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Disability is a state of mind
( words)
*For representational purpose only.
Satyaprakash Tiwari is a perfect example of someone who has converted a disability into an opportunity. He was born in Wadala in the year of 1966. He was in Wadala till 10th std. Now he is 50 years old. He belonged from a middle class family, where his father was working with BEST (Bombay Electric Supply and Transport) and his mother was a housewife. His childhood was pretty normal. He was average in studies, and more interested in sports. He always wanted to participate in sports events especially in cricket. He was even a NCC cadet. He always wanted to play cricket for India or join the services but because of his accident he could not do both. He shifted to Ghatkopar when he was in 10th std in 1980, he completed his 10th in the year 1980. When he was in FYJC in 1981, on 6th of august 1981 he was returning home from his college in a local train, it was a rainy day, and the train was a little crowded, so while getting off the train at Ghatkopar station he could not go out quickly and the train started moving, he thought he could get off and because he was wearing slippers he slipped and fell in between the gap of the platform and train, his legs went under the gap and his body remained above the platform amputating his legs. He was immediately rushed to Sion hospital. Satyaprakash was kept in the emergency ward for 15 days where most of the time he was in a state of unconsciousness. He got a lot of support from the BEST staff because of his father being in it.
When he gained consciousness, he was shifted to general ward and found out about his condition, until then he unaware that his legs had got amputated. When he found out, his mind blanked out and was shocked. He had a lot of dreams for his future and before his life even started everything got destroyed, Satyaprakash was just 16 years old back then. He had no idea as to what is he going to do next. His condition was like a new born child. His parents supported him a lot in this phase. He was not able to lift even 1 kg with his own hands. It obviously took time for him to sink in and accept the situation. He was shifted to all India institute of physical medicine and rehabilitation centre, it is there when he started accepting the fact that life has to go on. He was blessed that he had doctors who not only improved him physically but more so mentally. He also made a friend there named Gokarnaprasad Chaturvedi who was from Madhya Pradesh, because of him, he got a little free and learned how to tackle his problems. When he was in this institute he saw people in worse conditions as compared as to what condition he was in that time, Kids who were younger than him, some were even disabled by birth. He realised that he is not the only one and there are people who are suffering and are in much bad conditions. He felt lucky that at least he had lived a normal life for at least 16 years.
He would sometimes overhear some people who he knows speak things like “It will be very difficult for him ahead in his life with this condition”. “He will always have to be depended on others”. He did not know how to answer them, he used to feel bad. Sometimes he used to feel embarrassed about my condition. He have also seen family relations break of other people having disability, fortunately his family supported him a lot. He learned one thing from this that if you want the society to respect you, you have to do something on your own without depending on others. He was not clear what to do though.
In the year 1984 someone suggested his father to start a small general shop for Satyaprakash where he can at least sit and earn something. My father agreed and opened a shop for him from which he earned his first penny . He got busy because of this, but somewhere He was not satisfied with this. As he was interested in sports he started to participate in sports events for disabled which used to be organised in Shivaji Park, Dadar. He took advice from his friend who used to participate in Para-athletic events and told him that he would like to participate in such events. He called Satyaprakash for a event which was in Chennai organized by the Rotary club which was his first big break. He participated in shot put, javelin throw and discuss throw but he never got any medals though. These events were organized by clubs and institutions and were not recognized, they did not serve a big platform. After that he kept on participating in many events. He always wanted to play for India. He gave the Paralympics trials in 1995 but did not get selected but he used to get appreciation from the crowd. At this point he decided to take this seriously.
Satyaprakash kept on participating in state level and national level Para-athletic events and in the year 1998 he also gave trials for the FESPIC games (far east and south pacific games for the disabled) which are now known as the Asian Para games, in which he was again not up to the qualifying standards but fortunately he was called for re-trials because of minute differences. He was finally selected in the team for the 1999 FESPIC games (THAILAND). Finally Satyaprakash’s dream of representing the country had come true. He got bronze medal, at that point of time he forgot all his disability. After this he won a lot of medals but this will always be special to me.
Satyaprakash Tiwari even said few beautiful lines - “There are two types of disabled people, one who are by birth and second who have lived a normal life for few years and then got disabled. The ones who are by birth disabled find it a little less easy to survive but the ones who have lived a normal life and then got disabled face a little problem to cope up, they usually get a lot of depression. If you tackle depression you can achieve anything. You should always find strength in what you have. If you give up on yourself no power in the world can help you. You have to strive yourself to achieve success. If you are going to lose at least fight and loose, you will at least have the satisfaction that you tried. Life is not easy for anybody, keep trying what you love and you will eventually get it.”
Shaline Choudhury

When he gained consciousness, he was shifted to general ward and found out about his condition, until then he unaware that his legs had got amputated. When he found out, his mind blanked out and was shocked. He had a lot of dreams for his future and before his life even started everything got destroyed, Satyaprakash was just 16 years old back then. He had no idea as to what is he going to do next. His condition was like a new born child. His parents supported him a lot in this phase. He was not able to lift even 1 kg with his own hands. It obviously took time for him to sink in and accept the situation. He was shifted to all India institute of physical medicine and rehabilitation centre, it is there when he started accepting the fact that life has to go on. He was blessed that he had doctors who not only improved him physically but more so mentally. He also made a friend there named Gokarnaprasad Chaturvedi who was from Madhya Pradesh, because of him, he got a little free and learned how to tackle his problems. When he was in this institute he saw people in worse conditions as compared as to what condition he was in that time, Kids who were younger than him, some were even disabled by birth. He realised that he is not the only one and there are people who are suffering and are in much bad conditions. He felt lucky that at least he had lived a normal life for at least 16 years.
He would sometimes overhear some people who he knows speak things like “It will be very difficult for him ahead in his life with this condition”. “He will always have to be depended on others”. He did not know how to answer them, he used to feel bad. Sometimes he used to feel embarrassed about my condition. He have also seen family relations break of other people having disability, fortunately his family supported him a lot. He learned one thing from this that if you want the society to respect you, you have to do something on your own without depending on others. He was not clear what to do though.
In the year 1984 someone suggested his father to start a small general shop for Satyaprakash where he can at least sit and earn something. My father agreed and opened a shop for him from which he earned his first penny . He got busy because of this, but somewhere He was not satisfied with this. As he was interested in sports he started to participate in sports events for disabled which used to be organised in Shivaji Park, Dadar. He took advice from his friend who used to participate in Para-athletic events and told him that he would like to participate in such events. He called Satyaprakash for a event which was in Chennai organized by the Rotary club which was his first big break. He participated in shot put, javelin throw and discuss throw but he never got any medals though. These events were organized by clubs and institutions and were not recognized, they did not serve a big platform. After that he kept on participating in many events. He always wanted to play for India. He gave the Paralympics trials in 1995 but did not get selected but he used to get appreciation from the crowd. At this point he decided to take this seriously.
Satyaprakash kept on participating in state level and national level Para-athletic events and in the year 1998 he also gave trials for the FESPIC games (far east and south pacific games for the disabled) which are now known as the Asian Para games, in which he was again not up to the qualifying standards but fortunately he was called for re-trials because of minute differences. He was finally selected in the team for the 1999 FESPIC games (THAILAND). Finally Satyaprakash’s dream of representing the country had come true. He got bronze medal, at that point of time he forgot all his disability. After this he won a lot of medals but this will always be special to me.
Satyaprakash Tiwari even said few beautiful lines - “There are two types of disabled people, one who are by birth and second who have lived a normal life for few years and then got disabled. The ones who are by birth disabled find it a little less easy to survive but the ones who have lived a normal life and then got disabled face a little problem to cope up, they usually get a lot of depression. If you tackle depression you can achieve anything. You should always find strength in what you have. If you give up on yourself no power in the world can help you. You have to strive yourself to achieve success. If you are going to lose at least fight and loose, you will at least have the satisfaction that you tried. Life is not easy for anybody, keep trying what you love and you will eventually get it.”
Shaline Choudhury

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