Kendrapara: The desire of a physically-challenged girl to make her presence felt in a male-dominated society has attracted the attention of one and all in a nondescript hamlet in Kendrapara district where the concept of women-empowerment is still a far-cry.
Urvashi, now 37, a resident of a sleepy hamlet of Kalashpur under Aul block, has won accolades through the success-story scripted by her sheer endeavour and endurance. Today, she not only takes care of herself but also teaches kids at an Anganwadi centre in her village. She uses her toes to write.
As ill luck would have it, a month after she was born, she suffered acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) and in the process both her arms were paralysed . “Being a disabled girl , I did not want to be a parasite and at eleven I had made up my mind not to depend on others”, told Urvashi.
The hunger for education gave me a boost for which I picked up the skills of writing with my feet . Though it was a daunting task initially, with the passing of time I got precision and proficiency ,” she said.
She had got inspiration from a newspaper article in which she came to find that a disabled child was writing with his feet. She went to the village school with her elder sister where the teachers encouraged her to write Oriya and English alphabets using her toes. She slowly learnt to hold the pen between her toes and started writing. During examinations, students sit on the bench. But she sat on the floor and wrote with her toes, said the publicity-shy girl.
She has passed kovida (an intermediate course in Hindi) from a local college writing with her feet. In the course of time she has learnt to do most of her daily chores. She can peel off vegetables, wash clothes, make stitches on clothes all by her feet. Though difficult it may seem, the crippled girl makes it appear that the type-writing with toes is not too complex a proposition. Much to the bewilderment of people, her feet work wonder. She types out on a plain paper with ease, said Ramchandra Das, her father.
Though Urvashi initially struggled to find a job, she was later appointed as an anganwadi worker in the local anganwadi centre. It has been seven years since she worked as an anganwadi worker, Urvashi said.
“My aim is to open a school and a training centre for persons with disabilities .I do not want girls like me suffer the stigma of ‘disabled’ and turn into objects of derision,” she observed.
Whether aid comes from any quarter or not, her ambition will never go unfulfilled, she says with an air of confidence.
Urvashi has set an example for people with disabilities not only in the district but also in the state, said Biraja Routray, convener of Punarbas- an organisation for the help and rehabilitation of physically-challenged persons. PNN
