Lives changed by Blind Welfare Council

Blind Welfare Council’s impact can best be understood through the lives it changes. Here is the exceptional story of Girish.

Girish Dahyagiri Gosai was born on the 1st of September, 1993, at Kharol village, which is in a remote deep forest area of Panchmahal. He suffers from mental retardation. Having lost his father at the early age of 7,  Girish was brought up by his mother and uncle, who are farmers living below the poverty line. One of BWC’s teachers, who works for Inclusive Education for Disabled Children at Secondary (IEDSS) level  came to know about Girish. But it took much convincing on his part to get Girish’s mother and uncle to send Girish to BWC.

After an initial assessment, it was decided to start Girish off with basic training. So, daily living activities and personal care and hygiene were first focused on.  With time, he grasped daily activities; and started showing interest in other activities too. He gradually learned the Gujarati alphabets and could also write the numbers 1-50 too. Gradually his learning activities progressed and he passed the third standard. Simultaneously, he took to music and dance, and showed a special interest in sports. Infact, his interest in sports helped him excel in Football and Cricket. He excelled to such a level that he went on to participate in the State and National level games for the Disabled. He even won a gold medal in the state level Special Olympics.

He went on to win a Gold medal in the State level Special Olympics in Football and received a cash prize in sports by the state government too. Thanks to his music and dance training, he also got the opportunity to perform at various functions, one of which was the Special Olympics of 2011 at Gandhinagar, in front of dignitaries and a huge crowd of spectators. Besides, he had also mastered making paper plates and candles thanks to BWC’s vocational training.

In November-December 2013, Girish went to Australia to represent the Indian football team in the Asia Pacific zone. His good performance helped him secure 5th position.

Today, Girish is in a position to earn a livelihood and support his family too. He has also become a role model for other disabled people. Infact, he finds the time to encourage other disabled people to complete BWC’s training programme.

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Aadeep