Differently-abled Heroes of India

Awarded by Limca Book of Records

Born visually impaired in a poor family, managed to continue his studies. Became the first visually impaired

candidate to qualify in the SSC Hindi shorthand and stenography

examination. A Senior Manager with PNB, Khan is also a singer and composer

with over 50 music compositions. He received the National Award for the

Welfare of Persons with Disabilities in 1989.

Akbar Khan

A national volleyball player, she lost one of her legs when some robbers pushed her out of a moving train. Two years later, with a prosthetic leg on, she became the first woman amputee in the world to climb

Mount Everest and went on to conquer the highest peaks on other continents too. She was awarded Padma Shri in 2015.

Arunima Sinha

Bruised and maimed by a militant attack which left him a wheelchair bound paraplegic

with 100% disability, Javed turned his adversity into a mission. He started Humanity

Welfare Organization Helpline, an organisation that caters to the needs of

people with disabilities and creates awareness through sensitisation programmes. His legal activism has restored several rights of the disabled in the state. He received the National Award for working towards ‘Welfare

of Persons with Disabilities in 2004’ and many other honours.

Javed Ahmad Tak

Despite 100% permanent sight disability, Aayushi completed her LLB at 19 years and

LLM at 21 years and became the first visually-challenged advocate enrolled at the

Rajasthan High Court. She is the youngest and first visually-challenged woman to be admitted to the Bar Council of Rajasthan.

 

Aayushi Pareek

Wheelchair-bound since 8 years due to polio, he rose to become a prominent oncologist

introducing Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation in India with the first

successful bone marrow transplant on a leukemia patient. He won many awards,

including the Dhanvantari Award and Padma Shri in 2002 and the Padma Bhushan in

2012.

Dr Suresh Advani

Ramsurat Majhi

A polio victim with 90% disability, Ramsurat travelled 23,000 km by tri-cycle visiting

various territories of India as a messenger of peace. He started the challenging journey on

Feb 16, 2010 and completed it on Feb 10, 2011. In 2012. He established an NGO, Adarsh Viklang Kalyan Samiti and was

honoured with the State Handicap Award as a role model on Handicap Day in Kolkata on

Dec 3, 2013. 

Ashwini Angadi

Born visually-challenged in a poor, rural family, Ashwini experienced discrimination

and physical and mental abuses as a child due to her disability. Despite these odds, she

graduated at the top of her class. For her work with disabled people, she received the UN Special Envoy for Global Education’s Youth Courage Award for Education in 2013. After

working as a National Facilitator for the Young Voices Project, she set up the Ashwini Angadi Trust under which she runs Belaku Academy

for young visually-challenged girls.

K S Rajanna

Rajanna who lost his limbs to polio in his early childhood became the first differently-abled Commissioner of the State Department for Disabled in Karnataka. He had won the gold

medal in discus throw at the 2002 Paralympics and also a silver medal in swimming. As a

diploma holder in Mechanical Engineering, he also had started his own enterprise providing

employment to 350 persons, including the physically challenged.

Major Devender Pal Singh (Retd)

Major D P Singh who lost his right leg during the Kargil war and suffered partial hearing loss and internal derangement of his left

knee, has been finding joy in running marathons with blade prosthetics since 2009. He has participated in many such

races including the 3rd Himalayan Running and Living XC marathon (21 km) at high

altitudes (8,700 ft) in Kinnaur, HP. He has also achieved the feat of trekking up to

10,000 ft 3 hr. 

Saylee Nandkishor Agavane

Saylee was diagnosed with mild mental retardation at birth but completed her

studies. She started learning Kathak at 9, later she trained in contemporary dance

forms. She has been performing in various dance competitions, starting with Akhil

Bharatiya Sanskrutik Sangh’s Multilingual Dance and Drama Competition. In 2010, she

won a bronze medal at the 8th Global Olympiad Dance Competition in Bangkok.

Ranveer Singh Saini

The 14-year-old Ranveer, autistic by birth, is one of the youngest golfers at Special

Olympics Bharat. He, along with his Unified partner Monica Jajoo, won the gold medal in Golf (Level 2) at the World Special Olympics at Los Angeles in 2015, becoming the first

Indian to do so. He also won two gold medals in his first representation in the

Special Olympics Asia-Pacific Golf Masters at Macau in 2013 and another gold in 2014

(team).

Zamir Dhale

Zamir is blind, deaf and mute, but through years of toil and by sheer grit he has overcome the disabilities to work as

effectively others. Highly tech savvy, he communicates using a special software on his laptop/mobile. Working as a consultant

with Sense International-India, he is actively involved in developing and implementing advocacy plans. He also heads Udaan, a national network for adult deaf-blind and multi-sensory impaired people in India.

Rajive Raturi

Whilst working in Kenya, he suffered a bullet injury which left him with a visual disability.

Since then, he worked towards building legal knowledge of rights of persons with

disabilities, supporting their advocacy by providing legal services and aid. He challenged systemic violations by filing PILs in High Courts

and the Supreme Court. He has authored a compendium titled Disability and the Law. In

2010 the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment nominated him to an expert

committee constituted to draft a new disability law. He is now Asia Pacific head for the

Disability Rights Promotion International.

KY Venkatesh

Venkatesh is 4 ft 2 inch tall and due to his short stature had to face lot of

difficulties but he braved all and decided to excel in sports and started off with

chess in school. In 2005 he became the first Indian athlete to represent India at the IV World Dwarf Games. He won six medals in the Games – two gold, one

silver and three bronze – in athletics and badminton games (singles and doubles).

He is also the secretary of the Dwarf Sports Association of India.

Radhika Chand

Born with Down’s syndrome, Radhika studied in special schools. She started

painting using a combination of watercolors and acrylics. She has had 10 solo

exhibitions and participated in several group shows. She has been associated with the Vasant Valley School, Delhi for over 20 years. In 2012, Radhika was conferred the

NCPEDP-Shell Helen Keller Award for ‘helping to create opportunities for

employment for persons with disabilities’.