21 years old M.Akmal Khan was born in Zaida, Swabi. One day he was playing in the courtyard and an aerial fire hit him in the backbone and caused him an incomplete spinal cord injury. He was 6 by that time. His parents took him to the hospital and his back was operated on 5 times in 2 months thus this injury shaped him paralyzed for a lifetime. This tragedy changed his lifestyle.
Akmal did not stay at home, he started getting an education. He attended certain training on using a wheelchair. He participated for the very first time in games held in Abbottabad and won 1st prize in the wheelchair race. Moreover, he participated in a few other games like wheelchair cricket and badminton.
He worked as a volunteer with many Organizations and organized different events. He worked as General Secretary in one of the organizations, that works for the well-being of persons with disabilities and orphans. As his passion is photography, he has covered many events such as cultural nights, wedding shoots, and sports festivals.
In 2019, he came to the Association for Rehabilitation of the Physically Disabled (ARPD) for the job. To see Akmal’s efforts and achievements, Ms. Anjum Anwar hired him as a photographer in ARPD. Now, he is working as Photographer and Media Coordinator at RCPD Peshawar. He is an independent person and earns his living with dignity.
Akmal has settled an example for the society that people with physical disabilities are not disabled, they are actually able. He is an inspiration for people with physical abilities and disabilities. He has shown the world that physically disabled people can do many things and has proved that nothing is impossible.
Akmal believes that your happiness and success lie in you, make yourself unique among people with abilities by doing work hard. He wants people to convert their disabilities into abilities. He says that being disabled doesn’t mean that you are not able of doing something but it is just that you are physically facing some problems. You just need to have strength and faith in yourself.
We all face the worst times in life when life might come to an end. The fight to move on depends on us as it is our life and no one else will be there to fix everything. Several times it is required to feel that energy inside which will make us recover from our pains of failure. Among those highly inspirational people, a legend is known who achieved greatness through his efforts that are not so easy to overcome.
Abdullah Jan is a 20-year-old boy, who belongs to Peshawar. He encountered one of his greatest life-challenge when he was diagnosed with Polio at the age of 10 months.
Abdullah was determined to cautiously utilize the opportunity given to him. So, he was trained vigorously well by the trainers and proved himself worthy. His aptitudes in Table Tennis made him a conspicuous player. At the age of 13, he first appeared in National Paralympic Games and grabbed a Gold Medal. After that gold, he never looked back. He has remained the champion of Table Tennis for the last five years consecutively. He also won Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Table Tennis Champion 6 times.
Currently, Abdullah is the Sports Ambassador of ARPD & HHCS. He also provides training to other Table Tennis players with disabilities at RCPD Peshawar. Abdullah is a true Champ and a living example for all people.
Abdullah says “Giving up is always easy but getting up from the injuries of your failure is what makes you a capable person. Never miss your basics no matter what you do and you will surely succeed in your life”.
His success story speaks of his gaining of the ultimate knowledge from his career. And that is why he is considered a legend. What Abdullah can teach us is never to give up. He never surrendered in his career. He failed multiple times but in the act, he always encompassed those failures as a lesson. Victory is inevitable only if you are never losing your hopes.
According to Sartaja, she has been ignored by society. Due to her disability, she remained illiterate as did not have accessible schools in her area. She has been facing problems, but she never lost her hope, she says, “a person should not stop the effort. If someone really wants to obtain his/her goal in life so then hurdle may not be an issue in front of his/her ambition. She/he should fight the war till the end of his last breath. The person should never give up”.
Although Sartaja did not get an education, she is a multi-talented woman. She learned many skills. She knows cutting, tailoring, hand embroidery, hand knitting, glass work, Khadi Work, stabilizer, sewing machine repairing, and handmade fan. She earns her livings with these skills. In spite of being multi-talented, she could not earn a living due to her disability. She was earning very less amount from these skills because it needed a solid platform where she could show her skills to the people.
Four months ago, she approached RCPD’s skills development center, which is not only giving vocational skills to women with disabilities but also empowering them by providing a platform to earn and promote their work. RCPD hired her as a Vocational skill teacher. Now she teaches different skills to Persons with Disabilities in RCPD’s skills development center. Besides teaching, she is getting basic education at RCPD. Moreover; she has opened her own vocational skill center in her home where she teaches 30 students.
Sartaja is happy and satisfied with RCPD’s skill development program. She says that RCPD is like a home for women with disabilities. Moreover, she utters that she came to RCPD with the aim of teaching. She urges PwDs should not to straighten their palms in front of others. They should prefer their self-esteem over selflessness. Because it’s better to die rather than beg from others.
During her treatment, the RCPD physiotherapy team worked on the improvement of her sensation and motor abilities. Different strategies that have been used for treatment include promoting the use of the hemiparetic limb during functional tasks, maintaining range of motion, and using neuromuscular electrical stimulation to decrease spasticity and increase awareness of the limb. The physiotherapy team also worked on her muscle strength & coordination, and mobility (such as standing and walking).
After one month of successful cure, she became able to stand and walk without any support. She is now performing her daily activities of life independently. Samia is very happy over backing in life from her fatal disease of Hemiplegia.
Now he is able to sit, stand and walk with the help of the assistive device. His parents are delighted and satisfied with his improvement.
His upper and lower limb muscles were weak. Due to that weakness, he was not able to stand and walk. The RCPD’s physiotherapy team worked hard on his muscle improvement, coordination, and balance with the support of a parallel bar. AFO (Ankle-Foot Orthosis) was made for him. He has been using parallel Bar, Walker, and Auxiliary crutches to strengthen his muscles.
After three months of successful treatment, he became able to stand and walk with the help of elbow crutches. He is very pleased and satisfied with his recovery.
