The Bonfire Of The Sympathies

How else do you explain their resolve not to have any able-bodied person join them? The SPH is of the handicapped, by the handicapped and for the handicapped. None of its members is, in the conventional sense, able-bodied. "Our organisation was born out of defiance to sympathy," says Kanubhai, SPH president. The movement began in 1974 when six handicapped college friends decided to reject the 50 per cent grace marks they got to compensate for their inability to participate in sports. "We went to the authorities and told them that we did not want any grace marks. We said we wished to compete. They told us to get more students like us. We organised some 40 to 45 handicapped students and participated in the sports events," recalls Kanubhai.

Encouraged by this success, and with the fear of post-college unemployment lurking at the back of their minds, they thought of forming a group. For some time they were allowed a meeting place at the Sahajanand College but later, as they passed out of college, a footpath in Ambawadi became their point of assembly. "We used to meet there and wonder what next, now that we had graduated," says Kanubhai. It was at that time the informal group got itself registered as a charitable trust.

The group fought for job quotas in government agencies and succeeded in getting four per cent reservation for the disabled. Between 1977 and 1978, all of them found employment. But they did not wind up the organisation they had set in place. Points out Kanubhai: "Each one of us pooled in a part of his salary to take the SPH ahead. We had made two firm decisions—not to appeal to anyone for funds and to adamantly keep away politicians and prominent personalities."

The grit and determination paid off. Today, the SPH has been able to find jobs for more than 800 disabled persons. "We have an honorary placement officer who moves around the state looking for openings for handicapped people. It is tough, though, to convince employers," says Kanti Parmar, one of Kanubhai’s friends. The SPH was also responsible for getting concessions for the disabled and their escorts in state transport buses. But this came about only after an 11-year-long struggle that ended, rather symbolically, on August 15, 1990.

Then there was the problem of housing, which was so acute at one point that several members had started to leave for their villages. With sustained effort, the SPH finally managed to get a night shelter in 1998 on a token lease of Re 1. "The members go for their jobs during the day and sleep at the shelter. We have thus found a home for them so that they continue with their jobs," says Kanubhai.

The SPH has also set up a free marriage bureau and has got 24 couples to tie the knot till date. Apart from organising cultural functions, it is involved in a host of extra-curricular activities for the disabled—like drawing classes with Manji Ramani who teaches his unique ‘mouth painting’ to the members. A physiotherapy clinic is in the pipeline too. Needless to say, all of this without donations or help. Their address: Society for Physically Handicapped, 6 Sudama House, Pritamnagar First Slope, Ellis Bridge, Ahmedabad-380006. Phone: 6576519, 6575273.