Do not give up!

Within the ambit of ‘handicapped’ comes not only those who are physically disabled, but also those who are blind, deaf, dumb and even those who are mentally stricken.

In such a category of people, the person so stricken may have to face harrowing circumstances, such as being dependent on others for even simple everyday tasks. The person involved could end up becoming very bitter because that person alone knows and discerns the excruciatingly deep pain, the mortified humiliation and the irreversible difficulties and frustrations one has to undergo. This they rationalise is their fate for apparently no fault of theirs, it being almost natural for them to look up and cry out to God, “Why me?”

This ‘challenged’ person can react in two ways. One can become bitter or better. If one chooses the former option, one may just sit in a corner the whole day and mope about one’s disability as one wallows in self-pity and remorse.

However, the better and more practical option to the person would be to analyse the situation and come to terms with it, while trying to make one’s self better. God has a purpose and plan in everyone’s life and one should realise that God has given one a handicap for a specific reason and that therefore one should not mope, procrastinate or worry, but instead take the situation as a challenge and move on.

Examples of people who were ‘challenged’ but yet made names for themselves, abound. Helen Keller was both blind and deaf but yet is one of the most outstanding examples of persons who have used their handicaps judiciously. As a mentor and as an inspiring person, she has said, “I thank God for my handicap, my work, and my God.”

Closer home, the example of the handicapped dancer, Sudha Chandran, now a television actress, comes to mind. Sudha had gone for a pilgrimage during which time she met with an accident and due to gangrene, she had to get the lower portion of one of her legs amputated. Although initially it took her time to come to terms with her affliction, she later learnt to walk with a Jaipur foot, and to prove her critics and deflectors wrong, she even learnt to do Bharatnatyam dancing with her artificial Jaipur foot!

Obviously, the motto of this article is for challenged people not to drown one’s self in self pity. One’s handicap should make one rise to the occasion, become stronger. Chin up, take hope and remember, “If God can take you to it, He can take you through it, too.”