Summary
Deepu Kiran was only two years old when her father abandoned her because of her disability. She grew up in an organization for children with disabilities. Going to a mainstream school, she faced Discrimination by students and teachers. Her love for children and her tough experiences in society gave her the idea to open an inclusive Day-care-center with the name "Adventure Wheel".
Wings to Life
– by Deepu Kiran
Why should parents send their children to an inclusive day-care center?
If children already learn in their early childhood how important it is to face challenges and not to give up, they will be much better prepared for living an independent life and for contributing to positive changes. Thus “Adventure Wheel” was born. “Adventure” stands for excitement, and the term “wheel” symbolizes the continuity of life, and it stands for the request that we should never give up.
But the most important idea about the center is that children with and without disabilities will learn from each other. Once they are ready for school, they can speak and sing in Hindi and English, they know the alphabet, all, blind or sighted, can write basic Braille, and all, including the blind, can communicate in basic sign language. The most important quality of the adventure Wheel graduates is that they are confident and know what they want in life. Children with disabilities are not so vulnerable when teased and are not shy to ask for help if needed. And those without disabilities have learned that having a limitation always offers new opportunities.
And who wouldn’t like to have a child who is able to make responsible decisions, speak up for their or other children’s rights, help when help is needed, and is polite yet assertive? All these qualities are a good foundation for overcoming challenges and give wings for life.
I was only two years old when my father brought me to a railway station. He left me there and never returned. I must have been distracted by mice running between the tracks. Maybe, I started to play with them. An old man noticed me on the tracks as a train approached. He operated the train’s signal, and I was rescued.
I joined the Kiran Society when it was still in Nagva. However, after a few years, the founders decided to purchase a large plot of land in the village. The plot was covered with grass, and it had one water tank. Quickly, a hostel for kids with disabilities was constructed, and I moved there.
Today, Kiran society, an organization for children with disabilities, consists of a variety of structures, including classrooms, an administrative building, an orthotic department, physiotherapy facilities, a swimming pool, and a cow shed.
When I was little, I remember being sad, seeing parents of other children bringing gifts for their loved ones. I crawled away and hid under the bed. Sometimes I stopped Kaki Ma, our caretaker, from going to the store. I started to cry because I thought she would abandon me the same way my father did.
What made me angry was the pity shown to me. Some statements were making me feel not valued. “Oh, Such a beautiful girl, how could her parents throw her away!?” Or they called me “Bechari” which in Hindi means “pitiful girl.”Being little, I felt awful about these statements, but as I got older, I strongly felt that I wasn’t “bechari”! I had an excellent education, clothing to wear, food to eat, a place to live, and most importantly, I was still alive and loved!
Sangeeta, the Founder of Kiran society encouraged me to study and sent me to an English Medium School in the city. There I faced a lot of discrimination. I remember that day when I entered the gate of my school for the first time. Children and teachers stared at me, whispering to each other: “look at that LANGDI!” it means “disabled” in Hindi and is not meant in a nice way.
When I entered class three, I started having many physical barriers too, because the classroom was not on the ground level. But to go to the toilet, I needed to go back to the first floor. People had to carry me up and down. And if there was no one who wanted to help me, I couldn’t help myself and urinate in my pants. It was embarrassing, and I asked My Guardian to come back to Kiran, although they only taught in Hindi and I had worked so hard to study in English.
This experience taught me that there are two major barriers to integrating children with disabilities. Inaccessible buildings and children and teachers who are not aware of our needs. At this point, I thought I will build a place where everyone studies and plays together and children with and without disabilities help each other.
After completing high school in 2015, I went to study B.Com, (Bachelor in commerce). For this, I had to move out of Kiran Society for the first time. It was a good experience, but I was constantly scared. Just catching the train was rather dangerous because there was no fly-over to cross the tracks. With my wheelchair and with the help of a disabled friend, I could manage, always fearing that the wheels would get stuck, and the train would roll over us.
My goal was to get a well-paying job. But then Covid hit all of us, and I had time to think and to talk to Sangeeta. I understood that I needed to give thought to what I really wanted to do in life.
And here I am, going back to my childhood dream to work with disabled and non-disabled children whom I love so much.
The experiences I had in mainstream education, made me conclude that I want to open a Daycare for children with and without disabilities in which they could learn that all limitations do carry opportunities. And I knew that this place should be a call for life, full of adventures.