I, Romella Hameed, a social activist, motivational speaker & writer, presently working with Empower Pakistan as Transcription Analyst and has also selected as a young Emerging Leader from Australia Award scholarship 2018 intake. I am a physically handicapped person exclusively working for the last many years for the rights of PWD (Persons with Disabilities), especially for woman with disabilities as a human right activist & disability leader.
Though strongest tremors of the earthquake of October, 2005 lasted only few seconds but it left lasting impact on the lives of the affected. I personally experienced this tragedy first hand as my spinal cord snapped at T12,L1 Asia-A leaving me paraplegic and unless some miraculous scientific discovery enables me to stand on my feet I was diagnosed to be wheel chair bound for the rest of my life. My personal injury was not the only loss, because I lost two of my sisters, one of them dying under open sky, in my father’s lap, due to excessive bleeding and in torrential rain that followed the earthquake. I also lost a young sister-in-law in the tragedy.
As an arrangement between Governments of Pakistan and the UAE I was lucky to be included in the group which was selected for treatment in the UAE. I underwent successful spinal cord surgery at Al-Jazeera (now SKMC) hospital which enabled me to be able to sit, albeit, with assistance, on a bed or a wheel chair. It was a definite improvement from lying flat on one’s back but cheers lasted only few days as the most testing days were awaiting me as I underwent rehabilitation process at the hospital under a very kindhearted and a thorough Professional Dr. Garrison.
Dr. Garrison and his team of physiotherapists not only prepared us physically but also taught us to be strong both mentally and emotionally. Reflecting on my pre-earthquake life of living in a picturesque, albeit remote with primitive development, mountainous region of Kashmir I knew that the real challenges are lying ahead and this life in a gorgeous hospital of Abu Dhabi with high wave of public sympathy was only temporary respite.
Once back home I was crumbling under the weight of challenges of a wheel chair bound life. Many of my rehab mates soon started losing hope and I started peer counseling in the rehab center. I shared my knowledge, gained due to my association with Dr. Garrison, and started the arduous task of teaching them on self-management skills and motivating them towards a well-balanced and self-contended life on a wheelchair.
As I shifted back to my reconstructed parental home on a mountain, a gut wrenching and at times virtually vertical climb from Bagh downtown. As males of the family left for their daily chores and two surviving sisters and nieces for their college and school I was left behind at home, at times alone, to look down on the Bagh valley, a passage which I traveled on a daily basis while going to school and here I was sitting in a wheel chair not able to even move around on a wheel chair due to the unfriendly landscape. Like other developing countries if life in a wheel chair is difficult in even the most developed cities of Pakistan, it is a struggle, a struggle of massive proportions, with no room for complacency and weak nerves. While studying chapter on Helen Keller I had often wondered as to the reason of its inclusion in our school curriculum. Knowing about her struggles made me determined to stand up and start my journey towards achievement of my targets of the blue print of life woven during the tinsel-life of Dr. Garrison inspired life and c-130 flight back home from Abu Dhabi.
First task was to move down from the mountain to a city where I can pursue my education. Hence, I started demanding it, prospect of which was initially dismissed by the family. Undeterred by the opposition, I kept demanding it and my family finally acceded and agreed to move to Rawalpindi, a city with relatively better educational facilities than my home hamlet or town. There too was refused admission in many colleges, not due to lack of grades or merit but, being handicapped or being in wheel chair. Would come home every day and cry incessantly but each drop of tear made me even more determined to keep trying as I was always confident that nature has not inflicted this injury on me without a purpose. Finally, the principal of a private college got me admission and my hopes renewed.
By the Grace of God, who gave me the Strength to stand up to all challenges, I completed my six years of education with a Master’s degree in Accountancy with flying colors. It wasn’t easy. Imagine being in a college, for over 8 hours, with no facility what so ever for a wheel chaired student. No wheel chair friendly washrooms, toilets, ramps for movement. Even getting class schedules, which required constant movement from one floor to another, changed used to be an arduous task and did not come naturally to the concerned staff. Studying late into the night shifting from chair to bed and bed to chair so as to avoid creating sore points was a struggle of epic proportion. Nevertheless, I did emerge successfully on the other side of it.
The next step in my rehab process was to acquire economic rehabilitation. With Accountancy degree under my belt I set out on a job hunt. Results were disheartening as either I did not get a response or if called, for an interview, I came back empty handed wondering is it gender bias or my physical handicap that is the cause of this rejection. Undeterred, I kept trying and after a brief stint as an internee in a multi-national company, I was offered, a dream come true, 2-in-1 opportunity of working as a paid employee.
Changing one’s own mind set is challenging, that of others is even more cumbersome. However, I have, overtime, learnt not to be deterred by hindrances hence have never restricted or stopped my efforts. The first phase of my struggle to emerge as a leader was not easy as it was a struggle on a day in day out basis however the silver lining was that it prepared me for the next phase of how to radiate my success on to others so as to inspire them to emulate me or to go test even those frontiers that I have not been able to explore.
Though I have never acted myopically or on communal basis, I strongly believe that my efforts will amount to nothing if people with special needs hailing from my hometown were not to benefit from my experiences and evolving influence. As I moved through different towns I realized that, perhaps, I am the only one who not only completed her six years of education on wheelchair as a regular student, am economically emancipated and working to highlight the problems of people with special needs and also motivating special people to instill this belief in them that the journey of rehabilitation starts from within and not necessarily from an ideal environment.
During my visits to far flung areas of Pakistan I have to-date conducted many awareness raising sessions about disabilities, how to cope with them, conduct of communities and the rights of persons with special needs. To extend my reach I have also appeared in Radio and television programs to send message across to the governments about basic health and educational needs of Persons with special requirements and to families, communities and public at large to cease being sympathetic and treat people with special needs humanly and on equality with able bodied persons. I also advocated strongly for establishment of one Spinal injury unit and one special education center in my hometown.
I am often asked a question; “Have you achieved your objectives?” My response from day one has been that the “journey has just begun” and I am as fresh and energetic as I have ever been in my life.