BENGALURU: Two persons from
Karnataka — a
para-badminton
champion and a transgender-activist — have been selected for this year’s NCPEDP Mindtree
Helen Keller Awards
in recognition of their work and achievements among the disabled. Selected from over 104 applicants from 16 states and entries from overseas, the 2020 edition of the awards also has a Bengaluru-based NGO for women with
disabilities
clinch the honour.
The annual awards by National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People (NCPEDP) celebrate and recognise individuals and organisations working towards promoting employment of persons with disabilities.
Para-badminton starAmmu Mohan from Ulsoor, has been selected for her star performance at the international para-badminton arena, representing India and for her motivating work among people with disabilities in the city and rest of Karnataka. A victim of
polio, Ammu works as an IT professional in Bengaluru. She got into sports to overcome the grief of losing her father in 2013.
Ammu started with wheelchair tennis before finding her strength in para-badminton. “In 2015, I realised
badminton was the right game for my kind of disability. Motivated by friends and colleagues, I began intense training and won my first gold medal at the national para-badmintion event held in Bengaluru the same year,” said the 30-year-old, who then forayed into international events, representing the country.
The Bengalurean travelled to different parts of the globe and won over 30 medals in the sport, including a bronze at the para-badminton international championship in Denmark in October 2018. “Apart from badminton, I do my bit to encourage others with disabilities to rise above odds and pursue their passion,” added Ammu. She was selected for the award under the ‘Role Model Persons with Disabilities’ category.
Gender rights & struggleKiran Nayak B was born a woman. Disabled due to polio, Kiran was ostracised from his community at his village in Warangal, Telangana after he expressed his desire to change his gender. “I come from a community where child marriages and forced wedlocks are a norm. So, I had to run for my life,” said the 34-year-old, reminiscing the time when some Bengaluru-based activists brought him to the city to start life afresh.
Kiran set up Karnataka Vikalachetanara Samsthe in Chikkaballapura, which works for the disabled. “My life was a struggle, which I overcame sitting on a wheelchair. There are hundreds like me who need that hand to lift them up. I’m doing what I can to help. My focus is on
transgender people,” he added.
Kiran has been providing counselling and has helped hundreds of people with disability and those who have undergone gender change in Karnataka, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh find jobs. He has bagged the award under the same category as Ammu.
NGO empowering womenThe 2020 awards for organisations working for the welfare of the disabled went to four entities, including one from Bengaluru — Rehabilitation Aids Workshop by Women With Disability (RAWWD). For 20 years, RAWWD has been working with disabled women, helping them train in making prosthetics and orthotics equipment for patients. “We have our unit on Old Airport Road near Manipal Hospital, which is operated mostly by women with disabilities. RAWWD has reached out to over 40,000 persons with disabilities since its inception in Bengaluru,” said Antoinette Lopez, board member and trustee of RAWWD.
The NCPEDP Mindtree Helen Keller Awards 2020 will be a virtual event and the awards will be given away on Thursday, which is also
Human Rights Day.
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