Wheel-chair bound Kashmiri receives NCPEDP award in Delhi

SRINAGAR: Javed Ahmad Tak, a Kashmiri who received the award of the National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People (NCPEDP) on the eve of Independence Day in New Delhi on Tuesday, has proved how determination can convert adversity into an advantage.

The award is given to those individuals and organizations who have contributed to actively promoting accessibility for persons with disability.

A victim of the armed conflict in Kashmir, a single bullet in the 1990s changed Tak's life forever: the bullet hit his spine and rendered him wheelchair bound for the rest of his life.

Yet, he chose to give free tuitions to disabled children.

Today, he provides free education to orphans, the physically challenged and other students from a poor economic background.

He formed an NGO, Humanity Welfare Organisation in 1999 and has since been advocating for the rights of persons with disabilities.

Today, his organization was awarded the NCPEDP-Mphasis Universal Design Award at a function at the India International Centre in Delhi.

Speaking at the function, Tak said, "Accessibility creation is a collective effort which can be achieved only if each individual contributes towards making accessibility possible for the disabled".

His words are an inspiration for scores of those Kashmiris whose lives have been devastated by the over 30-year-long conflict.