I am digging out my old notes, diaries, etc and trying to and post what can be shared.
Below is a personal experience I had, which moved me so intensely and deeply for a long, long time...
15 May 2007
I experienced one of the defining moments in my life today, when I felt enriched by a bunch of differently abled people, including children .There were thirty five of them bubbling with life in a hall down Kithulwatte Road, Colombo.
I was on a fact-finding mission to understand the workings of the Sunera Foundation, a charity organization aimed to assist the differently abled through the medium of performing arts.
My mind went back to the times when they were referred to as ‘disabled.’ What wrong usage! A better understanding of the situation has given them a more honourable name – ‘differently abled.’ May be our thinking has changed – and that we are beginning to see them as no ‘lesser?’
I spent more time that I had planned, and returned home enriched, humbled and pensive with a tinge of pain deep down, when some of those faces flashed through my mind - I saw untold amount of feelings written in many an eye.
“My younger brother is married, my younger sister is married. I am thirty and have no one..!” said Madhuri, a veteran participant of the Sunera Foundation with her eyes welling up with tears. But the pain was transient. “I have traveled to Norway, Italy, France etc to perform, in fact many times…” Her eyes cheered up. So did mine. There was confidence in her voice, pride in her achievements, and above all, hope in her voice – largely due to the opportunities she had got through Sunera.
Should we be sympathetic? No. They are not instruments of to deserve sympathy or mere generosity of any kind. They have to be treated with equal respect, which we would accord any other normal human being. But they certainly needed special attention and care. They need opportunities and a place in the Sun, which can only be assured by us – the ‘abled us’ with a conscious change in our attitude – I told myself.
The workshop conducted twice a week by Sunera Foundation attracts many people who are differently abled. Boys and girls, men and women – there was no discrimination at all. Many were accompanied by their mothers who stay the whole day until the workshop is over.
The workshop
The progamme was to start at 9.30 and bang it did right on time! Impressive. The participants were taken through a series of games and activities, which also required team spirit, creative thinking and a lot of initiative.
‘Passing the Parcel’ was interesting. Music was played and a parcel was passed on from one person to another. Whoever in custody of the parcel when the music stopped had to perform something as he /she wished. Most of them danced. Some of them performed the ‘break dance’, gracefully and rhythmically, gyrating the lower part of the body with a natural ease! Unmistakable influence of the Bollywood; flawlessly imitated!
The most outstanding performance was displayed by a participant when he ordered the music to be stopped and got on stage; energetic. He stretched his right hand as high as he could and yelled out: “I would like to say, I will reduce the price of dhal, and will repair all broken roads. Just vote for me…” Our political culture is infectious… I laughed my gut out.
Music was an essential part of the workshop. Everything centered on it. Dancing to the tune was fun. Plus it also ensured physical exercise and flexibility to the participants, who would hardly find a way to do it otherwise. Every single participant not just enjoyed, but lived every moment of it.
I strongly resisted my temptation to get on to the floor with them!
What is a stick for?
Ramani Damayanthi, the trainer, who displayed exceptional skills in conducting the workshop showed them a long stick and asked them to come out with their own impressions of it and what they would use it for. Some innovative expressions came out – ‘pot breaking’ game of the Avurudhu, golf, billiards, rowing of the boat, shooting with the gun etc, among many others.
The exceptional aspect to note was that NONE of them used the stick to display the action of beating! I stayed until the game was over, just to learn whether any one would imitate the action of beating! No. They did not! I would think the first thing any normal child would do is to show how he/she can use the stick to beat up, to punish! It was interesting to learn how pleasant their thoughts are in their state of inability- and how we label them as ‘dis-abled’!
I left the workshop when they broke for lunch. It was a rewarding experience to learn that there is immense potential in those we think are inferior. What they lack is an opportunity to be accepted in a society that is yet too ignorant of the needs of a differently abled person.
I witnessed the bountiful expressions of happiness, confidence, acceptance, equality and contentment mirrored on their faces when they broke up for lunch. I was still seated, enthralled, when one participant came up to me and took my empty tea cup mumbling ‘Miss, I will take this to wash…’
While driving back home, my memory went back by 20 years and I remembered Narayanan – a differently abled boy- who went to the 'School for the Deaf and the Dumb', which was just 200 meters away from my school. Our school pick-up vans used to halt at common points and we used to get down from our vehicles and have a chat. He and I shared a common habit - of collecting pictures of Gods. Too many of them of the same size as cards. The numerous squabbles we used to have, and the number of times we used to spill water on each other, and funny faces we made in anger... just flashed across my mind with photographic precision. I just wondered how he was…
Life simply brushes through many of us – or may be we simply brush through life. Cocooned in our own shares of woes and penalties, we tend to pass by…not being able to appreciate and be thankful for the wonderful life force that ticks within us. My experience just reconfirmed this to me; today; and also that they are not children of a lesser god... truly not...
