What 2019 IDPWD taught me to focus on 2020
On the “International day of people with disabilities”, I came across a number of articles on how to support these special people, how to deal with them carefully but when I searched about some famous and successful people in the web with the so-called term “Disability”, the search engine results baffled my mind. I was confounded and the names literally made me wheeze like a deflating tyre. These people will definitely put a question mark on the meaning of disability and change your perspective towards them. Iam naming a few here and listing a few lessons I learned from them.
Albert Einstein: Surprised right? Yes, I am talking about the famous Mathematician, Physicist, a Nobel prize winner in physics, whose name is engraved in almost every individual’s mind for his mass-energy equivalence formula, had a learning disability and did not speak until age 3. He had a very difficult time doing maths in school. It was also very hard for him to express himself through writing.
Stephan Hawkins: The world-famous theoretical physicist, was diagnosed with ALS, a form of Motor Neurone Disease, shortly after his 21st birthday. He was given 2 more years to live. He lived until he was 76-years-old.In spite of being wheelchair-bound and dependent on a computerized voice system for communication, Stephen continued to combine family life (he has three children and three grandchildren) with his research into theoretical physics, in addition to an extensive program of travel and public lectures. Hawking’s big bang theory and black hole theory has turned the attention of the world.
Thomas Edison: I think almost all must have heard his name and thank him for his greatest contribution towards humanity by providing us electric light bulb,In his early life he was thought to have a learning disability and he could not read till he was twelve and later he himself admitted that he became deaf after pulling up to a train car by his ears.
Nick Vujicic: He was born without limbs, he is a motivational speaker and his YouTube videos can challenge anybody to think about their own ability.
Deepa Mallik: The 48-year-old, being diagnosed with a spinal tumor, underwent 3 spinal surgeries and got 183 stitches between her shoulder blades in a period of 14 years. She was left paralyzed from the waist down and the doctors told her that she would never walk.Mother of two, however, is not just a Paralympic silver medal-winning shot-putter, a swimmer, a biker, a rally driver, a javelin thrower, or in other words an incredibly versatile athlete.
Sudha Chandran: At the age of 16 years she met a car accident as a consequence, her right leg had to amputated. She is started her film career with a Telugu film ‘Mayuri‘, which was based on her own life. She overcame her disability by getting a prosthetic “Jaipur Foot” and became one of the most popular and acclaimed classical dancers of the country and a renowned Indian actress.
Like the above fighters, there are many who can spin your head with their stories, how they turned their weaknesses into their strengths. Do they have some kind of magic wand? let us find out what I learned from these real warriors.
Things do not always go according to the plan: Sometimes it feels as though we have lost control over things and the results are not what we wanted but instead of fretting over the problem let’s feed our mind with the thought that everything happens for a reason. It’s all about ebb and flow of cause and effect, circumstances and events.
Live in the present: We should accept the past, not fear the future and live in the present. Naturally, this isn’t always easy to do as thousands of worry hits you in every nanosecond. But the problem with worry is that we let our imagination take away from us. We live in an illusion of our future where we think that things will go wrong and end questioning our ability to deal with the problem, which creates demons like anxiety and stress. Every moment is important, be it watching your babies while sleeping or playing with them. Every sight, sound, and object we experience here and now are admirable.
Never compromise: Never give up, the greatest strength one is having is he himself, you have your own greatness inside you. Whatever the situation is it’s not bigger than life, Motivate yourself not to give up.
Accept criticism. Too much concerned about what others will think weakens our immunity towards negativity. Shield yourself with the bulletproof jacket of positive affirmative thoughts. Never allow someone else to tell you what you’re capable of. Instead of accepting another statistic, break the mold and push the envelope. If you listen to the voices of others you’ll have a false perception of your strengths and weaknesses. However, if you chose to stand up for yourself you’ll discover your greatness and true self-worth. Self-belief is the weapon.
Win the battle of mind: Half of the battle is won if you manage to suppress the negative side of your mind. As our mind is more biased towards the negatives than the positives. Criticisms have more impact than admirations. A negative comment, bad news, bad weather disturbs us more than the good one. Mastering in controlling the mind is very important unless until you didn’t control it, the mind will start controlling you. So be clever and determined to control your own mind.
Courage to face the fear: Nobody is ordinary just explore your talent. Attitude is everything, No matter how difficult the situation is, having doubts on your ability weakens your strength and keep you from running behind your dreams.
Willpower, perseverance and patience: These three powerful elements can act like swords and give you enormous strength to reach your goals, do some hard work on them, they will pay you back.
“It’s your attitude towards the problem that determines your disability or ability”
