Congratulations Asif.
This was forwarded by a friend from PWC. Kanchan
PwC employee Mohammed Asif Iqbal has won an REX Karmaveer Global Fellowship
Mohammed Asif Iqbal has won an REX Karmaveer Global Fellowship award
instituted by United Nations and International
Confederation of NGO for being a community change champion
The award ceremony was held in New Delhi on 28 February, 2014. That isn't
all. A leading newspaper in Oregon, US also did a
story on Asif, which was published on 26 February.
Here is the link:
http://www.statesmanjournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2014302260078
Full story below:
Former Dallas resident is always an advocate
Iqbal credits his time in Oregon for his drive to fight for rights
Feb. 26, 2014 |
Asif Iqbal appreciates every chance he gets to visit his home away from
home. He loves catching up with family and friends
and filling up on the delicacies he misses most, especially waffles and
pancakes.
Asif — pronounced AH-sif — is from India, but he also calls the
Mid-Willamette Valley home.
He came here as a child to live with a relative in Dallas with hopes of
getting an education and perhaps even finding a cure
for his failing eyesight. He left with a gift far more profound.
“Today, whatever I am is because of the American education I had,” said
Asif, who is blind. “I learned how to think, dream,
live independently and fight for rights.”
He made a quick visit home last week in conjunction with a business trip
to Washington, D.C., and graciously spared the time
to meet for coffee. Looking dapper in a striped shirt and diamond-print
tie, he was joined by two people who have had as much
influence on his life as anyone — his American mom Rebecca Bordreaux and
his former teacher Norm Jordan.
They beamed with pride as we talked about all that has transpired since
Asif attended Dallas High School two decades ago. He
was involved with the theater program and was one of the commencement
speakers when he graduated in 1995.
Today Asif is a consultant for PriceWaterhouseCoopers, the world’s
second-largest professional services firm, with offices in
776 cities across 157 countries. He also is somewhat of a celebrity in
India, joking with Bordreaux that the paparazzi are
always with him.
He has dined with the former president of India to discuss technology
initiatives that would benefit the visually impaired,
and he has met with other national leaders to advise them on measures that
would improve the lives of the disabled.
He helped establish disabled-friendly guidelines for Indian airports, for
example, and has been recognized in the past for
his advocacy. Perhaps none of the awards is as prestigious as the one he
is about to receive: a REX Karmaveer Global
Fellowship instituted in partnership with the United Nations. The
fellowships are given to Indians who are considered change
agents in their communities.
Asif is humble about his accomplishments and, at age 37, you can’t help
but get the feeling he has only just begun to make a
difference.
“Without the foundation I got here, I think I would not have done
anything, honestly speaking,” said Asif, who is married and
has a 3-year-old daughter. Both his wife and daughter are sighted.
Asif has retinitis pigmentosa, an inherited degenerative eye disease that
causes severe vision impairment and often
blindness. There is no cure.
He had so much trouble learning at a young age in India that his teachers
recommended his parents withdraw him from school.
That’s when his father asked a cousin in Oregon, Dr. Mohammed Hoda, if he
would take in his son.
Hoda is a retired orthopedic surgeon who still lives in Dallas. He and
Bordreaux, his ex-wife, had help getting a student
visa for Asif from then-Sen. Mark Hatfield. He was 11 when he came to live
with them.
Asif faced challenges in school here, too, struggling with the language
and cultural differences. He battled depression over
losing his sight and in middle school was resistant to learning how to use
a cane.
“I wanted to be normal,” Asif said.
He lost his sight completely at 16, but not before the thrill of seeing a
whale during a trip to the Oregon Coast.
What Asif remembers most about the more than eight years he spent in
Dallas was the constant encouragement he received.
“In India, when you’re disabled, life is really, really challenging,” he
said. “In general, it is not very positive.”
Asif admitted he wasn’t always the best-behaved kid, or the most
motivated. But that’s not how Jordan, a vision specialist
for Willamette Education Service District, remembers him.
“He was so motivated very early to learn everything he needed to be
successful,” Jordan said.
Asif returned to India in 1997, and continued his education. He earned an
undergraduate degree in commerce and a master’s in
business administration in human resources, and was the first blind person
to do so in both cases.
What is remarkable is that he did it without the text-to-speech technology
he relies on today on his laptop and cell phone.
Back then he relied on fellow students to read the textbooks to him.
“I’m very proud of him,” Hoda said. “I think he’s quite an ambitious
person. His education (here) gave him more recognition
at home and allowed him to progress.
“I think it was his fate.”
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/accessindia@accessindia.org.in/
To unsubscribe send a message to
accessindia-requ...@accessindia.org.in
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..
