EDITORIAL: This country’s first-ever cafe exclusively run by differently abled persons opened in Karachi last Saturday. A pioneering venture named Cafe KHUDEE, jointly sponsored by the Karachi Vocational Training Centre (KVTC) and State Life Insurance Corporation, aims to promote diversity and inclusiveness by providing equal job opportunities to both male and female trainees of KVTC.
Speaking on the occasion, the institution’s patron Senator Abdul Haseeb Khan said the project will be a transformative space where the trainees can showcase their talents, fostering a sense of independence and confidence in them as they embark on new careers. The initiative has a much broader appeal.
People in this society who experience serious physical or mental difficulties caused by injuries in an accident, or a disease, or congenital anomalies are generally stereotyped as ‘handicapped’ and discriminated against.
It is quite common for families, even from economically well-off sections of society, to send a child with a physical impairment to a madressah rather than a regular school. And most of the ones with some mental affliction are kept from attending a special education school or a skill learning institution, denying them the chance to lead a decent independent life.
As for the poor with physical disabilities the less said the better. If you come to think of it, we are all differently abled with strengths as well as weaknesses. There are countless examples of people famous for what they did regardless of their physical problems. One is that of Franklin D. Roosevelt who was paralysed from the waist down at age 39 and used a wheelchair and leg braces for mobility.
Yet it was on the strength of his mental prowess that he became the 32nd US president and a highly respected statesman in his country. Another is that of Helen Keller. She had lost her sight and hearing due to an illness when she was just 19 months old.
She is remembered almost everywhere in the world for her remarkable accomplishments as a disability rights advocate, author and teacher. Keller was able to make those achievements despite being deaf and blind because her family gave her the confidence to do whatever she wanted, and some of the best educational institutions opened their doors to her.
It is imperative that this society also learns to value differently abled persons and create opportunities for them to make use of their capabilities to become self-reliant and also make contributions to various fields of national endeavour.
The KVTC and the State Life Insurance Corporation have shown the way by launching the Cafe KHUDEE. It should encourage all public and private organisations to accommodate differently abled persons.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023
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