Video By: Basharat Amin | Article By: Nusrat Ali
Javed Ahmad Tak was shot in the spine by unidentified gunmen in the year 1999. A single bullet changed his life. He can’t walk. He is wheelchair bound. But the boy didn’t give up and started his life in an independent way.
At first instant, the boy started to provide free education to poor orphans physically challenged and other students belonging to other underprivileged classes. His continuous efforts and struggle made it possible to form an organization, with those students, who sought free tuitions from him. Today the 41-year-old Tak is transforming the lives of many differently abled children in Kashmir.
He has started an organization to help people with disabilities. His organization, ‘Humanity Welfare Organization Helpline (HWOM)’ has been working for the holistic development of people with Disabilities, focused to provide equal opportunities and to integrate these special people into the mainstream society; to live a normal life with the use of technology and scientific devices/aids & appliances. HWOH also offers scholarships and rehabilitation services to Disabled children.
So far, his biggest achievement is the start of school – Zaiba Aapa institute of Inclusive Education for all types of disabled children, including the blind, deaf, mute, cerebral palsy affected, Autistic, multiple disable, orthopedic disable and other children facing a different type of disabilities. The organization has been providing Braille education, Sign language, music therapy, sports and vocational education to the children with disabilities. The school has been established in 2007 and presently 180 students are enrolled in the school.
Javed has also been advocating for the Rights of Disable people in J&K and became successful in reviewing and replacing job identification, government order that was earlier giving fewer jobs to persons with disabilities.
