National Award for quadriplegic occupational therapist Rajinder Johar President Pranab Mukherjee presenting the National Award for Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities to Dr. Rajinder Johar. President Pranab Mukherjee presenting the National Award for Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities to Dr. Rajinder Johar. For Dr. Rajinder Johar, an occupational therapist at King George's Medical College, Lucknow, and a quadriplegic, 2015 has come with a lot of possibilities. http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-newdelhi/he-helps-others-stand-on-their-feet/article6750498.ece Just a month before the year dawned, he was bestowed with the National Award for Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, 2014.
The award was bestowed on him by President Pranab Mukherjee in recognition of his "outstanding performance as a role model among persons with disabilities in the category of locomotive disability".Mr. Johar is the founder-coordinator of Family of Disabled (FOD), a Delhi-based organisation that he established in 1992 to empower the differently-abled. The occupational therapist met with an accident that rendered him bedridden for life with cervical spine injury. "I had two options; either to succumb to the condition and lead a meaningless life or gather my force and bounce back with vengeance. I opted for the latter," says Johar. Now, Mr. Johar is involved in multifarious activities for differently-abled people; whether it is disbursement of gadgets to economic rehabilitation under his Apna Rozgar Yojna for illiterate, unskilled and jobless differently-abled individuals by providing them interest-free soft loans to start their small enterprises or excursion and education tours for the differently-abled, and promoting differently-abled artists through an annual art show called Beyond Limits. The FOD also funds education till post-graduation though a project called Gyanpath. Mr. Johar appeared as an inspiring figure in Aamir Khan's Satyamev Jayate programme. FOD was chosen for funds by Mr. Khan last year. -- Avinash Shahi Doctoral student at Centre for Law and Governance JNU Celebrating Louis Braille birthday Jan4th 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..
