In 2005, Sandeep Kumar alighted at the New Delhi railway station in a wheel chair. When his brother left him at the platform to collect the belongings, people mistook him for a beggar and started giving alms. Yes, that archaic expression of sympathy. Over to 2015 and if you are at Palam airport Sandeep might whiz past you in his powered wheel chair to attend to a customer lost in the crowd.
A real life tale of destiny and optimism, Sandeep recently got his slice of fame when on the eve of Independence Day he won the Universal Design Award 2015 by National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People (NCPEDP) and Mphasis. The 24-year-old IndiGo staffer is the first paraplegic to be employed with the aviation industry in the country.
An engineer by education, Sandeep refused the job of a multinational to be in customer care to help people in need, particularly those who require special assistance. He rushes to get them the boarding pass and get through the security check.
“In IT industry you are bound by the chair. I wanted to move, interact with public,” says Sandeep, who is a talented singer as well. Be it college or home, he has always been asked to liven up the evening. With Sufi his preferred genre, he loves to initiate with “Teri Deewani”. “This brush with fame stayed on with me and perhaps that’s why I picked aviation over engineering,” reasons Sandeep. “My friends used to say aviation is not for people like me but I said let’s give it a try.” Today he has considerable fan following with patrons stopping over to salute his determination.
Going back to the life changing event, Sandeep says, “It spurred me on to strive for equality. I had come to the city to collect information about the rights of the disabled people but was disappointed by the treatment meted out by the metropolis,” reflects the boy from Jhansi. At seven he was reduced to a vegetative state when a local doctor administered an expired penicillin injection. “While my upper body recovered in a year, the lower half remained motionless and I was confined to a wheel chair for life. In small towns people tend to believe that once you are disabled your life is over. They expected my father to open an STD shop for me. So when I started going to school again they would ask my father why he is wasting money. Many disabled people go into a shell but I didn’t let the complex overpower me.”
A police officer, his father gave him hope that education is his only true friend. “Being the eldest child I also wanted to set an example. The Delhi incident strengthened that belief. I appeared for IIT entrance but failed make the cut. However, I qualified through UPTECH for Ambedkar Institute of Technology for Handicapped, Kanpur.”
Years of suffering at public places has given Sandeep the motivation to change things. “Now I train the loaders at the airport to treat the disabled and the elderly with care and respect. The transfer from your chair to aircraft seat is a painful process but with proper training you can minimise it.” Sandeep says he has to set an example so that no airlines thinks twice before hiring a person with disability. “After me three more disabled people have been hired and when I am asked to be present at the time of their joining, it gives me immense satisfaction.”
As for Delhi, Sandeep says it has become much more disabled-friendly from the time he first interacted with the city. “Both in terms of infrastructure and behaviour the city is learning to embrace disabled people. I go to watch films. I live in Kapashera but nobody blinks an eyelid when the car comes to pick and drop me. I am like any other office-going youngster. That’s what I want. Normalcy.” And he is not done yet. He runs an NGO called Ally Foundation for the empowerment of the disabled and is eager to earn a spot for himself in the national Paralympics team in powerlifting. On the cards is an autobiography too.
