truly inspiring With best wishes Dr. Shubhanku kochar Assistant Professor
University School of Humanities and Social SciencesUniversity like you and I Guru gobingsingh indrprastha univercity Mob. No. 9717464887 Sent from my iPhone > On 09-Jun-2018, at 2:58 PM, Kanchan Pamnani <kanchanpamn...@gmail.com> wrote: > > http://www.newindianexpress.com/cities/bengaluru/2018/jun/ > 09/adventure-abled-bengalureans-who-even-out-the-odds-1825527.html > > > > Adventure-abled: Bengalureans who even out the odds > > The 29-year-old blind content writer is passionate about travel and never > misses an opportunity to do something extraordinary. > > > BENGALURU: Losing a limb or vision has not stopped these Bengalureans from > having an adventure. In fact, they go seeking it. They ski, do snowshoeing, > run marathons and climb walls. Poonam Vaidya loves to challenge the odds. > The 29-year-old blind content writer is passionate about travel and never > misses an opportunity to do something extraordinary. > > Through her friend, she learned about the training programme at the > Colorado Center for the Blind which included sports such as skiing and rock > climbing. She took the nine-month programme from July 2015 to February > 2016. “I am not into sports actually but I don’t miss a chance to > participate. Every month at the training, I was trying to expand the > horizon. It includes a range of activities from routine things to > self-defence training, rock climbing, skiing, white-water rafting and > bungee jumping,” she says. > > [image: > http://images.newindianexpress.com/uploads/user/ckeditor_images/article/2018/6/8/ADV.jpg] > Mohammad Niyamath > > She says she gets a sense of accomplishment from these. “We also had indoor > obstacle courses where we had to climb up short walls, weave through > spiderwebs and crawl through tunnels. While skiing, there used to be an > expert behind me who would control my movements with strings to help > provide directions. I wasn’t afraid. It was difficult at first to wear the > ski, it was hard to fit it onto my legs and learn to balance. I fell once > or twice but picked it up soon. The main instructors have been training for > 20 years and, hence, they know how to include blind skiers,” she shares. > > *Winning marathoner* > Poonam, who lost her vision about seven and a half years ago, to optic > degeneration, was one of 30 other visually impaired girls at the Pinkathon > in 2015. “I got second place for 5k run in the visually impaired category,” > she says. She also participated in a rock-climbing session organised by > another group Strings in El Dorado. “It was a man made place with natural > rocks. They had six levels of difficulties. I climbed only two walls as I > decided to take it a little easy,” she says. > > > Mohammad Niyamath, who was affected by polio leaving his right leg shorter > than left by three and a half foot, also didn’t have much interest in > adventure sports until he participated in a trek organised by an NGO in the > early 90s. Neither he nor his family was confident that he would be able to > do it. But, he soon became the first disabled person to climb walls along > with regular climbers. He says, “I kept practising. But there was a break > of about six years due to my studies, class 10 and family responsibility.” > He trained himself to be an electrician as he was the sole bread winner for > his family. “I then got appointed as a trainer at an indoor rock-climbing > place Equilibrium. I started training other people.” > > He uses a caliper, and uses his upper-body strength to climb. Mohammad has > had three to four falls and each time, the aluminium rod on the caliper, > gets damaged, it has cost him Rs 10,000. But, these setbacks have not > stopped him. He has since participated in several international events and > won medals. “After I won a gold medal in paraclimbing in 2013, my family > became more confident and supportive. My neighbours became more encouraging > too,” he says. > > *Clockwork training* > He also adds that he is proud of training six blind people, of which three > women and a man won medals at the National Sport Climbing Championship held > in Jammu Kashmir recently. “I didn’t know how to communicate to them and > help them identify the colour of the rocks, for them to climb in a pattern. > > Then, we worked together a guiding system that follows a clock’s hands... > for example, telling them to reach for the 7’o clock-rock,” he says. > Shalini Saraswathi who wanted to stay healthy after her amputation decided > to run. She says running gives her lot of joy. The 39-year-old has also > participated in the TCS World 10K twice in 2016 and 2017. > > A quadruple amputee, she has lost all four of her limbs after a rare > bacterial infection. Her family has been a great support system, she says. > “They just have some anxiety about if it’s painful to run with amputation > or what if I fall,” she adds. She also tried rock climbing but she says she > couldn’t do it as it does not work well with prosthetics. > > The sports enthusiasts participated in a wall climbing activity held at > Equilibrium Climbing Station in association with Adventures Beyond Barriers > Foundation. > > > > 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.. 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..
