Disability and the Right to Vote in Uttarakhand
The vote is the most powerful instrument ever devised by man for breaking down injustice and destroying the terrible walls which imprison men from other men. People with disabilities can and do VOTE. And their votes COUNT. Following a Supreme Court order in October 2004, the Election Commission had promised easy access to booths, and […]
The Lonely Crowd
Often, all it takes is a smile to bring people out of their shells of sorrow and grief… A few days ago, I read this tiny news item in our local paper: “Cafe Manager Kills Self”. A 23-year-old man allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself from the ceiling fan in his home in Malviya Nagar. […]
Seven Bricks on a Little Girl
Shanno was murdered by her own teacher in a school in Delhi in 2011. Unable to answer a teacher’s question, she was forced to squat, doubled over, in the hot sun while the teacher piled seven bricks on her small back. She collapsed finally and died in hospital that evening. An essay by Dr Sebastian […]
Room at the Inn
It took a homecoming 28 years ago to realise that the spirit in which a gift is given is more important than the gift itself. That spirit is very much alive today in India… I grew up in America where “no room at the inn” is a common phrase to describe any situation where a […]
Adoption – More Complicated than we Think
I have always been a strong advocate of adoption. It is a family tradition: my parents adopted my sister, my husband and I adopted our youngest, my sister and her husband adopted their little girl and my brother-in-law and his wife adopted both their children. There was a time when I thought of starting an […]
Charlie King
For the past 25 years, I have dreamed that one day I would convince Charlie King to come to India and that I would find the money to make it possible. Charlie is a folk-singer and a social change activist in the United States and we have been friends for thirty years. We met in […]
No Moment of Silence for the Children of Tamil Nadu, please
On Monday morning we held a fire drill at our school in Dehradun for children with mental and physical disabilities. Forty-five students, many in wheelchairs, calipers and walkers, all with mental handicaps, filed quietly out of the building in just under three minutes. Not perfect, but not too bad. Yesterday, a week after the tragedy […]
Feeding Tubes Rule
Feeding tubes rule. My daughter has had one in for six months now. She has gained nearly twenty pounds since the surgery and she looks like a whole new girl. Before she got it, it took us up to an hour to get her to drink an eight ounce glass of milk; a meal could […]
A Visit to the Early Intervention Centre
Visiting the Early Intervention Center for the first time, I did not know what to expect. I knew that the Early Intervention Center is for young children with multiple disabilities and that the children and their parents come here to be trained by therapists, physicians and educators to help the children achieve their full potential. […]
Rainbow Resale !
One of my favorite Dorothy Day stories is the one about the diamond ring a wealthy admirer donated to the Catholic Worker. Everyone was curious to see what Dorothy would do with it and were dismayed and a bit annoyed when she gave it to an elderly woman who often came to the Worker for […]