began as an attempt to get out of a phase of frustration has transformed into an avid interest and effort to do research for issues and information to build up the conceptual strength of contents created by her for projects of companies’ websites. Inaccessibility to offices, public places, and public transport system is strongly held responsible by Megha as the reason why she, a wheelchair user, has had to create a meaningful life for herself within her home. Megha, working on her laptop Megha is also very clear about the fact that though None what so ever, if we take into account the struggle inaccessibility is a problem faced by all disabled people and achievement that these women have managed in but she asserts that there are certain kinds of limitations their choice to run businesses from home. that are imposed only on a disabled woman. Here, she

If you had everything where would you keep it? Anonymous 10 July-Dec 2008 The VOICE of FOD holds the Indian mindset responsible for further creating beginning or end of success. It is a continuous process. hurdles for the disabled woman and her family. I knew that physically I had limitations but there were no limits to my courage and I capitalised on what I had Her future plans are beginning to take shape but she is received, a good brain. So I kept my disability aside very clear about one thing, something that she sees as and focused on the things which require brain. So far, the reason for her “happiness” when she got her first I consider myself successful because I do my work with pay cheque, and which is that she would “like to be complete sincerity and grace.” rich and famous some day,” like Sachin Tendulkar and Shah Rukh Khan whom she sees as an epitome of ‘humility in success’. Megha’s unhappiness over the problem of inaccessibility is shared by Jyoti Mendiratta, 31, working also from home over the last 5 years as a software developer and like the former is similar in her “pleasure that she derives from work”. Living with juvenile arthiritis since the age of 3, Jyoti has had a stream of academic accolades to validate her more significant, enduring, and actual identity as a brilliant intellectual. Jyoti has taken degrees in B.Com, MCA and MBA in Finance. She is the recipient of many awards from ICFAI, Hyderabad and by NCPEDP (National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Jyoti with her brother and parents People with Disabilities) including scholarships from Sharing with Jyoti and Megha, a buoyant passion for Sonia Gandhi, the chairperson of NCPEDP. self reliance and an undefeated spirit for challenges of all kind, is the businesswoman, Eshu Sharma who runs a computer institute, SBL Computer Education. A commerce graduate with a degree in software engineering from Aptech in 1997, Eshu at 35, single handedly supervises the work of the institute which she started in 1998 from her own home in Mansarover Garden, New Delhi. Approved by IGNOU, as an examination centre for various levels of examinations in IT, Eshu monitors the working of her institute through CCTVs’, installed specifically to invigilate the students writing exams of CIC, BCA and MBA. Eshu’s physical challenge, due to the condition of The intellectual Jyoti muscular By Jyoti’s own admission, the days of academic life dystrophy, which were the most ‘unforgettable’ for her. Lack of sensitivity is progressive in and recognition of society towards the many nature, requires dimensional needs of the physically disabled population that she must, as was the reason for Jyoti to create an intellectually she says, “keep my Eshu Sharma stimulating workplace for herself at home as well as self bolstered to retard the progress of dystrophy and ensure economic self-reliance to bolster not just her weakness”. As an entrepreneur, Eshu Sharma has confidence but make her a valuable, contributing developed business strategies that develop the human member of the society. Jyoti believes that, “there is no resource potential of the students, revealing on her part

India constitutes 33 percent of the global poor, which is pegged at 1.4 billion people World Bank 11 July-Dec 2008 The VOICE of FOD a perfect understanding of the essence of successful service of counseling workshops for schools in entrepreneurship- economic profit and growth of participatory workshops organised by NGOs in Delhi. human resources. Manjari recalls the “joyous satisfaction” she experiences every time she manages to take the stairs on her own, using a walker, to reach her office set up in the basement of her house. This victory energises her com- Manjari Sinha, the notary Eshu, imparting computer skills to her students mitment and enthu- siasm to make her newly established documentation For Eshu, “the joy of teaching and interaction grows centre, set up in October 2008, successful and service manifold when a student gets placement and starts oriented. The centre provides availability of all aspects earning.” Beginning with three students, Eshu’s of notarisation and documentation of legal documents institute now has forty students on weekdays and three and affidavits. Manjari outlines her future plans to make hundred over the weekends and she has plans to further her documentation centre accessible to people who are expand the centre and provide quality training in struggling in the court of law for their rights as disabled computer education to all students. Eshu is more people and provide “legal consultation and guidance”. concerned now to be the catalytic agent for creating growth potential for the students who come to her institute. She is a symbol of business acumen, discovered and employed out of a condition unknowingly seen as a limitation. A severe illness initially seen as the end of all happiness turned out for Manjari Sinha, 45, as actually a turning point where the end became the beginning of a new attitude and a new business venture begun and managed from her home. Married with school going children, Manjari’s world came apart in 2001 when she had Meningitis, Encephalitis with viral infection and corresponding complications resulting in the loss of Manjari, attending clients at her legal consultation movements in both the lower limbs. Since then it has and documentation centre been an uphill struggle for Manjari, who was in 1987 Joined in sisterhood not just by disability but more enrolled as an advocate with the Bihar State Bar enduringly as women, the lives of our sisters cannot Council. Relocation to Delhi, the illness and the gradual possibly be outlined here within the limits of printed desperation to bring meaning back into her life words. The struggles and stature of Manjari, Eshu, Jyoti prompted Manjari to apply for transfer of membership and Megha as icons of courage and accomplishment to Delhi Bar Council. Four years in the waiting, it was owes its presence as much to their own instinct for only in July 2008 that her application for Notary’s survival and success as well as to the unfailing support license was processed through. An addition to her structure of a strong, reliable family unit who offered academic roster was a P.G. Diploma in Cyber Law and unconditional love, encouragement, time and energy she has meaningfully employed her knowledge in the for their rightful evolution. Contd. on page 24

Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight on the shore. Andre Gide 12 July-Dec 2008 The VOICE of FOD

A sport is commonly defined as an organised, competitive and skillful activity requiring commitment and fair play. But for the disabled athletes, it also acts as a therapeutic measure in many ways. Beijing Paralympics 2008 concluded in September. Paralympics are held after a fortnight at the same venue, where Olympics are held. Shilpa Rani

Mascot: Bejing 2008 Paralympic Games throws light on the genesis of Paralympics and its evolution.

he name “Paralympics” comes from the Greek 1989. Like the Olympics, the Paralympics are a T prefix “para” which means beside or alongside and competition of people with the highest athletic ability. “Olympics”. “Parallel Olympics” approximates the They should not be confused with the Special intended meaning. It has nothing to do with “paralysis” Olympics, which are open to all children and adults or “paraplegia”. Its motto was “Mind, Body, Spirit” with intellectual disabilities, no matter what their levels from 1994 through 2003, and is now “Spirit in Motion”. of athletic ability are, but Special Olympics participants The idea for the Paralympics was born in 1948 when a may still take part in the Paralympic games. sports competition for people who had injured their spines while fighting in the Second World War took place. In 1948, Sir Ludwig Guttmann organised a sports competition involving World War II veterans with a spinal cord injury in Stoke Mandeville, England. Four years later, competitors from the Netherlands joined the games and an international movement was born. Olympic style games for athletes with disabilities were organised for the first time in Rome in 1960, now called Paralympics. The 1972 Paralympics included the first competition for quadriplegics, and demonstration events for the visually impaired. In 1976, the visually impaired, amputees, and “lesautres”—a catchall term Edith Hunkler of Switzerland won women's marathon embracing many sorts of motor disabilities—were fully The Paralympics are the second-largest sports included for the first time. In Toronto in 1976, other competition in the world, after the Olympics .The first disability groups were added and the idea of merging Paralympic Games took place in Rome, a week after together different disability groups for international the 1960 Summer Olympic Games were held there. sport competitions was born. Till 1968, Paralympics were used to be held at the same The Paralympic Games are a multi-sport event for venue as of Olympics but in 1968, Mexico City (home athletes with physical and sensorial disabilities. This of that year’s Olympics) declined to host the includes athletes with mobility disabilities, Paralympics, so they moved to Tel Aviv instead. From amputations, blindness, and cerebral palsy. The then until 1988, the Paralympics continued to be held Paralympic Games are held every four years, following in locations other than the Olympics. The Paralympics the Olympic Games, and are governed by the have continued to grow, and the 1988 Summer Games International Paralympic Committee (IPC) founded in in Seoul were once again held in the same venues as

A citizen of UAE eats nearly 100 kg of poultry products per person annually; an average Indian just eats 2.1 kg of poultry products per person per year. An average American chews 46kg of chicken in a year while a Chinese 8.7 kg. FAO 13 July-Dec 2008 The VOICE of FOD the Olympics and the tradition is being followed. In exception of sailing in Qingdao and equestrian in Hong 2001, it was officially agreed that all future Olympics Kong. and Paralympics will be held in the same venues, with The days of the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games had a host cities bidding to get both as a package deal. total of 472 medal events, with 262 for men (of which 59 include opportunities for persons with high support needs), 176 for women (of which 34 include opportunities for persons with high support needs), and 34 are for mixed (of which 22 include opportunities for persons with high support needs). The disability groups included spinal injury, amputee, visually impaired, cerebral palsy and lesautres.The Games saw a total of 279 new world records set and a total of new 339 Paralympic records broken. On medal standing, China lead with 89 gold, 70 silver Peter Norfolk of Great Britain beat Sweden’s and 52 bronze, Great Britain grabbed the second place Johan Andersson 2-0 in the Men’s Wheelchair with 42 gold, 29 silver and 31 bronze followed by Tennis Mixed Singles Quad final on September 14, United States with 36 gold 25 silver and 38 bronze in claiming the gold medal third place. Our next door neighbour China, the host Last year, Beijing was the host of Paralympics 2008 of the Paralympics 2008 bagged the highest number of from September 6-17. Opening ceremony of the gold medals. The irony remains that India with second Paralympic Games presented the respect that Chinese largest population in world just failed to win even a people hold for life and their reverence for the single medal while Pakistan, our rival in most of the harmonious relationship between heaven, earth and matters, managed to human beings. The slogan for the Beijing Paralympic get one silver medal Games was “One World One Dream,” and the emblem in athletics (men’s was dubbed “Sky, Earth and Human Beings,” which is long jump). a stylized figure of an athlete in motion, implying the Though we have not tremendous efforts a person with a disability has to won a medal at make in sports as well as in real life. It also embodies Paralympics 2008 the Paralympic Motto “Spirit in Motion”, and it reflects this year but have we the integration of heart, body and spirit in human honoured the past beings. medalists befittingly? The morale of the Almost 4,000 athletes from a total of 147 different participants is countries around the world came to Beijing to compete perhaps down in their respective sport. Some athletes competed in because of Rakesh more than one event, but each participated on an elite Sharma, the Arjun level. Of those 147 countries, five competed in the Awardee of 1997, is still jobless today, South Africa’s Fanie Paralympic Games for the first time, including Burundi, though promised to Lombard won the Men’s Gabun, Georgia, Haiti and Montenegro.The 20 sports be given one. Similar Discus Throw gold medal included archery, athletics, boccia, cycling, equestrian, is the case with with a result of 46.75 meters football 5-a-Side, football 7-a-Side, goalball, judo, Abyilimpics, where on September 16 powerlifting, rowing, sailing, shooting, swimming, the follow-up of the particiants needs to be properly table tennis, volleyball (sitting), wheelchair basketball, and adequately publicised so as to encourage and wheelchair fencing, wheelchair rugby and wheelchair motivate the peer groups. tennis. Rowing saw its inauguration into the Paralympic -The author is currently working as executive-admin- Programme at the Beijing Paralympics in 2008. All istration at FOD. sports were held at the venues in Beijing, with the E-mail: [email protected]

That is happiness; to be dissolved into something completely great. Willa Cather 14 July-Dec 2008 The VOICE of FOD

Anybody’s heart may just be the size of his fist but it is one of the vital organs capable of receiving impure and pumping out pure blood to all parts of body. The most commonly discussed diseases are related to heart and cholesterol level. Read on to know a few basics on heart, cholesterol and management of the related diseases.

our heart is the size of your pressure - all are part of urban life. Some amount of Yfist and it is the strongest stress can surely keep you motivated but excessive muscle in your body. It starts pressure may result in stress. Research studies have beating about three weeks after shown that mental stress is worse than physically stress you are conceived. If you live till as it can adversely influence your cardiovascular system 70, your heart beats two and a half and affect your heart health. The answer to this is billion times. avoiding stress, which is an impossible task. However, Each heart beat pumps blood stress can be managed by adopting certain lifestyle around the body, pushing it from the left heart chamber, changes including factors that can reduce stress in your through arteries, into the capillaries present in all the daily routine… parts of the body. When body takes oxygen and Physical stress brings on physical exertion, which puts nutrients from the blood, it returns the blood to heart demands on the heart. Physical stress is good for the heart as long via veins to the right chamber of the heart. On its way it is normal. back, the blood passes through the liver where waste For those products are removed. with under- Our heart is vulnerable to damage from the things we lying heart do to our bodies, like unhealthy eating or lifestyle, stress disease, and smoking. When your heart doesn’t function physical properly, we call it cardiovascular disease, commonly stress can be known as heart disease. dangerous. The heart, though considered a seat of love, is in This is be- mechanical terms nothing more than a pump which cause has to beat 70 to 90 times a minute for nearly 70 to 90 exercise can years. If you don’t abuse your heart in your earlier years, put demands it will be better able to withstand the greater rigours on the heart muscles that that aging puts on it. Healthy food, eating on time, Consequences of stress exercise and having a positive attitude are the secrets the diseased coronary arteries cannot meet. The heart becomes to a happy heart. ischemic or starved for oxygen causing angina or chest In most cases, patients suffering from constipation are pain or a heart attack. detected later to be suffering from coronary artery Can stressors lead to heart damage in individuals disease. The solution is having fibre-rich diet. who have no heart disease? Can stressors cause heart damage in people who Perhaps in youngsters the cumulative effects may be have no heart disease? minimal. However, there are people who are Do you often feel burnt out? Every one faces mental predisposed to heart disease and stress aggravates the stress to some extent each day. Rush-hour traffic, anger, situation. Studies have reported that mental stress can worry, frustration, deadlines, sour relationships, result in surges in the heart rate and blood pressure.

An average Indian consumes 1.6 kg of beef and buff products while an average American eats 41.7 kg every year and a Brazilian 37.6 kg FAO 15 July-Dec 2008 The VOICE of FOD Physical symptoms of stress include a pounding heart Meditate and heavy breathing. Stress causes an adrenaline rush Forgetting troubles might help you keep your heart with negative emotions such as fear or anger. It is healthy, suggests a new study, which has found that important here how you cope with stressful situations. failing memory in Alzheimer’s helps reduce high blood There are some people who are forever angry and who pressure. Previous studies have put cognitive problems habitually react to stress this way feeding in physically suffered by some Alzheimer’s patients to low blood harmful emotions. Studies have proved that individuals pressure (arterial hypotension). with Type A personalities who are impatient, hostile, However, the new study led by researchers from Osijek competitive or perfectionists are at a higher risk of Medical Faculty in Croatia suggests that as the patient’s coronary artery disease than those with Type B memory fails, they forget the causes of anxiety and personalities who are a bit laid-back and patient. These worry that was causing high blood pressure: failing are people who quickly come out of the situation feeling memory causes hypotension. relaxed and yet there are others who brood and remain hostile for long. “An important question is would reduction of stressful memories and of stress exposure in everyday life help Chronic stress and heart health diminish the risk of getting hypertension or metabolic Chronic stress may double your heart risk; it exposes syndrome in the years to come,” said the study’s author your body to constant high levels of stress hormones Dr Sven Kurbel of the Osijek Medical Faculty in like adrenaline and cortisol. Stressful situations are Croatia. known to reduce the blood flow to the heart, thus increasing the risk of heart attack. And the situation If confirmed by further studies, this will affect how worsens in individuals who already suffer from doctors treat the elderly, helping to target drugs more coronary artery disease. According to a study, stressed effectively and reduce risks of stokes and heart attack. people did not respond as well to heart medications to It also suggests that heart disease could be substantially angina or chest pain as compared to others. The reduced in old people simply by making them happier American Heart Association advises on stress reduction about themselves and their lives. and stress management to lessen the strain on your The study proposes that some people suffering from heart. Alzheimer’s disease experience a reduction in their high Are you stressed? blood pressure because of cognitive decline. Worried and anxious, getting palpitations Feel tired all the time CHOLESTEROL Frequent headache Backache What is Cholesterol? Lack of sleep, insomnia Cholesterol is a fatty substance produced by the liver. Rise in blood pressure It is also found in food we eat like meat, poultry, seafood Get irritated at ‘small’ things and dairy products. Feel like crying Cholesterol has a number of important functions, Poor work performance including the production of certain hormones as well Tips to relax yourself as the breakdown and digestion of fat. However, Eat right sometimes our bodies have too much cholesterol, which Do regular exercise becomes a problem. Cholesterol levels in the blood can Get a massage, for that helps release tension rise and the extra cholesterol can eventually damage Prioritise and set realistic goals and clog arteries. Learn to say ‘No’ Why is Cholesterol Important? When worried, look for distraction Your blood cholesterol level has a lot to do with your Control your anger. Go easy on criticism. Let go chances of getting a heart disease. High blood Do not isolate yourself. Talk it out cholesterol is one of the major risk factors for heart Stop smoking disease. A risk factor is a condition that increases your

Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts. Winston Churchill 16 July-Dec 2008 The VOICE of FOD chance of getting a disease. In fact, the higher your Triglycerides- another form of fat in your blood. blood cholesterol level is, the greater is your risk for 10 simple lifestyle changes to control your pressure developing heart disease or having a heart attack. 1. Lose weight: Get your BMI (body mass index, a High cholesterol is a great risk for heart disease? measurement of weight in relation to height) into the When there is too much cholesterol in your blood, it range of 18.5-24.9, and you will be doing your heart starts building up and blood pressure a favour. Think of it this way: Extra in the walls of weight you carry around is like bricks in a backpack, your arteries. putting pressure on every part of your body. Over time, this buildup causes 2. Eat plenty of whole grains: Have seven to eight “hardening of the servings per day of grains and grain products (these arteries” so these can include breakfast cereal, whole grain bread, rice, arteries become pasta, etc.) narrowed and the 3. Eat plenty of fruits and vegetables: Having at least blood flow to the eight to 10 servings of a variety of colorful fruits and heart slows down vegetables will ensure you get all the healthy or gets blocked. antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, and fiber you need. The blood carries oxygen to the heart, and if enough 4. Dairy up: Consuming two to three servings daily blood and oxygen doesn’t reach there, you may suffer of low-fat or nonfat dairy foods will also help build from chest pain. If blood supply to a portion of the strong bones and teeth, and enhance weight loss. heart gets completely cut off due to a blockage, the result is a heart attack. 5. Limit meat, fish, and poultry to two servings a day: Move the meat off the centre of your plate, and Reduce your risk of heart disease. enjoy more grains. When you do have meats, fish, and High blood cholesterol itself does not cause problems; poultry, always chose lean varieties. it is because of unawareness about the cholesterol levels. It is important to find out your cholesterol numbers because lowering cholesterol levels that are too high, lessens the risk of developing heart disease and reduces the chance of a heart attack. Lowering cholesterol levels is important for everyone. Be it young or old, women or men and people with or without a heart disease. Count the cholesterol numbers and know your risk. Everyone at the age of 20 years and older should get their cholesterol measured at least once in every 5 years. It is best to have a blood test called “lipoprotein profile” done to find out your cholesterol numbers. This blood test is done after 9 to12 hour of fasting and gives information about your: 6. Go nuts: Incorporate four to five servings a week of nuts, seeds, and legumes into your diet. They provide Total cholesterol plenty of protein and healthful fats. LDL (bad) cholesterol - the main source of 7. Limit fats and oil to two to three servings per day: cholesterol buildup and Fats are the most concentrated source of calories. blockage in the arteries. Limiting them will help you control your weight. HDL (good) cholesterol- 8. Hold the salt: Limit your sodium intake to helps keep cholesterolaway from building up in the approximately 2,400 milligrams a day (a moderate arteries. 1.2 billion people practice open defecation globally - 83% of whom live in 13 countries with India having the highest number i.e. 665 million. In developing regions, more than 1 out of 3 rural dwellers defecated in the open. World Health Organisation and Unicef 17 July-Dec 2008 The VOICE of FOD level). This means eating fewer canned and processed Red wine, due to the presence of antioxidants, is of foods, and more fresh foods. special advantage. But don’t indulge into fat–rich finger 9. Get off the couch: Exercising at least 30 minutes foods. If you are a non-drinker, do not start in per day can significantly reduce blood pressure. Any order to improve your heart. form of physical activity, done most days of the week, Healthy food is not something one should start late will do the trick. in life or after the first heart attack. Fatty plaques build up in arteries by 20 years of age, so start early. Parents 10.Drink in moderation: If you do it at all limit have an important role to inculcate these habits in their yourself to two drinks per day. children, and should set an example themselves. Foods good for Heart: vegetables, fruits and pulses, Water intake is important, at least one litre daily. breast of the chicken Aerated drink should be totally avoided. Oils good for the heart: olive oil, mustard oil, Exercise is a must. Younger individual need a more sunflower oil. vigorous and prolonged workout. For the elder group, Foods bad for the heart: red meat, yellow of egg, walking is good, but must be supplemented by muscle- cheese, butter and saturated and trans fat-containing building activities even at a late age. foods (samosas, tikkis). Don’t forget that the brain needs to be kept active as Food should be low on salt and spice, but opt for well. An active body in a slow brain or vice versa results iodised salt. in a poor life style. Sudoku will be of help. Daily intake of two-teaspoon of flaxseeds is also It is very important to relax and pursue some hobby. beneficial. Ensure your daily quota of me–time. Always go outdoor on weekends. Also try yoga and meditation. And sleep for about 6-7 hours. -Compiled by Rajinder Johar

A lawyer defending a man ac- cused of burglary tried his cre- ative defense: “My client merely inserted his arm into the window and removed a few articles. His arm is not himself, and I fail to see how you can punish the whole individual for an offense committed by his limb.” “Well put,” the judge replied. Using your logic, I sentence the defendant’s arm to one year’s imprison- ment, as he chooses. The defendant smiled. With his lawyer’s assistance he detached his artificial limb, and walked out.

Psychiatrist to patient: If these pills don’t stop the kleptomania, try and get me a nice video camera.

Everything is possible for the person who believes. Adlin Sinclair 18 July-Dec 2008 The VOICE of FOD

No man on this earth is so poor as to have nothing worth giving. This old quote by H.W. Longfellow is rightly proved by Pokhar, an amputee working as a daily wage earner at construction sites. Though tragedy left him physically disabled, his spirit to live for his family made him a breadwinner. S.Sreenidhi and Prerna Arora bring you a sneak peek into the life of one of the extraordinary beneficiaries of Family Of Disabled who has successfully converted his weakness into strength.

s he proceeds to Palam in Delhi, for work everyday was his family. After losing a limb, his mind was Aon his tricycle, his prized possession, he can catch constantly plagued with such thoughts as - “How would sight of aeroplanes soaring past. 53-yr-old, Pokhar had I eat, sleep, live?” Being the only earning member of never contemplated regaining his normal life after the family, questions of survival kept cropping up- losing his left leg, but seven years after the tragedy, he causing him great misery and anguish. Then he and his has succeeded in slowly piecing his life back together. family decided there was no point in moping about. Hailing from Kannos village of Rajasthan, Pokhar had “What was the point of crying? We had to move on,” they say. They acquired a migrated to Delhi as early prosthetic limb from an as 1973 to make a living organisation and he tried for himself. After moving about. Yet a question marriage and a daughter, hung over them where would his life was moving along the income come from. In as smoothly as is possible such times of distress, his old for any daily-wage landlord, Joginder Singh, labourer. Then, tragedy proved to be a great source struck. All of a sudden, he of support and experienced piercing encouragement for the pain in his left leg. Soni, family. He offered to procure his wife of twenty-three for Pokhar, a job at years, believes that a nail construction sites wherein he or some other sharp could stand at one place and instrument had hit him. Pokhar with his family work. To the family’s utter (His prosthesis is visible in the foreground) dismay, on being rushed to a hospital, the flippant Pokhar still faced difficulty in travelling, which was nurses there did not take serious note of his pleas. “Here turning out to be an impediment in his income-earning he was wailing in pain and there they refused to take endeavours. He got a tricycle, which was soon stolen. him seriously,” says Soni. Later on, he was given an He was forced to spend his hard earned money on injection. But his condition worsened. He was told his procuring another one which, as luck would have it, leg would have to be amputated. was stolen again. “It seemed someone had it in for me,” His ever-smiling face betrays emotion as he recalls chuckles Pokhar. Then he applied to Family Of those agonising days where his only source of support Disabled (FOD) for a tricycle. After receiving one,

Around 2 crore people need treatment for serious mental disorders and 5 crore from common mental disorders. While 30-35 lakh of them need hospitalisation, the number of beds available for such patients is only 29,000. -National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS) Bangalore 19 July-Dec 2008 The VOICE of FOD travelling is no longer a concern for him, or for his family! It is a delight to watch his entire family travel along in that small vehicle. Never before has one Services on offer encountered such proficient use of an aid. This Tejam, a centre for special education and contraption meant solely for the assistance of the counselling for children with learning and behavioural physically disabled has been converted into an effective difficulties offers services in special/remedial mode of transport for the whole family. education, behaviour modification, career counselling, Now the family lives at a construction site in Janakpuri, individual and parental guidance/ counselling. Contact doubling up as guards through the day, and Pokhar Reena 09811140121 / Upasana 09350674713 between works at another site. This provides them with a steady 4-8p.m. Email: [email protected] income, enabling them to provide for their 14-yr-old daughter Manju’s education, and also for their 3-yr- Angels In Motion, remediate services for children old son Golu’s future. Pokhar’s eyes light up with pride diagnosed with special needs i.e. learning disability, when his daughter states her dream of becoming a slow learners, mentally retarded, autistic and attention teacher someday. Though there does not arise a need deficit hyperactive disorders, NIOS. Contact Shweta for Pokhar’s family to feel indebted towards anyone, Kathuria at 9871413094 in Vikaspuri, New Delhi or e- they have attempted to help FOD in whatever way mail: [email protected] possible. Outside the office of FOD, a parking space was to be constructed so as to enable the disabled people Tulsi Baura, special educator to remediate children who come to the office to park their tricycles there. with special needs i.e. mental retardation, learning Pokhar promptly sent a mason for the work and his disabilities and NIOS. Contact at 9810915505 in wife played an active role in ensuring that the work Shakarpura, Delhi. was completed fast. He himself and his wife had many rounds to supply the raw material. “After all it is being BRIDE WANTED made for people like us,” smiles Pokhar. -S.Sreenidhi is studying law at National Law Bride wanted for a smart, talented and independent University, Jodhpur and Prerna is an engineering visually disabled boy from Delhi, working with tourism student with Suraj Mal Institute of Technology in company, earning in 5 digits pm, involved in many Delhi. social and cultural activities, age 29, height 5’8”. Tel: E-mail: [email protected] 09868201812, 011-22481303; [email protected] E-mail: [email protected]

Believe it or Not ! TASMANIAN DEVILS CAN HAVE A RARE CANCER THAT CAN BE TRANSMITTED WITH A BITE!

HELPING HANDS AND LEGS! MIKE AND TERESA SUTTON FOUND OVER 100 ARTIFICIAL LIMBS AND AS MANY CRUTCHES HIDDEN IN THE CELLAR OF THEIR DORSET, ENGLAND, HOME IN AUGUST 2007, LEPROSY THEY DONATED THEM TO IS ONLY A AT 2 FEET, 9 INCHES TALL AND 20 POUNDS, EARTHQUAKE VICTIMS IN MILDLY 19 -YEAR-OLD ADITYA “ROMEO” DEV OF PAKISTAN! INFECTIOUS PHAGWARA, INDIA, IS ONE OF THE WORLD’S DISEASE WITH SMALLEST BODYBUILDERS! ON APRIL 2, 2008, THE MISS ABOUT 95% LANDMINE SURVIVOR OF HUMANS BEING BEAUTY CONTEST TOOK IMMUNE TO IT! PLACE IN LUANDA, ANGOLA!

We cannot change anything unless we accept it. Carl Jung 20 July-Dec 2008 The VOICE of FOD

This article dwells into the aspects, prospects and realities of the study of Science, Mathematics, Com- puters and Geography for children with blindness and low vision. India’s commitment to provide for inclusive education cannot be a reality unless it can assure to the blind a choice of career and growth in Science and Maths streams. Anjali Sharma and Seema Baquer lay the realities, possibilities and gaps for achieving this assurance.

Introduction as well as urban areas, In our present times, a basic education in Science, especially in integrated Mathematics, Geography and Computers is not op- set-up, teachers do not tional. These subjects are integral to a wholesome edu- have the proper training cation. Scientific and mathematical concepts taught in to supervise blind and middle level school find practical applicability in daily low vision children in life of all. Thus these subjects are mandatory taught to their education. More- sighted children in regular school. So why then should over many teachers are children with blindness and low vision be deprived of not equipped to use the aids available to them and thus knowledge that would stand them in good stead all their passing of knowledge of use itself becomes a prob- lives? A recent research study undertook by Concerned lem. The prevailing mood is of letting them - both teach- Action Now (CAN) with the support of Rashtriya ers and students - take the easy way out by opting for Vigyan Evam Prodyogiki Sanchar Parishad, Depart- exemptions, decreasing the syllabus, taking up subjects ment of Science and Technology, New Delhi, National far removed from what the students really wanted to Association for the Blind (NAB), Delhi and The Blind do. People’s Association (BPA), Ahmedabad, established The response lies in the proper training of teachers the problems being faced by blind and low vision chil- while motivating them. There is an equal need to cre- dren of middle school level in the education of Sci- ate and deploy standardised teaching learning devices ence, Mathematics and associated subjects. with proper guidelines for their use so that the use is Aimed to understand the gaps in the existing system of easy and simple. With the use of appropriate devices, education for the blind and provide ways of facilitat- such as Swell Paper, blind and low vision children can ing inclusiveness and mainstreaming in education in do concepts like graphs and constructions accurately. India, the main findings and its analysis are elaborated Furthermore, the study highlighted the need to develop here with a strong hope for its implementation to make indigenous software by adapting technologies to In- a positive and definitive change in the education of the dian conditions and languages. Existing technologies blind and low vision children. for the study of these subjects include Nemeth code, JAWS software, Safa software, Screen reading soft- Practical Realities and Requisite Response ware, etc. Teachers role in the education process is crucial and their being motivated to teach blind and low vision The educational order must also make ample use of children is an essential factor. There is a general lack technology to benefit the blind and low vision recipi- of awareness amongst teachers about the existing and ents. There must be encouragement for schools to use newly developed aids and technology, both in remote audio tapes extensively along-with Braille enabled

Four in every 10 Indian children are malnourished UN Report 2008 21 July-Dec 2008 The VOICE of FOD apparatus. Visual movies and multi media CDs can be like verbalising whatever is written on the black-board. adapted for both entertainment and information pur- Using play as a tool to keep up interests in the sub- poses. Use of computers must be ample both as an in- jects, a method that would help both the sighted and dependent subject and tool. Computers must also be non-sighted students. Replace picture based questions fitted with the Heptic technology (The devices used with oral or objective ones and use mental Maths as for this technology include joysticks, data gloves etc.), much as possible. Also providing more time in exami- which allows for the user to receive touch based sen- nation is a requirement. sational responses for an interactional experience of Our path forward must provide for constant updating learning. If laptops can be provided to blind children, on new developments and aids. Maintaining a strong then studying independently would become far easier network is essential among manufacturers and distribu- for them. Furthermore Braille technology must be used tors of aids and appliances, researchers and end users not only for text portions of the syllabus but also for so that existing teaching learning material can be up- drawings, maps and geometrical diagrams. For ex- dated and newer, innovative, user-friendly ones are de- ample, the National Atlas and Thematic Mapping veloped using available technology, indigenous or for- Organisation (Kolkata) have the knowledge and ex- eign. For the appliances to be widely used, they must pertise to produce tactile maps. However, such be affordable and available. As far as possible books organisations and their work must be shared through a in e-text and Braille must be made available in schools proper network, so that they can have maximum ben- and public libraries. efit for the target group. Conclusion Besides training and technology, support, group study, The curriculum and process of traditional classroom collaborative activities, field visits and writer during teaching must be adapted for inclusion of blind and exams are useful for blind and low vision students. This low vision students prudently. Inclusion of students is of great benefit in doing laboratory work where a with disabilities in integrated schools must not be a blind student can be paired with a sighted student to source of showcasing to the government for benefits carry out experiments. Working in pairs is a norm even but with an intention to mainstream. The school ad- in regular schools and yet the students with blindness ministration and teaching faculty need to understand and low vision are not allowed to use the laboratory. A the need and interest of blind and low vision children. difficulty in practical work is no reason to deny them knowledge of concepts. Field visits for the study of It must also be understood that viable employments subjects like biology and botany should be made es- are available for blind and low vision persons with an sential. www.easi.cc is a site that provides educational educational background in Science and Maths. There concepts. are examples of such people doing Ph.Ds in Maths, working in banks, BPOs, etc. They are working as Setting the Path to Inclusion Internet researchers, stockbrokers and in quality con- An inclusive system of education cannot be achieved trol, etc. Therefore, we must not forbid them from without providing for motivation amongst students, studying Maths and Science because of perceived ob- their families, teachers and peers. Inclusive education stacles as that would result in complacency in the stu- would be incomplete without itinerant teachers in in- dent to expect and accept the easy way out. The an- tegrated set-ups for providing assistance to the regular swer lies in motivation, early career counselling and teachers, who should also be encouraged to learn mobility training where general knowledge, awareness Braille. However, just training the teachers in Braille of a world beyond one’s own, interaction with sighted is not enough they must be taught to identify the inter- individuals is necessary for a holistic grooming towards ests and skills of the blind and low vision students and rehabilitation in mainstream society. help them in pursuing those. This step would require the support of the school administration to provide the -The authors are a part of the CAN team which con- time to these teachers to engage with the students for ducted the study. achieving the optimum results. E-mail: [email protected], [email protected] Website: www.canfordisabled.org Besides, certain basic things should be kept in mind

You have succeeded in life when all you really want is only what you really need. Vernon Howard 22 July-Dec 2008 The VOICE of FOD

After the prenatal diagnostic tests confirm that the foetus is carrying certain congenital defects, should it be made mandatory to take birth? If so, it is only the parents, who would have to face the brunt of bringing up such a child. K. B. Mahajan ponders with whom should the right of bringing the baby with congenital anomalies to this world lie. Should legal and government agencies interfere in such matters when they do little to secure future of such children?

bortion has always 24 weeks while India restricted this period to 20 weeks Abeen a subject of only. controversy. Being viewed But nowhere anybody in the ancient time or modern as a social evil, various era ever thought that if a baby in the womb is detected religions have given out to be abnormal, can the mother go for abortion. After their fermaans on this all whose decision is it going to be – the scriptures, the issue. The Christianity government, the society or the mother who has to carry abhors fetus termination, the baby in her womb for 9 months and then live to Islam gives a little leeway bring up the abnormal baby for the rest of her life. – if the life of mother is in danger – it allows abortion. While Sikhism does not directly deal with abortion, it forbids it as it means interference in the creative work of God. Jewish texts frown upon abortion but the modern Jews are more liberal. Some Hindu institutions oppose abortion saying it hinders a soul’s karmic progress towards God while others feel that the fetus begins to be a person after three months; therefore abortion upto twelve weeks is OK. These are the classical views which were based on the basic theory of procreation to raise population. With the passage of time these theories came under discussion again and the urban intelligentsia gave it a Nikita and Haresh Mehta fresh thought based on science and technology. The widely publicised case of Nikita and Haresh Mehta Galloping increase in population became a hard fact from Mumbai comes to mind. Nikita was 22 week and feeding the new-born mouths gave rise to fresh pregnant when it was detected that her baby could have thinking in the modern world. a blocked heart and mal-positioned arteries which could Nations across the globe enacted laws according to their prove very risky. They went from one gynaecologist to needs, thinking, societal requirements and the advances the other but no body assured them of a normal baby. in medical science. While China had a one-baby norm The Mehtas decided to terminate the pregnancy and as and a forced abortion after 2, Romania allowed law abiding citizens went to the law court to seek abortions upto 21 weeks pregnancy. U.K. allowed upto Contd. on page 24

India ranks a lowly 66 out of 83 countries in the Global Hunger Index 2008. 23 July-Dec 2008 The VOICE of FOD

Tricycle, used by disabled people ply on the roads giving an exclusive flavour to the mixed type of traffic we usually negotiate. The comfort, freedom and economic benefit offered by this mobility aid is what the user look for in the prevailing disabled unfriendly transport system. Udeetta Chopra profiles the tri- wheeler which makes a great number of disabled people ambulatory

What is a tricycle? hospitals and national institutes spread all over the It is a mobility gadget that can be hand operated or country like Institute for Physically Handicapped, New motor operated. It almost incorporates all the parts of Delhi, National Institute for Orthopaedically a normal two-wheel cycle commonly known as a Handicapped, Kolkata spread all over the country. bicycle. However the private organisations have a very Added features unorganised distribution network. It has added features in the form of an extended seat, a Lacunas in manufacturing bigger frame, covered top, a toolbox and a backspace * The tricycle has no registered number. or metal box for multipurpose usage. * It has no standardisation process therefore usage of Who use it? substandard material is rampant and due to lack in People with limitations of using lower extremities. quality control frequent repairs are required. * No guarantee/warranty given on the equipment or Its benefits any of its parts. * Efficient and economic means of transportation * To negotiate the rural environment the tricycle should * Mobile business outlet as chalti phirti dookan. be of compatible quality. * To run household errands and meet other outdoor needs. Lacunas in distribution As there is no control system for its distribution done Manufacturers by NGOs, philanthropic individuals and organisations Artificial Limbs Manufacturing Corporation India like Rotary Club, Lions Club, the government and non- (ALIMCO) are the government manufacturers at government sponsored camps, a beneficiary can take Kanpur. Besides this there are local manufacturers in multiple number of tricycles from various sources Gurgaon, Noida, Delhi, Jaipur mainly in Northern India. without being caught. Cost Misuse The cost of the tricycle varies between Rs. 4000/- to * On obtaining more than one tricycle the rogue Rs. 5000/- for hand operated and Rs.40000-50000/- recipient sells them at any price and makes money from for motor operated. They are also available in higher the deal. price. * Some tricycles are resold back to the private Sales outlet manufactures to enter the sale-purchase network again. ALIMCO sells its products through government * Ignorant and migratory disabled users are often

Failure is only the opportunity to begin again, more intelligently. Henry Ford 24 July-Dec 2008 The VOICE of FOD

As the juxtaposition is seen here, tricycle is being rampantly used for various purposes. If a long queue of beggars on tricycle is a common sight outside popular Sai Baba Mandir on Lodhi Road, New Delhi (Left); there are also those who sell goods on them for their living (Right: ARS beneficiary of FOD). offered these cycles at throw away prices by the crook Seventy percent of disabled population lives in rural beneficiaries. India. They hardly have an access to a tricycle though * The motive behind the tricycle is to make the disabled there need may be genuine and urgent. Some strategy person mobile and become a productive unit of society. has to be formed to reach the tricycles to the distant But as it is a common sight we see its beneficiaries and remote parts of the country. Like motorised two begging outside prominent religious places defeating wheelers and four wheelers tricycle should be delivered the entire purpose of rehabilitation. to the recipient with a tool kit accompanied with necessary instructions especially for the rural folk. The cure of the misuse * The tricycle should be registered so that appropriate -The author has about two decades of experience invoices can be raised. serving the disabled fraternity, especially the visually * An apex body should be authorised to keep a control impaired. on the distribution of these tricycles with maintenance E-mail: [email protected] of data regarding the identity of the beneficiary at the time of receiving the tricycles along with the A pastor, a doctor and an engineer were waiting one morning for a identification of the vehicle, dealers and donors. particularly slow group of golfers. Conclusion Engineer: What’s with these guys? In our country everything falls in the trap of misuse Doctor: I don’t know, but I’ve never seen such inepti- tude! Pastor: Hey, here comes the green keeper. and tricycles are no exception. Let’s have a word with him. Therefore we feel that donors should be more vigilant Hi George! Say, what’s with that group ahead of us? while doing this charity as they intend to ultimately They’re rather slow, aren’t they? help a disabled person. Local manufacturers should George: Oh yes, that’s a group of blind fire fighters. cautiously maintain the quality of their product, as they They lost their sight saving our clubhouse from a fire last year, so we always let them play for a free any- know that it is certainly going to be used by a disabled time. person. After a moment of silence. Pastor: that’s so sad. I think I will say a special prayer Government should take stringent steps to administer for them tonight. the usage of the tricycle and for their safe journey on Doctor: Good idea. And I’m going to contact my oph- the road. thalmologist buddy and see if there’s anything he can do for them. Last but not the least the beneficiaries should not Engineer: “Why can’t these guys play at night?” MISUSE it in any way.

India has more hungry people –more than 200 million- than any other country in the world. UN Report 2008 25 July-Dec 2008 The VOICE of FOD

IRON: Meat, fish, poultry, lentils, beans, leafy veg- etables, tofu, chickpeas, strawberries DEFICIENCY: Anaemia, growth and developmental retardation, gastrointestinal tract abnormalities. FOLIC ACID: Leafy vegetables such as spinach and turnip greens, beans, peas. DEFICIENCY: Diarrhoea, loss of appetite, weight loss, weakness, sore tongue, headaches, palpitations, irritability, and behavioral disorders. IODINE: Seafood (cod and haddock) and kelp (sea- weed), iodised salt. DEFICIENCY: Mental retardation, hypothyroidism, stunning, goiter. VITAMIN B3 (NIACIN): Liver, chicken, fish, milk, ZINC: Oysters, meats, beans, nuts, whole grains, eggs, nuts, whole grains, legumes, leafy vegetables, pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds. tomatoes, broccoli, carrots, dates, mushrooms DEFICIENCY: Hair loss, skin lesions, diarrhea, wast- DEFICIENCY: Slows metabolism that decreases cold ing of body tissues. tolerance and causes weight gain, pellagra. CALCIUM: Milk, yoghurt, cheese, seaweeds (kelp, VITAMIN B6 (PYRIDOXINE): Beans, nuts, le- wakame and hijiki), nuts and seeds (almonds and gumes, eggs, meats, fish, wholegrains sesame), beans, seafood (oysters and shrimp), ama- DEFICIENCY: Anaemia, nerve damage, seizures, de- ranth, whole wheat, okra, broccoli. pression, skin problems, and sores in the mouth. DEFICIENCY: Stunting, weak bones and teeth. VITAMIN B12 (COBALAMIN): Meat especially VITAMIN A (RETINOL): Milk, eggs, liver, leafy liver and shellfish, eggs, milk spirulina (alga), nori (a vegetables (spinach) and coloured fruit and vegetables seaweed), and human gut bacteria (mango and carrots) DEFICIENCY: Nerve damage characterized by numb- DEFICIENCY: Night Blindness, keratomalacia, pale ness or tingling of the extremities, clumsy walk. and dry skin. VITAMIN C: Citrus fruits (orange, grapefruit, lime), VITAMIN B1 (THIAMINE): Rice and wheat bran, tomatoes, papaya, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, black freshwater fish, shellfish. currants, strawberries, cauliflower, spinach and capsi- DEFICIENCY: Weakness, fatigue, psychosis and cum nerve damage. DEFICIENCY: Loose teeth, fragile blood vessels, slower healing, lower immunity and mild anaemia. VITAMIN B2 (RIBOFLAVIN): Milk, cheese, eggs, leafy green vegetables, liver, yeast, legumes (soyabean) VITAMIN D: Fortified food and sunlight and nuts (almonds) DEFICIENCY: Osteoporosis (weak bones), rickets DEFICIENCY: Sore throat, swelling of mucous mem- (weak and deformed bones) branes, mouth and/or lip sores, anaemia, and dermati- tis. In the practice of tolerance, one’s enemy is the best teacher. Dalai Lama 26 July-Dec 2008 The VOICE of FOD Abortion... Contd. from page 20 permission for MTP as the pregnancy had been beyond the 20-week mark. The Court after hearing the case and considering the expert opinion refused to grant permission for MTP. It so happened that the child was WatchWatch OutOut dead in the womb itself and the matter finished. But the episode has left a vital question wide open: who has the final decision to terminate a pregnancy- I spent the morning looking out the window at the the religious tenets, the government laws, the society snow or the mother ? And what happens if the child is Watching deformed and is detected before its birth? Does the A couple walk by with their dog religion, government or the society have the will and Two teenagers go past with infrastructure to adopt such children? Or they will be Snow shovels over their shoulders left to the mercy of some philanthropists or NGOs! A few kids with a sled. Would they live like vegetables or have life beyond it? And then there was me. By the window. I for one would like this right to remain with the parents. In my wheelchair. What about you? Until I couldn’t stand it. -The author is retired deputy general manager from Throwing open the front door, I rolled down the India Trade Promotion Organisation and an active ramp. social worker Snow flew up smearing my glasses. E-mail: [email protected] I landed at the bottom, my wheels crunching As I sank into a pile of snow . Enterprising Spirits... Contd. from page 11 Watch out. As a physically disabled person herself, the author sees Several neighbors looked away a pattern in the growth graphs of differently able people You’d think I was a terrorist revealing that, in each situation, it was the family that As they scurried and hurried inside their homes. saw the potential, made the sacrifice and created newer How ironic, I thought, that creative spaces for the disabled child in the family. They might now be looking out their window at me Where was the state welfare agency as the extended Watching. family? What was the nature, scope and breadth of the vision of the policy makers in the so called welfare A strange reversal of fortune. state if it had no clue, no incentive, no moral obligation Having sunk as low as a wheelchair user can go towards the ‘invisible’ population of disabled citizens I no longer cared about rescue. who were battling with challenges that were not just Either the snow and ice would melt under me physical, but also social due to the stifling, stereotypical Eventually unconcern and marginality experienced by the Or AAA wheelchair services would come along physically disabled population. To tow me out. Democracy in India will be vitalised only when the Either way disabled citizens are assured of government policies I decided that facilitate recognition of the basic humanity of the I preferred disabled people as well as the mechanism and support Spending the afternoon outside in the snow. structure to realise their efforts towards being productive members of society. Ruth Harrigan -The author is associate professor, Centre for English Studies, School of Languages, Literature and Culture Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi E-mail: [email protected]

India ranks 128 out of 177 countries in the UN’s Human Development Index after taking into account life expectancy, literacy and standard of living UN Report 2008 27 July-Dec 2008 The VOICE of FOD Lost limbs but not spirit hivranshu Chhuneja, computer geek, had been hit 15, who had to have his by 11,000 volts of Sleft leg and an arm electricity from a low-slung amputated, and may have to transmission wire on June lose another limb to 10, 2006. Following the gangrene, has crossed incident, his father, a One-man battle turns into a another milestone on his building contractor, spent painful route to recovery by about Rs. 20 lakh on his mass movement passing his class X son’s treatment, mortgaging s reported in early application was the ridicule examination from an open his house in the process. A September, despite the he faced for being blind at school in Noida (UP). Meanwhile a Gurgaon- fact Ratanji, a BPL resident a village panchayat meeting He can only use the thumb based samaritan has got of Rangaru village in Rajkot when he wanted to know the of his right hand, needed a imported electronic limbs district cannot see, he progress of development teacher to write for him. His for the boy in July. The secured documents using works. The insult triggered right hand and arm still have power corporation res- RTI to expose corruption a passion in Ratanji to prove to be operated upon before ponsible for the wire paid a he can write, or eat, on his compensation of Rs 50,000 and has shown the way to his worth before village own. The self- proclaimed to the family. hundreds in his village. He folks. While he was making fought corruption and efforts to expose the Gift for children with CP worked for people’s corruption in village r. Mandeep Singh Research Development prosperity and the village’s development works, D Sethi and Dr. Rahul Corporation on behalf of the development. With official panchayat members started Katyal, who did their Department of Scientific details in their hands, the pressurising his family to bachelors in physiotherapy and Industrial Research as villagers have launched a force him to withdraw the from M.M. Institute of part of its Invention movement to force babus to plea. But Ratanji stood his Physiotherapy and Rehab- Promotion Programme. ilitation, Mulana in Ambala The chair costing around complete the works. ground which ultimately (Haryana), have designed Rs. 3,000-5,000/- can cut What stirred him to file an reaped results. a chair that will help down the duration of children with cerebral palsy treatment, which requires Mexico has a market for in their daily regimen and long-term physiotherapy. death in a bottle can also help in posture “At home the child might be correction and improve using a wrong posture and ne product from the animals during surgery and coordination. not exercising at all, the Oborder town of to euthanise them. Small The duo have been chair at home would prove Tijuana (Mexico), trumps bottles of its concentrated presented the 2008 Budding to be effective, if there are all others in terms of shock liquid form, enough to kill, Innovators Award in postural corrections to be value: death in a bottle, a can be found not on the October for the chair which done with the hands and liquid more potent than shelves of the many carries a cash prize of Rs. 1 feet, then corrective splints even the strongest tequila. pharmacies in Tijuana but in lakh given by the National can be attached,” Sethi says. The drug, pentobarbital can its pet shops, which sell a kill by putting people to wide variety of animals, as sleep, and it is tightly well as medications and regulated in most countries. other supplies. But aging and ailing people The Peaceful Pill seeking a quick and painless Handbook, co-written by way to end their lives say, Philip Nitschke, a book that pentobarbital, a barbiturate lays out methods to end commonly known as one’s life, says, the most Nembutal is most readily trouble-free and painless available in Mexico, as form of suicide is to buy reported in late August. Mexican pentobarbital. It Once widely available as a can be bought for as little sleep aid, it is now used as $30 for a dose. mostly to anesthetise

The thing always happens that you really believe in; and the belief in a thing makes it happen. Frank Lloyd Wright 28 July-Dec 2008 The VOICE of FOD Young grads work with lepers Photogs use eyes of heart ast the Chandighati in Mission, which runs to shoot PHaridwar is a cluster of entirely on donations with huts, a house to 500- leper no government aid. utaka Meijo, 18-yr- captions were written in families who have been Sanjay’s next step was Yold, lost his sight both Braille and traditional shunted out of their homes. setting up a school for when he was seven. “I take script. Hardly anyone ventures children of leprosy- affected pictures relying on sound. Takahiro Tsurui, 14, who here for fear of getting the as they are also victimised There’s just a feeling to it,” lost his sight four years ago disease but that doesn’t for the disease that afflicts says Yutaka as he takes in an accident, says he deter the small bunch of their parents. His effort paid shots of his visually definitely can’t see his grads who work with the off and now the school has impaired friends playing pictures but can imagine leprosy-hit. grown. It gets kids from table tennis, hitting a ping what he takes. It all started when a young across the country. There is pong ball with a bell inside. The children held cameras law graduate from a residential facility called Yutaka is among 23 youth for the first time in their Allahabad University Pradeep Vatika for kids as photographers at a school lives two and a half years Ashish Gautam landed up in well as free tuition and for the blind in Yokohama, ago when Hiroshi Suga, an Haridwar in 1996. At first meals. south of Tokyo. “I can award –winning Japanese these lepers were so Ashish’s mission has measure an object’s photographer, gave a lecture suspicious that they abused attracted several other distance by ear, I have no at their school. Suga who is and told him to leave. But young volunteers. Abhishek concept of colour but I use known for his documentary he built a hut there and an MBA from Chitrakoot, my imagination to its photographs, described the began dressing their came there as a visitor but fullest,” said 12-year-old children as having “eyes of wounds as doctors refuse to the chord that he struck with blind Yuta Ueno at a Tokyo the heart”. The students treat them. these kids hasn’t let him go exhibition held in July, of worked out their own It’s not a solo effort since back. He now imparts the children’s works where techniques to make up for he now has plenty of technical training to their disabilities. support from his friends. students as well as market Sanjay Chaturvedi, another paper products made by the Strokes killing the young law graduate joined him and tribal women. started Divya Prem Sewa rain stroke is fast which warn of lethal brain B emerging as a silent stroke. Incentives for the private killer of youngsters. Cases of stroke have shot up According to the registry drastically, in the past two employers maintained by the decades. In a survey n a meeting in August, the announce an incentive neurosciences centre at conducted three decades IGroup of Ministers scheme for the private AIIMS, a fourth of patients ago, the incidence was 39- headed by then home sector to employ the suffering from brain stroke 79 per 100,000 population. minister, Shivraj Patil disabled. “It just needs are young adults. But recent studies show that decided that incentives to political will to announce Most young adults dismiss the prevalence is nearly private employers to ensure the incentive scheme. An warning signs like 250-300 per 100,000 that 5 per cent of the amendment in the law is not dizziness, temporary loss of populations. In some workforce is composed of required,” says Javed Abidi vision, sudden weakness in pockets of India, it is as high people with disabilities of Disability Rights Group. limbs and difficulty in as 800-900 per 100,000 should be announced within The GoM has also said that speaking or understanding population. 2 years for the effort should be made to words as such symptoms A stroke occurs when blood implementation of seven forge a partnership with the disappear within 24 hours flow to the brain is cut off important directive corporate sector and and are misinterpreted as because of a narrowed, principles of the law. philanthropic groups to weakness. Doctors say blocked or ruptured artery, Since the inception of the augment the resources these all are symptoms of causing death or brain PWD Act in 1996, the required to empower such transient ischemic stroke damage. government has failed to persons. (TIA) or a temporary stroke,

6.45 lakh registered allopathic doctors in India. Health ministry Government of India 29 July-Dec 2008 The VOICE of FOD Two infants died after polio 10 yrs after side effects of polio drops in TN drop kills infant, court orders t least two infants, a postmortem,’’ collector Anil Afive month-old-baby Meshram said. govt to pay Rs 2 lakh to family boy in Perambalur district, In similar incident, a nine- In a decision aimed at improvement of public Tiruchiraplli and a nine day- day-old child was reported making public authorities health but also the old baby girl in Thanjavur dead near Kumbakonam more accountable, a city protection of life is the District of Tamil Nadu, hours after administering court has directed the Delhi primary duty of the government to pay Rs 2 lakh government. In any prog- were reported dead hours the vaccine. on January 5, as ramme of immunisation after they were admin- The girl infant, daughter of compensation to the parents involving administration of istered polio vaccine on a Narikuravr colony of an infant who died after drops, the possibility of December 21. The Public resident in Thiruvalanchuli being administered with side-effects cannot be ruled Health Department Author- Ezhumanthidal near Kum- Pulse Polio drops in 1999. out and it is necessary for ities, however, clarified that bakonam after admin- “The constitutional oblig- the government to gear up they were not vaccine istering polio vaccine at the ation of the government to its machinery to meet such related deaths. noon meal centre, refused to improve public health is not an eventuality,” ADJ Lau confined to introducing said. At Esanai village in be fed, vomitted, ran high programmes and admin- Challenging the petition, Perambalur district, Ezhu- temperature and subse- istering medicines but the government had said malai, a five-month-old quently fell unconscious. extends to protecting a child there was neither any infant, son of a coolie, was She was rushed to a under such a programme negligence in treating the administered polio vaccine government hospital in from all the consequential child nor any fault with the at 1100 hrs, he mysteriously Kumbakonam where she effects,” said Additional vaccinations in view of the died at 0230 hrs. was declared brought dead. District Judge (ADJ) report submitted by a high- The parents of the child Dr Anbalagan, Super- Kamini Lau. powered committee formed Five-month-old Nishu to look into the death of the alleged that the death was intendent of Government started vomiting after she child. caused due to polio drops. Hospital clarified that the was vaccinated in Najaf- ADJ Lau, however, However, government child had bronchitis and garh on November 21, observed that the facts on hospital authorities said that pneumonia and could have 1999. record spoke volumes about the kid was ill for past few died because of respiratory By November 23, her the circumstances that led to days and polio drops were tract infection. However, condition deteriorated the death of the infant. not the reason behind the her parents were not ready despite being given Taking strong exception to death. “The cause of death to buy this version. medicines earlier at the the manner in which the could be known only after Government Hospital in episode was followed by the Zaffarpur. At 1.30 am, her government agencies, the Kin of invalid government staff grandfather Rajpal rushed judge said, “Was it not her to the hospital where, necessary for the The ruling of Supreme Court The bench explained that according to the petition, government to have which widens the scope of when an employee dies in the staff was found instituted a high-level probe compassionate employment harness, his family is sleeping, and despite rather than conducting states that the case of thrown into penury and repeated requests, a doctor eyewash investigations on dependants of medically sudden distress on account was not called. Instead, the complaint of Rajpal? invalidated employees of stoppage of income. But Rajpal was asked to take the This was necessary to stands on an equal footing to where a person is perm- child to the DDU Hospital. reinforce the faith of the that of dependants of anently incapacitated due to Suffering with acute public in government employees who die in serious illness or accident, respiratory distress and programmes meant for their harness will open a window and his services are diarrhoea, Nishu succumb- welfare.” for the kin of government consequently term-inated, ed on way to the DDU The court further held that Hospital. the programme was servants who are the family is thrown into “Authorities cannot shun conducted in a “casual” permanently bedridden due greater financial hardship their legal responsibility in manner as not even the vials to illness or have become because not only the income case a person falls sick or of the polio vaccines were paraplegic due to an stops, there is also consider- loses life after being preserved for an in-depth accident or have become able additional expenditure administered with med- inquiry at later stages. blind. on treatment and attendant. icines, for not only the

How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world. Anne Frank 30 July-Dec 2008 The VOICE of FOD Rs. 1,000 crore scheme Quack fined jaw also broke during a he HRD Ministry has covered from four to eight- marjeet Kaur, 42-yr- surgery to remove the skin, mooted a Cabinet note blindness, low vision, Aold housewife was T which had turned septic. for a Rs.1000-crore leprosy, locomotor suffering from minor Amarjeet was finally inclusive education scheme. disability, mental retard- swelling in her gums and a admitted to LNJP hospital All disabled children ation, autism, cerebral palsy toothache, had gone to Dr. under Dr. AK Goel, who between 14 and 18 years of and mental illness. The Harish Tayal (merely a confirmed that even after age to an annual grant of Rs. scheme- aimed at benefiting BIMS), who has clinic in several operations, the right 3000 for personal needs, six to seven lakh disabled Raghubir Nagar, JJ Colony side of her face will remain apart from schools taking children- will also provide for an extraction and paralysed. Holding Tayal care of their educational funds to improve the remained under his responsible for gross reqirements. The Finance learning environment for treatment from October 1 – medical negligence, a west Ministry gave its approval the disabled in schools. It 16, 2003. The ‘dentist’ Delhi District Forum to the scheme. also provides for free extracted the tooth but gave directed him to pay The HRD Ministry intends transportation facilities her an overdose of a Amarjeet Kaur Rs. 5 lakh as to bring a large number of from home to school and painkiller, which caused a compensation for disabled children under the arrangements for their reaction and led to a dark deficiency in service and inclusive education fold by medical needs and cost free patch of 4-5 inches to form causing her permanent increasing the disabilities education. on her cheek. To make matter worse, the patient’s disability in September. SC order on kids with disabilities concerned Delhi High The bench also sought before the court saying, incharge of examining all ACourt on October 1 information on the kind of “there are no qualified complaints and is aided by demanded a detailed school disability a child suffers teachers in schools for such five major NGOs and said wise and class wise census from, and how the school kids and by denying them that as part of government of kids enrolled in MCD takes care of him/her to special facilities, the efforts, training was being and Delhi government ensure education is government was denying imparted to teachers of schools who suffer from imparted in a sensitive them right to education.” government schools to learning disabilities in two manner. Standing counsel for Delhi weeks before a bench Appearing for an NGO, government Najmi Waziri sensitise them on teaching comprising Justice A P Shah who filed the PIL, advocate informed court that a students with disabilities. and Justice S Muralidhar. Ashok Aggarwal argued disability commissioner is

Rs. 1.3 lakh fine for defective leg pex trauma centre at eena Aggarwal, a finally had a bad fall, and AAll India Institute of the company called her and Medical Sciences (AIIMS) got R lecturer from 300 brain dead cases last year Lucknow, had her left leg a new socket was prepared but only 3 families agreed to amputated from knee up for which she was charged donate organs i.e. just 1 percent. during a surgery in 1998. Rs. 26,000/-. Brain death is the irreversible She spent Rs. 1.75 on the The company in its defence end of all brain activity due to prosthesis known as had pleaded that the defect lack of blood flow and oxygenation. It should not be ESKIP+ system made by in the artificial leg occurred confused with a persistent vegetative state (coma). The UK based Indian company, due to negligence of the legal as well as medical communities use ‘brain death’ as the legal definition of death. Using brain-death criteria, which was assembled and user. Justice JD Kapoor the medical community can declare a person legally dead fitted on her leg in1999. dismissed the plea because even if life support equipment keeps the body’s metabolic But within two months the limb had a processes working. Organs that can be donated in case of Reena started facing manufacturing defect, as it brain death are heart, intestines, kidneys, lungs, liver and problems and had to visit required a socket change pancreas. The usable tissues are bones, tendons, corneas, Delhi thrice for repairs/ and repair practically every heart valves, femoral veins, skin grafts and the sclera (the change of socket. She still month. tough, white outer coating surrounding the eye). Organ Retrieval Banking Organisation of AIIMS can be contacted could not walk properly and for further information

27,140 docs churned out of medical colleges every year. Health ministry Government of India 31 July-Dec 2008 The VOICE of FOD Mentally disabled woman Kiosks set up in hospitals to delivers baby provide disabilities boy born to a mentally infection prone. If a healthy related information Adisabled woman in the baby remains for long with Noida district hospital on other kids, who are not that iosks providing infor on various disabilities, July 17 was adopted by a healthy, he or she is likely Kmation on various dis- schemes for persons with Delhi– based couple. to get an infection too,” abilities such as cerebral such disabilities, contact The mother, who was men- Gupta said. palsy and autism to disabled numbers and addresses of tally disabled person, van- The administration, how- people and their families associations run by parents ished from the district hos- ever, failed to take care of were set up in six hospitals for persons with disabilities, pital in July itself after giv- his mother. According to in Delhi in July. help–lines and NGOs work- ing birth to the baby, and the Chief Medical Superinten- The pilot project is an ini- ing on these issue. hospital, after consulting dent of the District Hospi- tiative of an NGO, Media They also give information with the district magistrate tal S C Singhal the hospital Lab Asia, with the central on user friendly speech– and city magistrate, handed did not have enough re- government’s Department based interactive system, over the child to a private sources to take care of the of Information Technology numerical key–based medical clinic and nursery mentally disabled woman. and the National Trust, a simple and easy customized to be put up for adoption by The staff could not trace the statutory body under the operation and audio–based the district authorities, who mother who disappeared, ministry of social justice help. feared the mother might leaving her baby behind. and empowerment. The kiosks have been set up hurt it. Neither the law enforce- Shankarnath Goswami, the in the psychiatry depart- “The child was put under ment agencies nor the ad- managing director of Media ment of Ram Manohar the care of Satya Medical ministration was able to Lab Asia, said these kiosks Lohia and Safdarjung hos- Centre, located in Sector– track down the family of the are meant to provide ben- pitals, in Guru Tegh 34, as they had a nursery for woman. efits to those who deserve Bahadur Hospital, Lok new– born babies. Narendra Singhal’s statements come these the most. Nayak Jai Prakash (Irwin) Gupta, a senior doctor with in the wake of the UP gov- ‘Information holds the key Hospital, Institute of Hu- the medical centre, in- ernment allocating Rs 400 to knowledge and this ini- man Behaviour and Applied formed that the baby boy crore for the upgrade of the tiative of Media Lab Asia Sciences (IHBAS) and the was handed over to the district hospital. Chief Min- aims to enable and em- All India Institute of Medi- couple on August 12. “We ister Mayawati had an- power persons with disabili- cal Sciences (AIIMS). have been telling the admin- nounced a few months ago ties to manage their disabili- Depending on their popular- istration to hand over the that the hospital would soon ties better,” Goswami said. ity, these kiosks may be set child to a responsible attain the status of a multi– The kiosks provides pam- up in other hospitals as well, couple, as new– borns are specialty hospital. phlets giving information officials said. 6-yr-old deaf boy sodomised railway employee to the train. When the train which confirmed sexual as- Health Capsule A sodomised a six– was going to the railway sault, and arrested Shyam CAN SIMPLY DRINKING WATER CUT MY HEART year–old deaf boy in a train yard at Chipyana, Shyam Lal, 45. ATTACK RISK? near the railway station, the Lal sodomised him. A.K. Verma, station officer police said. The incident Two passers–by, who in- GRP police station occurred at 1.00 p.m. in a formed the police about the Ghaziabad, said a case un- local passenger train near incident, said they were go- der sections 511, 294 and Ghaziabad railway station ing along the track when 377 of the Indian Penal on July 17. they saw the boy being Code has been registered According to the govern- sexually assaulted. “We res- against Shyam Lal, who is MEN WHO DRANK 5-6 GLASSES OF WATER PER DAY ment railway police (GRP), cued him and called the po- a resident of Ghaziabad’s HAD A 60 TO 70% LESS CHANCE OF HEART ATTACK Shyam Lal, a railway lice,” one of them said. Punjab Lines railway THAN THOSE WHO DRANK CONSIDERABLY LESS gangman posted at The police sent the boy for colony. WATER. Sahibabad, wooed the boy medical examination,

Trust in dreams, for in them is the hidden gate to eternity. Khalil Gibran. 32 July-Dec 2008 The VOICE of FOD Government to open special Pakistan Beauty schools for disabled kids aira Liaqat S and Urooj bout two lakh dis According to the latest fig- Akbar are among Aabled children in Delhi ures, only 8,000 disabled Pakistan’s many fe- can look forward to special students study in Delhi gov- male victims of ar- schools with state-of-the-art ernment schools, while son and acid at- facilities from the 2009 aca- 2,000 study in MCD tacks. Their face melted by acid demic session. schools. Besides, the years ago but hands The decision comes after schools have no special fa- are largely undam- the Delhi High Court cilities for disabled chil- aged to deftly criticised the Delhi govern- dren. handle the work of Saira Liaqat ment, the New Delhi Mu- The response of the authori- a beautician. Thanks to from Misbah. Misbah de- nicipal Corporation ties came after a PIL filed Depilex Smileagain Foun- cided to place a small news- (NDMC), and the Munici- by Social Jurists, an NGO, dation in Lahore, an orga- paper ad to see if others pal Corporation of Delhi through counsel Ashok nization devoted to aiding needed similar assistance. (MCD) for not doing Aggrawal. The PIL said women who have been Forty-two women and girls burned in acid or other at- enough for children with children suffering from responded. Misbah got in tacks – women like Liaqat special needs. The authori- blindness, hearing impair- touch with Smileagain, an and Akbar are today leading Italian nonprofit that has ties have assured the court ment and mental disability an independent life. provided medical services that they will open dedi- were deprived of the right About five years ago, to burn victims in other cated schools for physically to education. Masarrat Misbah, head of countries. She sought help challenged students. Aggrawal said a three- Pakistan’s well-known of Pakistani doctors. Her Depilex salon chain, saw a The Delhi High Court had member team had visited organisation has some 240 girl (victim of acid attack) constituted a committee in various primary schools run registered victims on its who had no face, and who October to look into issues by the MCD and Delhi gov- help list, 83 of which are at approached and ask for help various stages of treatment. related to disabled children ernment. The teachers had and non-availability of spe- admitted their ignorance Thank you Obama cially trained teachers for about teaching disabled In his famous acceptance disabled students in schools children. speech on October 4, at run by the MCD and Delhi “The failure on the part of Grant Park, the US Presi- government. In its reply, the authorities to provide qual- dent elect Barack Obama’s committee said the govern- ity education, attention and named disabled people ment would build 11 care to children with dis- along side other section of schools, the MCD 22 and abilities amounts to viola- American society. the NDMC one. They tion of fundamental rights,” “It’s the answer spoken by young and old, rich and would be named Rajkiya the petition said. Seeking a poor, Democrat and Repub- Samakit Vidyalaya, it said. barrier- free environment in lican, black, white, Latino, The committee also in- schools, the lawyer said the Asian, Native American, formed the court that the government should provide gay, straight, disabled and United States of America. proposal to build these special toilets and ramps for not disabled – Americans Unfortunately for politi- schools was under way and students with disabilities. who sent a message to the cians in India, disabled fra- the staff hired would be The next hearing is on Feb- world that we have never ternity is a non-entity. They been a collection of Red are remembered only on in- trained to cope with the ruary 11, 2009. states and Blue states : we ternational day for people needs of disabled students. are, and always will be, the with disabilities.

Beethoven was deaf when he composed his Ninth Symphony. digitaldreamdoor.com 33 July-Dec 2008 The VOICE of FOD Bionic arm “rewired” A woman fitted with a “bionic arm”, controlled by First-of- its-kind operation thought, has experi- or the past nine months, lator to enable respiratory enced sensations in 42-year-old Rajesh movement. Dr. Ashish Suri F her missing hand. Jain, a quadriplegic, has and his team were able to Claudia Mitchell, been confined to bed, at- successfully implant a spi- nicknamed ‘Bionic tached to a ventilator in the nal cord stimulator in Jain Woman’, was fitted with the shower and “felt’ hot water neurosurgery ward at All In- on June 2. limb in 2006 after losing her on her lost hand when it hit dia Institute of Medical Sci- Though doctors are not sure arm in a motorcycle crash her chest, where the nerves ences. Jain, a businessman, whether Jain can ever sit up in 2004. have been transplanted. had injured his spinal cord or regain strength in his Now, when Mitchell thinks Mitchell experienced the at C1 and C2 levels after he limbs, “if a quadriplegic is ‘move’ her chest muscles let sensation because the doc- fell from a wooden stool in able to sit on a wheelchair out tiny electrical impulses tors moved sensory as well October last year. with support and can go out, that are picked up by the as motor nerves from her For the first time in India, a it’s a big achievement for robotic arm, informed shoulder to chest, believe bilateral phrenic nerve them, said Dr. Suri in Au- Mitchell from Maryland in scientists, who developed stimulator has now been gust. second week of September. the new procedure at the used for a patient on venti- Four months after the opera- Rehabilitation Institute of First-ever two arm transplant tion, Mitchell was in the Chicago. German medical team farmer’s operation. The pa- Facial Transplant Aheaded by Christoph tient, 54, was “doing well wo facial transplants mauled by a bear in Octo- Hoehnke performed world’s under the circumstances” Thave proved highly ber 2004. In the second first transplant of two full after the 15-hour operation successful two years on, case, a 29-year old man in arms, on a farmer who had on July 25-26 at a clinic at opening the way for wider France with a facial tumour lost both his limbs in an ac- the Technical University in use of the procedure. The called a neurofibroma, cident six years ago. The Munich. It could take two operations in China and caused by a genetic disor- donor was a 15-year-old years before the new hands France are pioneered the der, underwent surgery in boy who had died before the get fully functional. use of donor tissue to repair surgery in January 2007. In severe disfigurement of the both the cases the immune At the tip of the tongue face caused by burns, mal- system of the patients flared new device that uses the system because unlike formations or trauma such up, but treatment overcame Aa tiny magnet can help hands and feet, which are as car crashes. both rejection episodes with disabled people steer a controlled by the brain Despite some complica- the use of steroids and wheelchair or operate a through the spinal cord, the tions, both patients regained drugs. computer using only the tip tongue is directly connected most normal physical func- These cases suggest that fa- of the tongue, US research- to the brain by a cranial tions, and enjoyed huge cial transplantation might ers reported in July. The nerve that escapes damage psychological benefits as be an option for restoring a magnet, size of a grain of in spinal cord injuries or well. Both studies were severely disfigured face, rice, lets people direct the neuromuscular diseases. published in the British and could enable patients to movement of a cursor “An individual could poten- medical journal, Lancet. readily integrate themselves across a computer screen or tially train the system to re- The transplant in April 2006 in the society. As reported a powered wheelchair organize touching each was done by a team led by in August, French woman around a room. Researchers tooth as a different com- Shuzhong Guo of the Insti- Isabelle Dinoire became the at the Georgia Institute of mand,” says Maysam tute of Plastic Surgery at first person in the world to Technology, Washington, Ghovanloo, assistant pro- Xijing Hospital in Xian, receive a face transplant in chose the tongue to operate fessor at the Institute. China on a 30-year old man, 2005. Li Guoxing, who was

Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see the shadows. Anonymous 34 July-Dec 2008 The VOICE of FOD Human Exoskeleton Doctors halt growth of aralysed for the past 20 climb stairs. The system, Pyears, former Israeli which requires crutches to 7ft 12-yr-old paratrooper Radi Kaiof, help balance, consists of octors have managed who was injured while serv- motorised leg supports, Dto stop a 12-yr-old boy ing in the Israeli military in body sensors and a back who is 7ft 3ins tall from 1988, now walks down the pack containing a comput- growing any bigger. Gad street with a dim mechani- erised control box and re- Kletter, an endocrinologist cal hum that of an electronic chargeable batteries. at Seattle’s Swedish hospi- exoskeleton moving the 41- “It raises people out of their tal, treated Brenden Adams yr-old’s legs and propelling wheelchair and lets them with high doses of testoster- him forward. stand up straight,” Goffer one to prompt the early on- The device called ReWalk, said. It’s not just about set of puberty, accelerating is the brainchild of engineer health, it’s also about dig- the process by which the Amit Goffer, founder of nity. growth plates that sit at each Argo Medical Technolo- The product, slated for com- end of human bones natu- gies, a small Israeli high- mercial sale in 2010, will rally close themselves off. tech company. cost as much as the more so- ReWalk helps parplegics- phisticated wheelchairs on people paralysed below the the market, which sell for An Irishman named O’Malley waist - to stand, walk and about $20,000. went to his doctor after a long ill- ness. The doctor, after a lengthy Kid fall short examination, sighed and looked at or the last 10 years, growth plates fuse and then him in the eye, and said, “I’ve some FMukund, 18, a mere128 there’s no chance of height bad news for you. You have cancer, and it can’t be cms tall hasn’t grown an gain. cured. You got two weeks to live.” O’Malley was shocked and saddened by the news, walked from the inch, though there is noth- A treatable condition but for doctor’s office into the waiting room. There, he saw ing wrong with his mental many, the steep cost of get- his son who had been waiting. He said, “Well son, we abilities. He underwent an ting those added inches is a Irish celebrate when things are good, and we cel- operation for removing hurdle they can’t surmount. ebrate when things don’t go so well. I have cancer, brain tumour 10 years ago. It isn’t just a question of and I’ve been given a short time to live. Let’s head Doctors believe either the height but of social percep- for the pub and have a few pints.” After three or tumour or the surgery de- tion. Short stature often four pints, the two were feeling a little less somber. stroyed his body’s ability to leads to teasing, bullying They were eventually approached by some old friends produce the all-important and romantic frustration, who asked why the two were celebrating. O’Malley growth hormone. “Short not to mention economic told them that they were impending end. He told his friends, “I’ve only got a few weeks to live as I have stature can be caused by and social discrimination. been diagnosed with AIDS.” The friends gave him many reasons such as mal- Height is no small matter. It their condolences, and they had a couple of more nutrition, infections and the tells the tale of a child’s diet beers. After his friends left, O’Malley’s son leaned body’s inability to produce and state of health. Even over and whispered his confusion. “Dad I thought you growth hormone. Around bodies like the UN use it to said that you were dying from cancer?” O’Malley said, 20% of short stature cases monitor nutrition in devel- “I am dying of cancer, son. I just don’t want any of fall in this category,” says oping countries. Though them fooling around with your mother after I’m gone.” Dr Rajesh Khadgawat, pae- short stature isn’t always a diatric endocrinologist at reason for alarm, experts Man to his friend, I’m one of the eighteen kids in AIIMS, who is currently say it could be a symptom my family. treating 20-30 such cases. of medical condition. The Friend: “How come?” He further explains that the long and short of it: consult “You see the problem was my mother was hard of condition can be treated a medical professional if hearing. When my mom and dad would go to bed at with growth hormone injec- your child’s height is sig- night, my dad would ask, ‘Do you want to go to tions but only if diagnosed nificantly below average. sleep, or what?’ And my mom would say, ‘What?’” early. With puberty, the

Fish that live more than 800 meters below the ocean surface don’t have eyes. amusingfacts.com 35 July-Dec 2008 The VOICE of FOD Blind boxer

Power-lifter who has polio arman Basha, 34, who Fcontracted polio in both legs in his early childhood, received prestigious Arjuna Award in the disabled cat- egory from the President of India on August 29. The power-lifter from Ban- galore participated in Paralympics Games held in ashir Ramathan, a a sullen figure sitting in a Beijing in September. ter he participated in completely blind one-room shack waiting for Basha who is a diploma FESPIC Games in Thailand B middleweight boxer from some orphans to boil his holder in Electronics and in 1999 finishing seventh. Ugandan slums, is fearless, next bowl of gruel to an in- Television Engineering, He finished 10th in Athens calling out all the other box- spiration across his country. started power-lifting in Paralympics in 2004. Basha ers in the gym to go toe-to- Ramathan’s parents died 1996 and won gold in gen- has won many laurels at toe with him- as long as they when he was young. He was eral category in 2006. He national and international wear a blindfold. Ramathan known throughout Naguru competed in Paralympics, levels. He thinks that best says he tries to home in on as a great athlete. But in National Wheelchair trophy is his wife Antoniata, smells and sounds, like the 1996 he got pounding head- Games first time in 1997 a state level athlete in gen- squeaks of the shoes and the aches. When he went to and won a silver. Thereaf- eral category. huff of his opponent’s doctor, he was told that he breathing. is going blind. “First my Beating Leukemia helped win gold But this Ugandan Rocky right eye, then my left. Then story is not about boxing. It dark, all dark, just black,” utchman Maarten van said the brave Dutchman is about how a man who he said. His wife, brother der Weijden, 27, was who raised 50,000 euros D unexpectedly lost his sight and sisters, all abandoned diagnosed with leukemia in (74,000 US dollars) in 2004 12 years ago has gone from him. 2001, but came back stron- for cancer research by ger after his ordeal to com- swimming the giant In a clinic a woman was seen by one pete at the 2003 open water Ijsselmeer lake in Holland. of the new doctors, but after about world championships be- “When you are in hospital four minutes in the examination fore he was crowned world and feeling so much pain room, she burst out, screaming as champion over 25km in and feeling so tired, you she ran down the hall. Seville earlier last year. don’t want to think about An older doctor stopped and asked her what the He said the experience of the next day or week- you problem was, and she explained. He had her sit down beating cancer helped him just think about the next and relax in another room. win an Olympic gold medal hour. It teaches you to be pa- The older doctor marched back to the first and after victory in the men’s tient when you are lying in demanded, “What’s the matter with you? Mrs. Terry is 63 years old, she has four grown children and 10km open water marathon a hospital bed and that was seven grandchildren, and you told her she was preg- swim on August 21. almost the same strategy I nant?” The new doctor smiled smugly as he contin- “The leukemia has taught choose here to wait for my ued to write on his clipboard. “Cured her hiccups me to think step-by-step,” chance in the pack. though, didn’t it?”

All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them. Galileo Galiei 36 July-Dec 2008 The VOICE of FOD Chinese dancer Natalie Du Toit iu Yan, 26, considered atalie Du Toit, Lone of the top classical N24-yr-old Chinese dancers was pre- South African am- paring the performance of a putee who lost her lifetime: the only solo dance left leg in a motor- in a four-hour spectacular cycle accident in that was expected to be seen 2001 chatted with by a global audience of She cannot move her lower an official about the more than one billion body, including her legs; first open water race Natalie Du Toit people. But on July 27, dur- has no feeling below her in Olympic history. ing an evening rehearsal for chest and it is unlikely she Du Toit didn’t finish where isn’t just to disabled people, the same, at Beijing’s Na- will ever walk again. she wanted. But just mak- it’s to every one there that tional Stadium, she leaped Over the years, some of her ing it to Beijing was a huge you have to work hard. I’ve toward a platform that mal- performances have also victory for anyone who been through a lot of ups functioned and plunged been popular on YouTube. faced a disability. She fin- and downs…but I’ve seen about 10 feet into a shaft, Her planned performance in ished 16th in the end of gru- a lot of good things along landing on her back. the opening ceremony, The elling 10-km race in August. the way,” du Toit said. She underwent six hours of SilkRoad, was the only solo “I tried my best. I’m not too Toit’s time of 2 hours, 49.9 surgery but suffers from dance. Another dancer took happy with it, but I’ll back seconds put her ahead of nerve and spinal damage. her place. for 2012.” She was an nine others. Olympian, “My message Sania’s battered wrist gets new life n August, scenes of 21- Chaudhary’s treatment a “After the surgery (in April) Iyr-old Sania Mirza mak- shot. He had fixed Yuvraj’s I had only got back 50 to 60 ing a premature exit from shoulder in ten minutes. percent of movement on my the Olympics Games in a I had gone to the best doc- wrist. When I went to Jatin, pool of tears were flashed tors in the world, had sur- he put some 30-50 needles from Beijing. Sania was gery and nothing was work- on my index finger, and frustrated as much by the ing. Sometimes, I couldn’t very time he hit the spot I physical pain as with the even feel my little finger, felt the electric current go hopelessness of her situa- the pain was numbing. through me. He left the tion. The pain was so bad Top notch Aussie physio- needles on for 30 minutes that she couldn’t even lift a therapist Amir Takla, finally and he did this 3-4 times a fork. deduced the problem as a day. It was very painful, be- Doctors were clueless; the post surgery complication, cause the more times he did pain was bad and the fore- possibly due to poor reha- it the more sore the finger cast, dismal. That’s when bilitation. Sania’s joints are felt. After two days he asked she got a call from cricketer hyper mobile (excessively to bend my wrist and I had nificant scarring tissue, my Yuvraj Singh, who urged flexible), the reason why regained 90 percent of the bones were fine and the two the striking Hyderabadi to she cracks such a powerful, movement. After 10 days of cysts were gone,” Sania give physiotherapist Jatin wristy forehand. treatment, there was no sig- pointed out.

A man goes into the hospital for some tests. The medical staff knocks him out, and when he comes around there is a doctor peering over him, pulling up the eyelid and wielding the reflex hammer. The doctor says, “Ah, I’m glad you’re awake. I’m afraid I have some mixed news.” The man says, “Doc, tell me the bad news.” The doctor says, “It was worse than we thought; we had to amputate your left leg: the man then asks “What is the good news then?” The doctor replies, “The man in the next bed wants to buy your slippers.”

Charlie Chaplin once entered a Charlie Chaplin look-a-like contest and came in third. movie-mistakes.com 37 July-Dec 2008 The VOICE of FOD Polio-stricken takes up shooting Arvind Tomar, the 20-yr-old Sultanpur. polio-stricken son of a In 2001, he was selected farmer, went on to hone the under Sports Authority of art of shooting and is im- India’s (SAI) scheme and parting his skill to eager for the next three years he pupils. resided at the Indira Gandhi There was a time when he Stadium, Delhi. His coach With this edition of The Voice… the readers will get an was left to fend for himself. Shagun Bhugra played a interesting quiz to answer. Polio was so severe that his pivotal role in moulding his The first three correctly answered quiz received by The entire body was paralysed. career. He won a national Voice…would be entitled to The Voice... free subscrip- Gradually the upper limbs silver medal in10m air pis- tion for three years, ten greeting cards designed by dis- started moving and at the tol in the special category abled artists and a copy of Eminent Disabled Persons age of seven he was able to and also a gold in the 50m of the World authored by Vinod Kumar Mishra. hobble around with the help rifle prone (special cat- of a wooden stick. He suf- egory) at the Mavalankar 1. Who was the Rishi with disabilty who created more fered another blow in 2003 Championship than 100 richas of Vedas? Name his disability? when his father, his sole (Coimbatore, 2005).” 2. An emperor who had disability in early youth estab- source of inspiration, “When I went to Almora to lished a large empire in Asia, what was his name? What passed away. coach some 20-odd young- disability he had? His father asked him to take sters this year, they were not up shooting. Tomar, has allowing me to come back. 3. A poet with disability who worked for freedom of imparted training to school Money is important but ap- Greece, what was his name? and college students and preciation is invaluable,” 4. A bowler with polio who created havoc for bats- forest rangers in Almora, said Tomar. man, what was his name? Indicate if it was left or Chamba, Amethi and right arm? 5. Please name the first educated person who was deaf blind. 6. Please name the event for disabled which follows Olympic Games. 7. The great man who invented Braille script was born in which country? What was his date of birth? 8. Visually challenged people also play cricket. What is the difference between their a) Ball b) Stumps c) Bowling 9.Cinema was invented by a person with disability. In which year was he born? 10. Why is Surdas called so? What is the name of the biggest epic of great poet Surdas? Ball girl Kelly Bruno, born with defects in her right Readers are requested to send their answers latest by leg and an amputee from the age of six months is a March 31, 2009 to the editor of The Voice... world-class triathlete and an Ironman competitor. -Contributed by Vinod Kumar Mishra

The older people in the family have a wealth of knowledge to share if you just ask and listen. H Jackson Brown Jr. 38 July-Dec 2008 The VOICE of FOD Revolution

Baby and Child Care Where my eyes set upon the horizon I see a new revolution Author: Dr. R.K. Suneja One that sets the path for the right Publisher: Rupa & Co. One that sets truth in sight 7/16, Ansari Road, Darya A revolution! Ganj, New Delhi - 110002 Wrested with the spirit in my soul Pages: 295; Price: The world beyond stirring out of control Rs.195/- A revolution! Got to travel the distances in time Baby and Child Care is a Got to brew the passion of mine comprehensive guide for A revolution! young parents and parents I have found the peace that I seek to be. The book gives Now it’s time to set the world free valuable information and A revolution! timely tips for almost all type of problems faced by The humanity swaying like a river Let’s hold the hands that shiver parents - ranging from how to manage babies – from A revolution! their conception to even on the tips on hiring the nanny/ ayah. Singing along in this turbulent reign Let’s forget the thing we have, pain The author has also elaborated the importance of vac- A revolution! cinations and timely immunisations and what one should know about them. Dancing with joys of a new shine Breaking all the evils inside The book also discusses with how to monitor the baby’s A revolution! growth and development and on how to assess the warning signs of any delay in the development of the Twisting out of the clutches of this world baby. Besides giving useful tips on how to handle dis- Let the winds of tranquil unfurl abled children at home, the author has stressed the A revolution! importance on “early intervention”- without wasting Hand in hand we sway to the beat time on waiting and watching. This book is very prac- We still have a mission to complete tical and handy - a must for reference for all. A revolution! Simple language has been used without going into usual The ones that stand for this way medical jargons, making it easy for the common man Are the ones that would bring today or for that matter a woman to understand. At the same A revolution! time the author has stressed time and again that the Written for a dear friend, intending to bring parents must consult the doctor at all times. a revolution in these times, for a new day! -The reviewer is an occupational therapist specialising in sensory integration Sanil Kumar V. S. Bole E-mail: [email protected] E-mail: [email protected]

In 1961, only about 28% Indian were literate. In 2006 estimates put the literacy rate about 66%. NUEPA 39 July-Dec 2008 The VOICE of FOD

What is Munchausen Syndrome? What is argemone oil? Munchausen Syndrome, also known as hospital addic- Argemone oil is extracted from argemone seeds. It is tion, fictitious illness, afflicting those referred to as pro- mixed with sunflower oil and sesame oil to increase fessional patients, is a repeated fabrication of clinically their quantity. Consumption of this oil leads to health convincing simulations of disease for the purpose of disorders among children. To avoid this, we must check gaining medical attention. It refers to patients who the contents of cooking oil. Many oil brands mention wander from hospital to hospital feigning acute medi- ‘no argemone oil’ on their packs. cal or surgical illness and giving false and fanciful in- What is Dissociative Identity Disorder? formation about their medical and social background Dissociative Identity Disorder is defined as the occur- for no apparent reason other than to gain attention. The rence of two or more personalities within the same in- cause is unclear prognosis poor and treatment often dividual, each of which, during some time in the unsuccessful in these psychiatric patients. person’s life, is able to take control. This is not often a mentally healthy thing when the personalities vie for What is Gene Doping? control. It’s also known as multiple personality disor- Gene doping involves modifying an athlete’s DNA, or der (MPD).In 1994, the American Psychiatric having him inject or inhale foreign DNA to make him Association’s DSM-IV replaced the acronym MPD bigger, stronger and faster. It’s harder to detect than with Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID). most drugs, which makes it all the more desired by cheaters looking to prosper. It is suspected that gene Milk, cheese, curd, paneer are animal prod- doping is already happening and is being done unethi- ucts, but why are they considered vegetar- cally and with immature technology, thereby, making ian? it inherently dangerous. A vegetarian is one who does not consume any animal product or by-product from a slaughtered animal. As What is FitBit tracker? dairy products and eggs, honey, etc. are taken from liv- It’s a tiny fitness gadget which constantly monitors if ing creatures, they are classified as vegetarian. It is a you’re eating right, exercising enough and sleeping strict vegetarian or ‘vegan’ that does not consume any adequately. The rationale is to motivate people to lead animal product, either from a living or slaughtered ani- a healing lifestyle. The FitBit tracker is wireless and mal. functions with the help of motion sensor called accel- Why is the virus H5N1 called so? erometer, which keeps tabs on movements. When a The influenza A (H5N1) virus - also called the H5N1 person walks by a wireless base station, the informa- virus is a subtype that occurs largely in birds. It is very tion thus collected is uploaded on web. contagious and can be deadly. There are many differ- How is parrot able to mimic human speech? ent subtypes of type A viruses. These differ because of Relative to body weight, parrots have brain sizes that certain proteins on the virus surface – hemagglutinin are on par with chimpanzees and orangutans and they (HA) and neuraminidase (NA) proteins. All known are considered to be the most intelligent animals (ex- subtypes of flu A viruses can be found in birds. They cluding humans). Due to larger brain size, parrots brain do not usually infect humans, though they can. When possesses cognitive abilities and they can mimic hu- we talk about human flu viruses, we refer to those sub- man speech and a variety of sounds and can solve com- types that occur widely in humans. There are only three plex puzzles. known A subtypes of human flu viruses.

This is your life and it’s ending one minute at a time. Edward Norton 40 July-Dec 2008 The VOICE of FOD

at the main happenings at Family Of Disabled during the past six months

Chief Guests at the inaugral function of Beyond Limits 2008 Fifth exhibition in the series of Beyond Limits 2008 was held at Academy of Fine Arts and Literature, New Delhi, from October 1-8. Jamuna Krishnan, director Kalangan Trust, sponsored and inaugurated the show. Arpana Kaur, the renowned artist and owner of the gallery not only gave her space but also helped in ev- ery possible way for the success of the exhibition. 38 works were purchased by the art loving people, with eighty percent of the proceeds going to the artists. Deepu Kumar - the 400th entrepreneur of Apna Rozgaar Scheme Thirty two people with different disabilities were FOD reached another milestone when 400th entre- provided with mobility and assistive aids free of cost preneur, Deepu Kumar, was initiated into Apna Rozgaar like tricycles, wheelchairs, crutches, sticks, walkers etc. Scheme on December 1, for his economic rehabilita- tion. He manages a micro-trade of selling tea and to- bacco products in Gurgaon. Upon analysing the effect of ARS, ten percent of the entrepreneurs were found to be earning between Rs. 7000 to 10000/- and above. Prior to being helped under ARS, their monthly income was somewhere between Rs 1500/- and Rs. 2000/- and some were unemployed all together. The living stan- dards of ARS beneficiaries and their dependents show significant improvement, they are now able to enjoy essential amenities of daily life. A delegation comprising six members headed by Kunzang from People Action Group for Inclusion and Seven tricycles were being handed over to disabled Rights (PAGIR), Leh-Ladakh (Jammu & Kashmir) vis- persons by Dinesh Panjtey, Sr Divisional Manager, ited FOD and discussed the modalities to further pro- FOD organisedLIC, Janakpuri, stalls at BRA New (Blind Delhi Relief Asso- mote vocational training at their centre. Earlier from ciation) for Diwali Mela on October 21-23, Gargi Col- July 6 to 30, FOD had arranged services of Arveend lege on October 24, British High Commissioner’s Resi- B Singh, an expert in various trades, to train the staff dence on December 17, Springdales School, Dhaula and disabled trainees in Ladakh itself. Kuan and Pusa Road on December 14 and December

Nearly one-third of schools do not have a pucca building and classes are held in tents or under the open sky. NUEPA 41 July-Dec 2008 The VOICE of FOD 21. New Era Public School on December 21 and at Winter Mela, BB Block, Janakpuri on Dec 28, where a Two deaf men are on their tea- break, signing to each other about wide range of products prepared by different disabled being out the night before. The artisans were on display for sale. The objective was to first man signs to his friend, “my provide a platform/outlet to unheard /unsung artisans wife was asleep when I got home, so I was able to sneak to bed without waking her.” Trainees at recently started sheltered workshop on The second deaf man signs back, “boy, you’re lucky: the premises of FOD currently make products from my wife was wide awake waiting for me in bed and she donated old newspapers and earn little pocket money. started swearing at me for being so late.” The first deaf man asks, “so, what did you do?” Five days a week for 90 minutes, in the evening, the The second man replies, “I turned out the light.” trainees who are illiterate are being taught by a volun- teer Jagjeet Kampani. A man walks down the street... On his way, he meets a friend, who happens to have only one arm. “So, what are you up to?” “I’m going to change a lightbulb.” “Won’t that be difficult, with just the one arm?” “Shouldn’t think so, I’ve got the receipt.

Your brain is in 2 parts, left and right. Left brain has nothing right in it and right brain has nothing left in it.

Why don’t oysters give to charity? Because they are shellfish.

Trainees learning manufacturing of newspaper bags at the workshop in FOD office

Rajinder Johar, chief coordinator FOD, was con- ferred with Citizen Journalist Award in the cat- egory “Be the Change” on October 16. The award instituted by CNN-IBN (Network 18), a group of TV channels was presented by Shiela Dixit, Chief Minister, Delhi.

The highest destiny of individual is to serve rather than to rule. Albert Einstein FAMILY OF DISABLED Building Capacities; Fostering Self-Reliance Regd. Office: B-1/500, Janakpuri, New Delhi-110058 FOD Tel: 25597328, 41570140 E-mail:[email protected]; [email protected] Visit us at: www.familyofdisabled.org

Family Of Disabled (FOD), established in 1992, works for the benefit of the disabled people in its own small, quiet and exclusive way. Over the years FOD introduced the following programs in the interest of the disabled fraternity: Publication: FOD publishes a biannual magazine The Voice… country’s first magazine on disability, having global readership since the inception of the organisation. Socio-Economic Rehabilitation: FOD in 1998, launched Apna Rozgaar Scheme (ARS) under which poor, disabled individuals who are illiterate, unskilled and jobless are socio-economically helped into self- employ- ment. Till December 2008, more than four hundred such people have been initiated into ARS with seventy five percent success rate. Over ten percent of them are earning between Rs.6000 and Rs. 12,000 per month. Promotion of Talented Artists/Artisans: The opportunity-deprived artists and artisans are promoted through their work which brings them recognition, appreciation and monetary gains. FOD has been organizing national level exhibitions titled Beyond Limits since 2001. Also, products made by disabled artisans are marketed by organizing stalls from time to time. Sponsoring Education: Education of disabled child, primarily for girls or wards of disabled parent(s), is sponsored. Provision of Aids & Appliances: Mobility aids like tricycles, wheelchairs, crutches, walkers, sticks, hearing aids etc. are provided, free of charge, to the needy and deserving people. Sheltered Workshop: Here physically and intellectually disabled people are given training under one roof in making various marketable utility products so as to make them an economic viable unit of society and are encouraged to supplement and complement each others’ needs. Excursion And Educational Tours: FOD conducts excursion and educational tours for disabled school children and adults whose guardians/carers and school cannot afford such a facility. HOW CAN YOU HELP? Volunteering your time and skills at FOD. Sponsoring deserving disabled people for ARS, education, aids and appliances. Introducing artists and artisans with disabilities and referring those disabled individuals who are in need and deserve the above offered services. Making and arranging donations to fund FOD projects, office equipments, working space to expand FOD activities. Future Project(s): Multipurpose Rehabilitation Centre. Donations made to FOD are exempt u/s 80G of the I.T. Act, 1961 FOD has received fourteen awards for its services. For more information on FOD contact chief coordinator

RNI NO. : 57219/92