India enabled!

A dance on hands by Kamlesh Patel, magic on wheels by children who are physically challenged, a rope mallakhamb by visually impaired, all these seemingly impossible performances will be showcased today at an event called Enable India 2013.

Put together by a NGO, Utthan Prayash Foundation, the idea, says its founder Tulsi Das, is to change people’s perception toward the differently abled and empower them. “A group of like-minded people, we came together not only to help people with disabilities but also explore their talent,” he adds.

Last year in January, they collaborated with another NGO that trained children on wheelchairs to dance and presented them on stage. “We got a tremendous response and this year other NGOs have come forward to train students with disabilities,” informs Das. So, there’s Kamla Mehta School for Blind that has trained the visually impaired to do a rope dance while Sagar Patil from Helpers of the Handicap has put together a cultural programme called Hum Honge Kamyab in which differently abled boys and girls will perform song and dance on wheelchairs.

“Performing in front of such a huge audience will definitely boost our confidence and will hopefully encourage us to perform frequently. We want to spread the message to all our friends in the country that we are differently abled people who enjoy entertaining them,” says Patil.

What’s heartening about the event is that one section of the performance will be inclusive wherein the disabled and the abled kids will dance together. “This is a way to bring the disabled kids into the mainstream,” smiles Das who will next be presenting a performance by the visually impaired in Ratnagiri.