This is beautiful! Shivani is my dear friend and a very very courageousand lovely person. Thank you for writing your story Shivani it will bring a load of value to all its readers.
Warmly Preeti Preeti Monga Director Mobile: +91 9871701646 Landline: 011 22781446 E-mail: [email protected] Website: www.silver-linings.co.in ; www.silver-linings.org Our Services: Executive Search - Specializing in Head Hunting. Training Motivation; Stress Management; Soft Skill; Behavioral. Gifting Corporate ; Promotional; Events. End to end CSR Advisory; including demystifying workshops and counseling. Printing Solutions, Incentive Travel and Marketing Data Mining / Refining.. We assure high quality service marked with excellence and complete customer centricity, forming Synergies as we go along. -----Original Message----- From: AccessIndia [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of avinash shahi Sent: Tuesday, March 04, 2014 2:43 PM To: jnuvision; accessindia; sayeverything Subject: [AI] Book Review: No looking back Reviewed by Shubhangi Vaidya I'm glad to note now autobiographical accounts are being pennd down or typed by persons with disabilities in India also. Mrs Shivani has joined the list of ms Monga, Malini Chib, Mr Ved Mehta and Mr L Subramani. please let me know if other people have also written and I have missed their names?... This trend should continue because experience is the best teacher, they say. Literature on personal experiences of disabled people in India is very less hope many more autobiographies will be written by many in the days to come. Go screen reading softwares go... http://www.tribuneindia.com/2014/20140302/spectrum/book2.htm Reviewed by Shubhangi Vaidya No looking back by Shivani Gupta Rupa. Pages 272. Rs 295 What do you say about a 22-year-old girl whose spine is shattered in a car crash? That her life is over before it has even begun? That she will lead a life of dependence and misery and become a 'burden' on her family? That she will be seen as a deficient, unattractive being who can never hope for romance, love and conjugality? Shivani Gupta's autobiographical account challenges these deeply entrenched cultural stereotypes about people with disability. The author takes us through the trauma after the accident that found her flat on her back, paralysed, and the harrowing experiences of the public hospital where she spent weeks staring at the dingy ceiling, inhaling the overpowering odour of disinfectant and hearing the moans of fellow patients. Shivani chronicles her 'rebirth' as a wheelchair user and takes us through the everyday realities of her new life -- personal appearance, clothing, body image, dependence upon a personal attendant, bowel and bladder control, going out and shopping , re-negotiating personal relationships -- with compelling candour. Her narrative highlights the transient, fragile nature of the bodies we inhabit and the way society and culture "disable" people far more than their impairments do. Converting adversity into opportunity, Shivani embarks upon a career in rehabilitation and counseling at the newly established Indian Spinal Injuries Centre. An opportunity to visit and train in the UK empowers. There is a realisation that people with disabilities do not have to live life on the margins and that society must be responsive to their needs. Back home, she learns how to live independently, away from the protective and sometimes overpowering embrace of her family. She makes new friends, and meets the man who is to become her "best friend, lover, comrade and guide", Vikas Sharma. As opposites are wont to, the two are attracted to each other; as professional colleagues they strengthen each other's hands and go on to do path-breaking work together in the areas of accessibility and inclusive environments. Their partnership, working, studying, travelling, "learning to fly" -- results in the formation of "AccessAbility," a venture that seeks to "change the world" and make it fit for persons with disability, and not the other way around. In their personal lives too, a major breakthrough takes place; their families accept their relationship and they marry. Shivani's reflections on the dynamics of becoming an Indian daughter-in-law and her identity as a woman with disability are poignant. She narrates how she is carried up a flight of stairs to meet her in-laws in their apartment and sits awkwardly in the drawing room as the men have their Scotch and the womenfolk bustle around in the kitchen preparing and serving food! Four months after the wedding, on their way to Manali, Shivani and her family find themselves in another terrible road accident in which Vikas and his father lose their lives. Shivani's account of the days that follow is moving. Her experience of the frailty of the corporeal body carries over to her understanding of loss, sorrow and pain, which are an inescapable part of the human condition. She seeks solace in the knowledge that she was blessed with love that was reciprocated in ample measure, whose intensity she is now able to fully appreciate. The callousness of the medical system, the daily indignities of being a person with disability in India, the role of family and friends and the healing power of love. It is a must read. -- Avinash Shahi M.Phil Research Scholar Centre for The Study of Law and Governance Jawaharlal Nehru University New Delhi India Register at the dedicated AccessIndia list for discussing accessibility of mobile phones / Tabs on: http://mail.accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/mobile.accessindia_accessind ia.org.in Search for old postings at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ To unsubscribe send a message to [email protected] with the subject unsubscribe. To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please visit the list home page at http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in Disclaimer: 1. Contents of the mails, factual, or otherwise, reflect the thinking of the person sending the mail and AI in no way relates itself to its veracity; 2. AI cannot be held liable for any commission/omission based on the mails sent through this mailing list.. Register at the dedicated AccessIndia list for discussing accessibility of mobile phones / Tabs on: http://mail.accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/mobile.accessindia_accessindia.org.in Search for old postings at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ To unsubscribe send a message to [email protected] with the subject unsubscribe. To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please visit the list home page at http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in Disclaimer: 1. Contents of the mails, factual, or otherwise, reflect the thinking of the person sending the mail and AI in no way relates itself to its veracity; 2. AI cannot be held liable for any commission/omission based on the mails sent through this mailing list..
