Success Despite Disability
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Mr.&Mrs. Abdullah were very happy as the days of arrival of their second baby were coming near. The grandmother had already chosen the name: Ali: in case of male baby. A lot was thought & planned to celebrate the arrival of new born baby. The happy moments did not last long.
Within minutes of birth the newborn baby was noticed of having respiration problem. Without wasting any minutes, the baby was shifted to nursery room a sort of ICU. A team of doctors comprising of lady gynaecologist, Pulmonologist along Paediatrician minutely examined Ali and diagnosed respiratory pneumonia and other related complications in lungs.
The lady gynecologist who had looked
after Ali’s mother during all the months of pregnancy & was present in
labor room at delivery time claimed that birth had been normal and on time.
weight of baby was 8lbs. Paediatrician thought that baby had sucked mother’s
fluid at the time of delivery. Since regular supply of oxygen was must so Ali
was advised to be kept in oxy hood till the time infection was over. His condition varied from time to time.
These were very difficult days for
parents, elder brother and grandparents. The parents used to sit outside baby
nursery room praying and in hope of some good news. Only mother was allowed to
visit and that too only at the time of feeding. The intake of milk was below
normal because of infection and high fever. Heavy potency antibiotics were
being given through injections and drips. View of Ali’s bed was not easy to
watch especially for mother as there was Oxygen mask covering tiny face, drip
on one arm, branula on other arm to avoid repeated needle pricking, clamps on
thin legs to have a close eye on heart beat / blood pressure and monitors on
head side with beeps all the time.
on 21st day condition was
better as fever dropped and X ray showed shrinkage of patch on left lung.
Intake of milk also improved without any vomit. That night family was a bit
relaxed and so had a joint dinner in hospital’s cafeteria.
It took another ten days to
completely recover and then after intense treatment day of discharge came.
Everyone was happy including hospital staff. Mother took Ali in her lap with
tears of joy while grandparents distributed sweets among nurses and paramedical
staff.
Life looked normal now but once again
pleasant and relaxing days ended soon. Only few days later s Ali’s mother &
his grandmother complained that Ali was neither
responding to any noise, light nor
had any expressions on face.
A new round of problems &
challenges had begun. Parents started visiting doctors available in city. They
left no neuro physician, pediatrician, eye specialist, ENT surgeon or chest
physician. Their car always had files of doctor’s diagnostic reports, Repeated
lab tests, X rays, CT scans, MRI tests etc.
They each time visited with a new ray
of hope but had wet eyes and nothing to talk about on leaving. More or less
opinion of doctors was same. Parents were fed up of hearing words like cousin
marriage and effects of high continuous oxygen supply after birth.
Days passed without any significant
improvement in feed as well as in movements.
Till two years Ali could just hold neck and was not able to take
anything except semi liquid.
It was a difficult time for whole family. The
mother often cried in her room and burst out on prayer sheet. She had left
family gatherings & hesitated to invite any one at home in order to avoid
her son’s exposure.
At the age of six Ali stood with help
of support and then started using toilet after crossing 9years. All these
stages were against doctor’s reports who had no hope of bone development. By
the age of ten physique had remarkably improved except hearing loss and poor
speaking power.
Now came stage of schooling and
another uphill task was waiting for parents. Normal schools were reluctant to
accept Ali because of hearing aids and poor pronunciation. On the other hand,
special institutions were not ready to admit because of no apparent major
disability. Ali also got scared of environment there and behavior of special
children. Thus, his coaching started at
home after being pushed from one school to other. Having no friends, Ali
developed interest in computer. In the meantime, he passed matric exams.
Keeping in view his interest in
computer Ali’s father took him to a computer coaching center where a teacher
Mr. Mushtaq recognized his hidden abilities in field of computer. Ali was
mentally fit but lacked confidence, speaking capability & was hard of
hearing. Mr. Mushtaq worked hard to teach basic tools of computer. He was
encouraged by student’s hard work, positive response and cooperative attitude
of family.
Then Ali was able to get diploma certificates in Software technology.
Mushtaq was confident of skills of his student and called him a brilliant
Trouble Shooter. He was trained in a field in which Ali need not to communicate
much with others. Thus, his disability was not to be exposed and he could earn
his livings while working in a composed environment.
Many months later Ali along other
family members& some family friends went to a hilly station for vacations.
This group stayed in a well reputed & good standard hotel. A day later
Ali’s elder brother noticed that management of hotel was worried about some
problem in their computer software covering their finance & bookings. Many
engineers were seen in hotel lobby who had come from different companies to
solve the problem but could not rectify that.
On seeing the panic Ali showed
interest and tried to convince his father to talk with management to give him a
chance. Ali’s parents hesitated but at the same time did not want to demoralize
him.
Ali’s father stepped slowly towards
reception with mixed thought and doubts s about possible response. He tried to
explain capabilities of his son and offer services free of cost but as expected
desk staff gave a strange smile on seeing Ali. An officer said that their
software and system was too expensive & complicated. many experienced
software engineers were already trying to solve the matter. Ali did not bother
all the response and taunting remarks as he was used to it and stood there to get
a chance. After several minutes Floor manager got annoyed and took Ali to
computer room in an unpleasant way.
Ali was astonished and confused on
seeing a big computer lab but then gained confidence and sat on a computer.
Another engineer sat by him to ensure that software was not further disturbed.
Soon the experienced engineer realized that disabled boy was not raw but had concept. He started discussions
but Ali kept quiet on most of time as per his training t and concentrated on
his work.
Family members sat in lobby for hours
praying for success of son. It reminded them of days when they sat outside Baby
nursery room praying for his health. Now, they had fear of embarrassment&
of depression of Ali in case of looser.
Slow change in staff’s behavior and
attitude gave them some hope that Ali was working hard inside. At last, the
moment came when two managers came towards Ali’s parents with warm smile and
gave the news of Ali’s success. Soon the experienced software engineers from
renowned companies were congratulating them. Ali’s mother once again had tears
in her eyes but this time with smile while thanking Allah in her thoughts.
The managers took them to the General
Manager’s room where Ali was already present. Ali’s mother happily embraced her
son in front of all as those were moments of pride. Mr. Peter congratulated them and while having
tea offered Ali job in their IT department.
Ali was very delighted of having such an attractive working environment.
During the sitting Mr. Pete took keen
interest in way and type coaching of Ali despite disability. Ali’s father told
him that his son never accepted the disability as a hurdle and was never
discouraged because of unfriendly society They always took all hurdles as
challenge.
In my view no matter how long, old or
big are the problems you are facing, be determined, consistent, never pay
attention to those who try to discourage or embarrass, be happy & enjoy
small moments of life One should have a strong belief in Allah which in our
Islam is mentioned as Tawakal Allah. One should be sure that after every fall
of old leaves from tree, new leaves are grown and after every night there is a
new sun with new hopes. In this regard following words written by a famous
psychiatrist Dr. Roger Fedder are worth mentioning
“Whenever
we come across the words; Disabled; the pictures of persons come in our mind
who are hearing / vision impaired, have some physical or mental disorder but
what about persons who look fit but are confined to themselves, ego conscious
or do not feel other’s problems. What about persons who even after years of
marriage give divorce that they were unable to understand their ex-partner. Why
are not such people called disabled?”?
