The same panchayat official who harassed me years ago
now supports me completely, says Anjana Devi, a wheelchair-bound woman
from Ujire, Belthangady taluk. She was felicitated on Sunday at the 21st
annual conference of the Dakshina Kannada and Udupi Disabled Persons’
Association for winning a national award for empowerment of persons to
recognise outstanding employees with disabilities, from the Ministry of
Social Justice and Empowerment in 2012.
Anjana Devi being felicitated by Dakshina Kannada and Udupi Disabled Persons’ Association in Mangalore on Sunday
She worked
as a vocational rehabilitation worker (VRW) in Ujire Gram Panchayat for
three years, where she was not given a room and was questioned why she
did not sign the attendance register. Despite the problems, she worked.
Once, she hired an autorickshaw and took two other persons with
disabilities (one visually-impaired and one with low sight), and spent
the day in the field, gathering information about the problems of
anganwadi workers. Her commitment to work was noticed and later, the
national award followed. Now, the officials who discriminated against her then, acknowledged her and her work.
Ms.
Devi said that all through her journey in the last few decades —
following her determination to be financially independent — has been
fraught with battles, many of them based in biases against the
physically challenged. While she has been physically dependent on others
around her, she said she told her family members, “I will not trouble
any of you, I want to be financially independent.”
Before
the panchayat job, determined to be self-reliant, she had opened a
phone booth in Ujire Bus Stand where she worked for 20 years. That was
not easy as people opposed the booth on various grounds, she said. Then
mobile phones arrived and customers stopped coming to the booth. Now,
the booth is open, and she visits occasionally to sell prepaid cards for
mobile phones.
M.P. Shenoy, a retired professor of St. Aloysius College, was also felicitated.
The
Dakshina Kannada and Udupi Disabled Persons’ Association said in a
release that it had sought from the government tax exemption for houses,
health insurance and monthly allowance without harassment for
physically challenged people.
Source : The Hindu , Mangalore : 13th May 2013
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