“Work for a cause not for applause. Live to express not to impress” is what we proudly follow at Disha.
We wish to share with you a golden experience that has been etched in our memories forever- the amazing transformation of our poster boy Nand kishore Sharma. “It is not a mountain we conquer but ourselves”. Nand kishore Sharma is a best example of this quote.
A beautiful amalgamation of this young boy’s sheer determination and the never-give-up attitude of the entire team of Disha brought out the success story of the so-called poster boy of Disha. As a student he joined Disha in the year 2008. Looking at the boy that he was then to his present self, shows a long odyssey of courage, determination and discipline to be at the pinnacle of success, not to forget the tremendous patience and undeterred efforts put in by our highly dedicated team at Disha whose first and foremost priority is treating the differently abled children just like normal children.
Being intellectually impaired, after assessment and evaluation Nand Kishore was put under appropriate therapies and training. That is when our team found that he had an inclination towards sports especially Roller Skating. They decided to mould this inclination into passion. What started off as passion slowly became a mission and ultimately a goal to reach a highest level. It did seem to be a journey of hurdles but when birds sing after a storm why shouldn’t we?
With courage and determination we decided to chalk out our strategies to transform Nand kishore into a budding sportsman. The next two years saw tremendous hard work, undeterred dedication and untiring training. Never was he considered a boy with special needs. His diet was monitored, natural supplements were given to build his immunity and he was put through various kinds of training to keep him focused and fit. . He was taken to various mainstream schools to observe and practice with the students there. This was done to find out where he stands compared to them and also learn other skills related to Roller Skating. Because of his complete co-operation with our team, nothing stopped us from giving him more inputs. He travelled across the country, accompanied by our team to participate in the preparatory camps and training sessions. These untiring efforts of Nand kishore, his coach Mrs.Kesar Aara and his family finally bore results when he was selected to represent India in the Summer Olympics at Athens, Greece in the year 2011.
On 28th June 2011, history was made when Nand kishore won Gold in 300m, Silver in 200m and a Bronze in 100m at the international stage. It was indeed a remarkable accomplishment for a young boy with special needs who now stands tall with pride and honor, bearing the torch for millions of others in the country.
After winning at Athens the euphoria that he created in the hearts of millions will always be cherished in high esteem topped with strong hopes and determination especially for the differently abled.
Today he is a super confident, outspoken, friendly and a social young man who is a role model to his juniors. He has made his parents extremely proud and they are so thankful that their dream came alive through Disha. Moreover, he is now doing extremely well physically and financially as his father has placed him in a store that he runs all by himself, thus truly fulfilling our objective as an organization to making our children, independent and strong, despite all their shortcomings.
Disha’s dedicated and excellent teamwork is its valuable asset and pride and we wish to quote what George Bernard Shaw said “You see things and you say why? But I dream things that never were and say why not?”
Ankit a 12 yrs old boy with an innocent smile on his face has proved that, if you are keen to learn, no limitations can stop you, be they physical or mental.
Ankit was born with a condition of Microcephaly which results in impaired learning and impaired motor functions.
He was admitted to Disha in 2008 at the age of 7 years, with a series of behavioural problems. Disha adopted two prolonged rehabiliatory approach, (1) Working on his academics through using appropriate special education methods and (2) by giving him appropriate guidance and counselling to help then calm down his aggressive social behaviour. Regular academic remediation and counselling through social stories over a prolonged period of time has brought out the boost in him.
Ankit is now a well adjusted, academically proficient member of not only in his class but of the whole C.S.E. Although he has his short coming in academics, he is a keen learner, who never loses hope, he tries again and again. The result is that he has on many occasions performed much beyond his limitations and our expectations.
Ankit is now in NIOS level B. He has developed into a keen sportsman (swimming is his forte), an excellent dancer ad a very talented actor who handles any responsibility given to him with commitment.
Ankit supportive family especially his father positive attitude has played a very important role in his successful rehabilitation.
All the best Ankit. Keep going ahead and keep going fast !!!!
“Work for a cause not for applause. Live to express not to impress” is what we proudly follow at Disha.
There are stories and there are fairy tales. The former rooted in reality and the latter mere pieces of imagination. And here is a fairy tale seeming true story. Charu Taneja was marked by her limitations before she came to DISHA in 2011.
Charu is intellectually impaired and has difficulty in movement due to the gap between femur and pelvic bones. She dropped out of school in 6th standard itself because of her inability to get along with the other students and as a result of staying home idle for a long period of time, she even suffered from mild depression. Once admitted to DISHA, with a good learning capacity, Charu overcame her limitations and her self-confidence improved greatly. The unequal length of her legs couldn’t stop her from scaling heights of achievements once she found her mettle in sports. Placed in the stitching unit under the Vocational training programme, the sparks of potential to become an exceptional sportsperson was impossible to ignore in Charu. DISHA’s sports trainer Ms. Kesar Aara fondly recollects beaming with pride. Her interest in Volleyball led to intense skill training for the game, for which both the school and family joined hands to aid her in practising and mould a brilliant player out of her.
Surpassing the hurdles of her disability with a smile, Charu embarked on her journey to glory from the National Volleyball Championship in 2012 where her team bagged a bronze and she was selected to the National team. The experience gained from the inter-school, State and National championships she participated in, the medals that added to her self confidence, and her patience to learn and work harder each time, helped her to give her best in the Special Olympics World Summer Games, 2015 held in Los Angeles where her team won a Bronze medal. Charu who was initially an introvert is now one of the most helpful, responsible and sociable alumni of DISHA whose values of sharing and caring came from the lessons in sports, with not just friends in her school but friends beyond borders whom she got acquainted with during her camps and competitions.
Currently 25 years old, Charu is now self-employed with her own stitching boutique, where with the help of her mother, she sells handmade bags, cushion covers etc.
Her story is the kind of fairy tale we believe in & tell our students time and again to inspire them to write one for themselves. Yes, fairy tales in Disha are very much real and they hold in them a pressing need to be told.
Success in life comes when you simply refuse to give up, with goals so strong, that obstacles only act as motivation. In Disha, obstacles are the daily part of life that we fight against. One similar story is that of Shantanu. Happy and chirpy as he seems today, Shantanu was suffering from severe speech impairment, Cerebral Palsy and Mental retardation when he joined Disha in 1997.
He had difficulty in expressing himself and was extremely shy. Slowly and gradually, his training started to bear fruit when he learned how to express himself in words. He was a keen participant of various cultural activities such as dancing and drawing and used to love Karate and various other games. As his speech improved, so did his personality as now he could confidently interact with fellow students.
Disha not only took care of his physical rehabilitation but also got him placed with a company called Wires and Fabric in 2001 when he left Disha. He had cleared his 8th standard when he was offered the job as a material inspector with the company. Now he works and lives in Hanumangarh with his parents. He feels proud of his achievements since he has been assigned important work. He was able to learn the work all by himself and feels he can do whatever other employees do.
On this date, Shantanu is 36 years of age and earns around INR 10,000 per month. To everyone’s delight, he is also married and has a child of his own. He feels he has a message for other students “Be hopeful, work hard, and always be polite in life”.
His story speaks of a great personal success that very few in his position are able to achieve in their lifetime.
Alok and Vandana were on top of the world when they were blessed with a baby daughter. But there was a complication during birth - less supply of oxygen to the baby’s brain. Yet they had hoped everything would go alright. As the baby grew up, they realised her fundamental milestones like gaining head control, sitting, standing and walking were delayed. She started sitting at 2 years while a fully-abled child does so in 5-10 months. When she was two and a half years old, she was diagnosed with cerebral palsy.
Soon enough, she started walking but with a limp, her legs would not remain straight. She was taken to a big hospital for custom-made shoes. The doctors there advised that with proper treatment, she would be able to walk normally. Her legs were plastered for 15 days. Alok and Vandana were eagerly waiting for the day her plaster would be removed and she could walk again. But regrettably, the situation worsened - their daughter could not walk anymore. Her legs ached. She was taken to various doctors, given physiotherapy sessions daily but to no avail. Her parents had lost all hope that their daughter would be able to walk again.
This daughter, Bhoomi started going to a normal school but her learning was restricted. She started going into her shell. Her communication skills were termed inadequate. She couldn’t socialise much and was dependent for activities of daily living.
Around this time, her parents heard about Disha. She underwent clinical assessment of her condition at the time of admission. The physiotherapists Ms Bharati and Mr Shaikh Sir took her case as a challenge and assured Alok and Vandana their daughter would walk again in a year. Alok and Vandana took this as a ray of sunshine.
Bhoomi started attending regular classes in Disha and was administered various therapies. After about 9 months, Bhoomi was given aquatic therapy. The third session of this therapy, 4th of April, 2016 was a miracle – Bhoomi started walking again!
Her aquatic therapy sessions are continued to improve her mobility. Along with that, Bhoomi gradually started making progress in all areas. She started interacting with her peers. The same girl who would hesitate to talk or make eye contact started responding to her teachers. Her inherent social nature is now evident for all to see.
Today, we can dream that her to be able to lead an independent life and stand tall as a pillar of inspiration to the many behind her.
It was a sight to behold when Bhoomi ran up the ramp towards her physiotherapists in the latest parents teachers meeting. We wish she runs the same way, at full sprint towards her dreams and achieves her goals in life!
Chaarvi a Cerebral Palsy child, who is now 8 years old started coming to Disha about 1 ½ years ago. She was unable to verbalize words or phonetic sounds and had a poor vocabulary development. She was very reserved and hardly interacted with anybody.
While making her Individual Educational Plan, we realized that her withdrawn and adamant behavior was the result of her inability to communicate. As an initial step she was introduced to speech therapy followed by physiotherapy, aquatic therapy and individual special education sessions.
In the speech therapy sessions, the speech therapist first made her go through oro-motor exercises that involved working on her lips, cheeks and tongue to develop facial muscles necessary for speech. Then worked with her on a software called Dr. Speech : Speech and Voice therapy which helped her to develop a variety of skills involving phonetics, communication and object identification. In Physiotherapy and Aquatic therapy she was introduced to several new exercises including the un-weighing support system which allowed her to walk without support. Along with the above, the special educators took individual special education sessions with her, with a view to helped her in concept building.
It is a pleasure to watch a confident Chaarvi, communicating and mingling happily with her peers.
Faizhal was 4 ½ years old when he was brought to Disha in 2013 with Cerebral Palsy, hemiplegic. According to his parents they had tried hard to get him admitted to a mainstream school but could not succeed because of his disability and lack of speech.
After assessment and evaluation by Team Disha, he was admitted to the Early Intervention group. He was found to be a very shy and withdrawn child who hardly spoke a word. However, he was independent in his self help skills. Fortunately his parents were highly supportive, positive and encouraging.
He had potential for being admitted to a mainstream school and we started working towards this goal.
A time table was chalked out for his regular classroom activities, using multisensory approach, Therapies like physio, occupational and Speech were clubbed with classroom activities. This helped in improving his gross motor and fine motor skills and he started opening up and started showing signs of learning. He was taught Pre maths, language and EVS. Faizhal was able to join dots, lines, follow patterns and was able to read, identify and write alphabets. Orally he was good in letters and numbers. His general knowledge and awareness improved and we gradually started teaching Hindi vowels to him.
By now he was actively participating in all extracurricular activities. From a silent withdrawn person Faizhal had become social and outgoing, loved by all who came in contact with him.
Together with the never ending support and encouragement from his parents and with the inputs and training at Disha. We were able to achieve our goal. Today, Faizhal is successfully enrolled in a mainstream school.
Change is the basis for survival in this world; some people can extract out the benefit of this change and some are not able to cope with it, which to some extent becomes a hurdle to their being. But a winner is the one who puts his best effort to cross the hurdle that has been laid out as a hindrance. Disha is a home to such winners and a recent example to come up with a victory is our champ Sumit.
After 21 years of aimlessness Sumit was finally admitted to Disha. A silent person he was indeed but the core of his heart was like that of a bird which aims to fly and Disha made a promise to itself to unleash that heart.
He was first enrolled into the work training unit, he started expressing himself through paintings slowly he gave his bounding a chance to break and soon saw himself in a friendship with Chandni and Nand kishore. He soon followed the path that his other colleagues were tracing, he distributed the tea made for the staff and slowly and steadily opened himself for interaction such as conveying the messages and successfully following the orders assigned to him.
Within a year his skills enhanced to a level which made him do jobs such as Photostat, lamination, spiral binding. He also tested his liking in the field of sport, and his most favourite was badminton. To further polish his skills we gave him rigorous training and helped him to achieve his ambition. This paved the way for his successful win at national selection camp for badminton and this win led to his international fame as a gold and silver medallist in the south Asia pacific regional commonwealth games.
This wasn’t a mere win for a boy who had craved a path of independence for so long. Self sufficiency, positive attitude, self esteem all paved the way to bring changes in his life.
Looking at his marvellous zeal he has been transferred on job training, he is now working as a trainee in the library so as to assist the librarian in near future; he also has the goal to reach the Special Olympics soon to be held in Los Angeles.
It is rightly said what we aim at is what we get.
Often we see special children being denied by their disability. But here in DISHA, are mentors who push these children to explore the seamless world of possibilities, children who refuse to restrict themselves to this label of disability and go on to denied themselves by their passion and dreams. The 21 year old Anurag Rathi is one such student of DISHA under training in the Vocational Unit who found his passion in sports and proved that limitations can never dampen the sweetness of filling dreams and self realization. A few years back in 2006, Anurag joined DISHA as a hyperactive child with Intellectual Impairment. He was aggressive towards his peers and would very easily get tired while performing in physical activities. The conditioning through training he underwent in this period focusing on improving his stamina and speed brought about a tremendous change in his demeanor and bridged the gaps between his true potential and limitations. Time bound planned training and proper diet extended from school to home and his development owes as much to his mentors in DISHA and his supportive family, as to his own perseverance and hard work. This transformation pushed him off from the cliff of fears and obstacles and the medals he brought back home from several Inter-school, State, National and International competitions can tell us the rest of the story, of his flight to success. This exceptional athlete and master of many games like cycling and badminton, bathed DISHA & the whole of our nation in pride as he won 2 Bronze medals, in his, forte Roller Skating, in the Special Olympics World Summer Games, 2015 held in Los Angeles. Sports training have rendered him with discipline, self confidence and a cooperative attitude which helped him to mould and create a leader out of himself. His outstanding ability in games and sports was highly complemented by his outstanding ability to draw, paint and create beauty on the canvas.
Dishas heartfelt thanks go to Neerja Blue Pottery for employing him as one of their artists.
He had potential for being admitted to a mainstream school and we started working towards this goal.
Today, Anurag is a self sufficient productive member in the mainstream society. It is indeed true that there are merely a few skies that a passionate heart cannot soar to. Keep soaring Anurag !