A small rented room located on the first floor of a rundown building in Amargarh, Sopore, is among a few places where Farooq Ahmad Dar, 40, and other physically disabled people like him feel at home.
This is where they can freely talk to each other, joke around, share their problems, find solutions, and be themselves, without being judged or looked down by the society.
This room serves as office for Jammu and Kashmir Handicapped Attehad Welfare Association (JKHAWA). Started in 2009, JKAWA has over 300 members registered with them from across Baramulla district. This room is their small universe.
Every day Farooq, a resident of Hudipora village, parks his tricycle outside the building and climbs a narrow and dark staircase, using a long stick to balance his body. It is a painful process but he has no other option. He knows an office for handicapped persons should not be at the first floor. But he blames lack of support from the government for this irony. “It is not easy for people like us,” he said pointing at his lifeless legs.
At the age of three Farooq had a fall from the second-floor window of his house; since then he cannot move his legs. His struggle started almost immediately.
Born to a poor farmer father and housewife mother, cost of the treatment drained his family financially. Despite that Farooq was enrolled in a local government school. However, he quit his studies in tenth class. “It was painful as well as humiliating to drag my body all the way to school located two kilometres away,” said Farooq.
After idling a few days at home Farooq decided to learn how to weave carpets so that he could earn on his own. He contacted a local carpet weaver, who owned a loom, and requested him for help. “He was discouraging as he sent me home saying it requires lots of efforts to weave a carpet, which a handicapped person like me cannot do,” recalls Farooq.
This story is from the December 22-28, 2019 edition of Kashmir Life.
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This story is from the December 22-28, 2019 edition of Kashmir Life.
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