Javed Abidi: Difference between revisions

{{Use Indian English|date=May 2016}}

'''Javed Abidi''' (11 June 1965<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/disability-rights-crusader-javed-abidi-dies-at-53/articleshow/63160165.cms|title=Disability rights crusader Javed Abidi dies at 53 - Times of India|work=The Times of India|access-date=2018-06-17}}</ref><ref>https://www.pressreader.com/india/the-times-of-india-mumbai-edition/20180305/281921658549036</ref><ref>http://nadindia.org/Articles/4402</ref> – 4 March 2018) was an Indian activist who served as the director of the [[National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People]] (NCPEDP)<ref>[https://archive.is/20130126011941/http://www.hindustantimes.com/Demand-made-for-legal-recognition-of-sign-language/Article1-634161.aspx Demand made for legal recognition of sign language], [[Hindustan Times]], 4 December 2010</ref> in [[India]], and the founder  of the [[Disability Rights]] Group.<ref>[http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/health-fitness/health/Disabled-demand-change-in-mindsets/articleshow/7034421.cms Disabled demand change in mindsets], [[Times of India]], 3 December 2010</ref>

He received an education in Journalism and Communication at [[Wright State University]] in [[Dayton, Ohio]].<ref name=ashoka>{{cite web|url=http://www.ashoka.org/fellow/2550|title=Javed Abidi Profile at 'Ashoka: Innovators for the Public'|accessdate=5 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110113144429/http://ashoka.org/fellow/2550|archive-date=13 January 2011|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}</ref> He set up the [[disability]] wing of the [[Rajiv Gandhi Foundation]] in India, after being invited to do so by [[Sonia Gandhi]].<ref name=ashoka/>

Abidi was born on 11 June 1965<ref>https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/jnudpa/-OWJT9xwlyc</ref> in [[Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh]]. He was born with [[spina bifida]]. Abidi first had surgery at the age of eight to treat his spina bifida. As a result, he suffered nerve damage.<ref name=":0" /> He required another surgery at the age of 10 after an injury from a fall.<ref name=":0" /> He moved with his family to the [[United States]]. After their move to the United States, Abidi received medical care at the [[Boston Children's Hospital]] and the [[Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago]]. Abidi began using a wheelchair at age fifteen.

Abidi studied at Wright State University. In 1989, he moved to India to pursue a career in journalism.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.amazon.com/How-Change-World-Entrepreneurs-Updated/dp/0195334760|title=How to Change the World: Social Entrepreneurs and the Power of New Ideas, Updated Edition|first=David|last=Bornstein|date=17 September 2007|publisher=Oxford University Press|accessdate=5 March 2018|via=Amazon}}</ref>

In 1993, he started working for Sonia Gandhi, creating and building the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation's Disabilities Unit.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://66.147.244.195/~neilpete/index.php/2010/01/javed-abidi-giving-visibility-and-hope-to-indias-disabled/ |title=Archived copy |access-date=24 July 2013 |archive-url=https://archive.is/20130724164410/http://66.147.244.195/~neilpete/index.php/2010/01/javed-abidi-giving-visibility-and-hope-to-indias-disabled/ |archive-date=24 July 2013 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all }}</ref> A year later, Javed Abidi joined a small advocate group called the Disability Rights Group and started raising awareness for the disabled people of India. A large pro-disability rights movement arose, with the goal of getting the [[Parliament of India]] to implement a bill of rights for the disabled. Javed Abidi led a protest before Parliament on 19 December 1995. The protest pushed Parliament into passing the [[Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016|Persons with Disabilities Act]]<ref>https://sites.google.com/a/nileshsingit.org/indian-disability-laws/disability-legislation-in-india</ref> on 22 December 1995. In 2004, his letter to Chief Justice of India addressed the accessibility of polling booths for persons with disabilities. [[Supreme Court of India]]<ref>{{cite news|title=Will India's elections ever be disabled-friendly?|url=http://www.dnis.org/print_features.php?features_id=96|newspaper=D.N.I.S}}</ref>

The [[Rajiv Gandhi Foundation]] created the [[National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People]] in 1995 and appointed Abidi as its director. Abidi collaborated with business executives from [[IBM]], [[Apple Inc.]], [[Oracle Corporation]], [[Cisco Systems]], [[Microsoft]], and [[Hewlett-Packard]] to employ disabled individuals in these companies and in the high-tech industry in general. In 2000, Abidi urged the [[Archaeological Survey of India]] to install wheelchair ramps at various prominent monuments, including the [[Red Fort]], [[Qutub Minar]], [[Humayun's Tomb]], and [[Jantar Mantar]]. The impetus for the ramps was to accommodate [[Stephen Hawking]] while he visited these sites. For the next two years, Abidi and the NCPEDP focused on accessibility for the disabled, publishment of disability issues, and work opportunities for the disabled.