{"id":1428,"date":"2021-12-09T18:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-12-09T12:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/successandability.org\/?p=1428"},"modified":"2024-02-29T18:00:49","modified_gmt":"2024-02-29T18:00:49","slug":"rising-like-a-phoenix","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/abilityfoundation.org\/2024-new\/rising-like-a-phoenix\/","title":{"rendered":"Rising like a Phoenix"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n
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Dr. Sruti Mohapatra<\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cWhen you call a disabled person inspirational for merely doing normal day to day things like going to the book fair or a show, I believe you reinforce the idea that society\u2019s expectations for disabled people are so low that we don\u2019t expect them to do anything constructive. When you sympathise with me, you treat me like a second-class citizen just because I have a disability. Hello! Please don\u2019t  be overwhelmed by my disability. I am so much more than my wheelchair. See me. See the person. You\u2019ll be surprised at your own discovery.\u201d Dr. Sruti Mohapatra<\/em><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Sitting in her wheelchair, fighting for the rights and dignity of disabled persons, 58-year-old Dr. Sruti Mohapatra has emerged as the perfect role model for all of India\u2019s persons with disabilities.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

A road accident fractured her spinal cord at a time when young Sruti had just qualified for the Indian Civil Services. She lost everything in just that fraction of a second. A fighter through and through, she leapt back to life like a phoenix and is today  an activist by passion and mission.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Sruti is a gold medalist and university topper, three-time national debating champion, state basketball player, and the first in South Asia to complete her PhD from her  wheelchair. Following her first book \u2018Echoes\u2019, a collection of poetry, she has also authored two other books – \u2018Disability Etiquette\u2019 and  \u2018Laws for the Disabled\u2019.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

A TEDx speaker, Sruti has won several awards for her exemplary life and work and is the member of several committees and governing bodies, including  serving as the Vice President, Indian Red Cross Society, Odisha Branch; Member, Syndicate, Rama Devi Women\u2019s University, Odisha; and Vice-President, Commonwealth Disabled People\u2019s Forum (CDPF).<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

In 2001, Sruti founded Swabhiman, a disability information and resource centre and cross disability organisation advocating for rights for persons with disabilities. With Swabhiman, her vision to create an equal society has grown in leaps and bounds. Swabhiman’s main program areas are legislation and policy, inclusive education and employment, active citizenship and accessible cities. The tools used are advocacy, information dissemination, research, training, capacity building and networking. Her innovations are many. She conceptualized Anjali, <\/em>a project for inclusive and joyful learning using  dance, music, art, magic, puppetry, clowning, theatre and more. Anjali <\/em>has grown to become the only international children\u2019s festival of the country. Commencing in 2001 with only 77 participants, today it has reached over 47,000 children (both disabled and non-disabled) across India and in eight countries overseas. Anjali <\/em>bridges gaps between children with disability and those without, between rural and urban children, between privileged and the less privileged. Sandhan<\/em> is a college-based program. The network sensitises the younger generation to overcome societal biases that are responsible for creating divisions among people. OSdN \u2013 Odisha State disAbility Network was founded in 2003, with the notion that on their own, no one can change very much, but together, disabled people can have a stronger voice. OSdN is a conglomeration of about 155 NGOs and over 550 individuals with disabilities from across the state. Notable achievements of OSdN are that 70% disabled people in identified districts in the state went to polling booths in the last general elections, despite the hurdles. Sruti visualised and initiated a new concept of \u201cSingle Window Approach\u201d for Disability Certification and essential entitlements all under one roof. In its new avatar, it is Odisha government\u2019s \u201cBhima Bhoi Scheme\u201d which is regularly conducted in Odisha\u2019s 314 Blocks ever year. OSdN facilitated the 1st<\/sup> political convention in 2004 for inclusion of disability issues in respective party manifestos. It got the<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

appointment of an independent Disability Commissioner \u2013 2010 done by aggressive advocacy, designation of Minister as \u201cMinister – Disability,\u201d formation of the \u201cDisability Directorate\u201d and establishment of a separate department for disability i.e., SSEPD 2014-15. The network conducted a successful \u201cCensus Campaign\u201d in 2011 leading to Odisha having higher disability percentage (2.9%) as compared to national average of (2.21%). The new rights-based law RPD Act 2016 was drafted, advocated for and final lobbied with law makers to make it a reality. PRERANA – Prerana Samman<\/em> recipients are children with disabilities who, despite many challenges, were determined to succeed. Students are showcased and awarded with Prerana Samman<\/em> certificates, a monthly scholarship and win prizes. The program Swabalamban<\/em> offers interest free loans to beneficiaries to start their self-employment journey. The assisted beneficiaries can take up different activities in primary, secondary, and tertiary sectors according to their own choice. Sashakt<\/em> is a multi-level, multi-stakeholder multi-partner campaign with NGOs, governments, media, philanthropic organisations, students, parents and others to build awareness on laws, inclusion and disability rights. Using traditional Odisha art and folk dances, it reached over five lakh people across the state in 2018 in all 30 districts. Saksham <\/em>is an innovative approach to ensure quality education to children and youth with disabilities from urban poor areas. It aims to ensure that they complete their high school education while cultivating a hobby that would have a possibility of evolving into a professional activity. To school dropouts reluctant to return to school, it will provide a skill and help get a job or be self-employed.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

That\u2019s Dr. Sruti Mohapatra for you\u2026 Need we say more?<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sitting in her wheelchair, fighting for the rights and dignity of disabled persons, 58-year-old Dr. Sruti Mohapatra has emerged as the perfect role model for all of India\u2019s persons with disabilities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1325,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[25,28,30,32],"ppma_author":[183],"class_list":["post-1428","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-achieverswithdisabilities","tag-disability","tag-featured","tag-life"],"acf":[],"authors":[{"term_id":183,"user_id":1,"is_guest":0,"slug":"abilityadmin","display_name":"abilityadmin","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/98c5eb4d054e32557771ba79fa26c8d3e10e0f410f54ab7cce6ad9e5f9cb3257?s=96&d=mm&r=g","first_name":"","last_name":"","user_url":"http:\/\/localhost\/ability-wp","description":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abilityfoundation.org\/2024-new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1428","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abilityfoundation.org\/2024-new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abilityfoundation.org\/2024-new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abilityfoundation.org\/2024-new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abilityfoundation.org\/2024-new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1428"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/abilityfoundation.org\/2024-new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1428\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2953,"href":"https:\/\/abilityfoundation.org\/2024-new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1428\/revisions\/2953"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abilityfoundation.org\/2024-new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1325"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abilityfoundation.org\/2024-new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1428"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abilityfoundation.org\/2024-new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1428"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abilityfoundation.org\/2024-new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1428"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abilityfoundation.org\/2024-new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=1428"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}