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“All of us who are disabled must discover our hidden abilities and prove to the world that we are not worthless”

Barkathulla PP (43) from Andrott Island in Lakshadweep, who has a locomotor disability, narrates a crucial incident in his academic career. A class topper throughout his school life, he scored high marks in tenth standard. He dreamt of going to college in Kerala but his mother dissuaded him since she was concerned about his disability issues. He was confident of getting into a college in Lakshadweep but after he had completed the admission formalities the principal had a special word of advice for him. Pointing to a building he told him, “For the first year your class will be there, on the ground floor, but in the second year it will be on the first floor. We cannot move it to the ground floor just for one student. Better not join.”
 
A thoroughly disheartened Barkathulla joined college but because he expected his studies to end in a year he skipped classes and neglected his studies. Then, his classmates went on strike, demanding that the second year class be held on the ground floor! The protest was successful but since he had lagged behind he found it hard to catch up with the second year syllabus. He failed two subjects.
 
All of this could have been avoided by the simple measure of creating accessibility. As it turned out, Barkathulla is today the president of the Lakshadweep Differently-abled Welfare Association (LDWA). “It was after we formed the association that I came to know about the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (RPwD) Act,” he says. He and his team visited every island in Lakshadweep with a videographer. “I saw many PwDs confined to their homes,” he recalls. “Some were bedridden; the only thing they could see was the ceiling fan above their head. It made me aware of my own abilities and motivated me to make an impact in their lives.”
 
While narrating how LDWA was formed in 2011, Barkathulla harked back to his early days. He caught polio when he was a few months old and after a year-long treatment in Kerala he was able to sit but not walk. His mother used to carry him to a primary school that had opened near their house when he was seven years old. When he shifted to a secondary school and then a high school, he commuted with the support of friends.
 
After his studies, from 2004 onwards Barkathulla tried many ways to earn a living. He sold vegetables, worked in a grocery shop, and also made use of his innate musical talent by selling recordings of songs he wrote, composed and sang. In 2007 he married Safiyabi, a native of Kozhikode; disability was nothing new to her since her older sister too had married a man with a disability. Then Barkathulla’s friend and Helen Keller Award winner Ummer Farooq shared his idea of starting an association for disability rights, and they founded LDWA which operated from Kavaratti Island. Barkathulla, as joint secretary, stayed on Kavaratti for two years, but he struggled to earn his daily bread and so he moved back to Andrott where he opened a small restaurant.
 
Next, he started a business in which he bought vegetables wholesale at the Mysore market and shipped it to Lakshadweep. When it ran aground due to transportation problems he went to Ernakulam where he was a coconut oil dealer and ran a food stall at the ferry. The 2018 Kerala floods brought him right back to Lakshadweep, where the LDWA committee decided to make him president.
 
LDWA has been vigorously agitating for the rights of PwDs, holding protests and marches to highlight issues they face, such as lack of accessibility, education and employment. On a momentous trip to Delhi, Barkathulla headed an 11-member team, of whom six were PwDs, to participate in a talent showcase. By the time they got to know the event was cancelled, they were already on the train to Delhi. Nevertheless, the team met the Secretary of Social Justice and Empowerment and showed him the LDWA video featuring the PwDs on the archipelago. He immediately instructed the person concerned in Lakshadweep to distribute wheelchairs and other assistive devices to the disabled.   
 
LDWA has many unfulfilled demands among which are disabled-friendly ships (only one ship, the MV Kavaratti, has an accessible toilet), better medical facilities, more special education teachers, and more job reservations for PwDs. It runs a special school on Andrott called Chakkara (jaggery made from the sap of the coconut tree, which Lakshadweep is famous for), which offers therapy, education and vocational training. It plans to start similar schools on Minicoy, Kavaratti and Amini Islands.
 
Safiyabi works in Chakkara as an ayah and lives on Andrott with her mother-in-law while Barkathulla stays in the LDWA office premises on Kavaratti. He likes to watch Malayalam movies and play the keyboards, tabla and Rhythm Pad which he learnt via YouTube videos. Now he earns by selling his custom-made songs, set to the tune of popular Malayalam film songs or the traditional Mapilla Paattu, which are played at weddings, birthdays, political events etc.
 
LDWA was registered as an NGO in 2023 and looks forward to receiving CSR funding. Barkathulla said, “The love from others, the happiness they share when we make a positive impact in their life – that’s what keeps me going”.

Photos:

Vicky Roy