Ranjit Gohil
Nominated for : Empowering the physically challenged.
Initiative - Founded disability advocacy group.
Nominated for : Empowering the physically challenged.
Initiative - Founded disability advocacy group.
Awalk towards the cricket ground of St Xavier’s College leads one to Human Development and Research Centre. A workshop is on for the physically challenged people to train them in the right way to seek a donation. The focus is on each step -- from body language to paperwork. The workshop is being organised by Disability Advocacy Group (DAG) whose founder Ranjit Gohil is also getting trained along with others. Despite helping others for more than three decades, the modest man wants to learn all he could to train others like him. Gohil, who works with Railway Mail Service at Kalupur, is 40 per cent disabled since the age of three when he fell victim to polio.“My father didn’t make enough money, yet my parents ensured I got all treatment possible for my problem. They would take me to the doctors regularly. I remember my physiotherapist was blind and he would give me toffees and chana (roasted gram) before the therapy to encourage me as I was very scared of the exercise. It would stretch my nerves and therefore would hurt a lot,” recalls Gohil who, being educated only till class nine, had a tough time finding a job. He opened a public call office (PCO) at VS hospital in 1985 which changed the way he looked at life and had been living it.
“We lived in a chawl and our neighbours and classmates would make fun of me which made me very bitter. But then I overheard people speaking about their problems on telephone. Often they wouldn’t have money to buy medicines. It really shook me up, so I got in touch with Sadvichar Parivar to arrange medicines for the poor. I got in touch with hospital staff and requested them to collect the extra medicines they would get which we started giving to the poor as per the prescription. So I was helping others without spending any money. It was then that I realised that money was not always needed if one wanted to do something for society,” says the 43-year-old.
Gohil who runs a “Meet the international disability” helpline which connects disabled from all over the world and helps them in getting employment. Realising the problems a physically challenged person faces in terms of employment and their rights, he founded DAG which is currently working in 26 districts in Gujarat uniting the disabled people in urban and rural areas.
“I received help when I needed it. So, today I want to give it back. I see there are so many people like me out there who need help and I try to put them on the right path. My job is to act as a bridge, that is, to connect them to the right person or department so there problems can be resolved,” adds Gohil who has been mentioned in Limca Book of World Records. In 1996, he was felicitated with presidential recognition.
Gohil once visited a physically challenged tailor named Mohammed Asgar in a small room where he would cut the cloth at night and stitch them in day by lifting the table. Pitying him Gohil not only lent him Rs 10,000 but also opened a tailoring unit at Narol with seven sewing machines six years ago. Today, the same unit has 70 machines and employs over 100 people, including disabled, and many disabled buy from it to sell in the retail market. “The aim to start a garment unit was to enable the uneducated disabled to earn livelihood and the more people get involved, the more employment opportunities they create or others like them,” he adds.
Despite being physically challenged, he is a sports enthusiast. He has been to Australia and England to participate in swimming competitions and to London to participate in bicycle championships. He has won over 100 medals, including 30 gold medals in mountaineering, swimming and badminto
“We lived in a chawl and our neighbours and classmates would make fun of me which made me very bitter. But then I overheard people speaking about their problems on telephone. Often they wouldn’t have money to buy medicines. It really shook me up, so I got in touch with Sadvichar Parivar to arrange medicines for the poor. I got in touch with hospital staff and requested them to collect the extra medicines they would get which we started giving to the poor as per the prescription. So I was helping others without spending any money. It was then that I realised that money was not always needed if one wanted to do something for society,” says the 43-year-old.
Gohil who runs a “Meet the international disability” helpline which connects disabled from all over the world and helps them in getting employment. Realising the problems a physically challenged person faces in terms of employment and their rights, he founded DAG which is currently working in 26 districts in Gujarat uniting the disabled people in urban and rural areas.
“I received help when I needed it. So, today I want to give it back. I see there are so many people like me out there who need help and I try to put them on the right path. My job is to act as a bridge, that is, to connect them to the right person or department so there problems can be resolved,” adds Gohil who has been mentioned in Limca Book of World Records. In 1996, he was felicitated with presidential recognition.
Gohil once visited a physically challenged tailor named Mohammed Asgar in a small room where he would cut the cloth at night and stitch them in day by lifting the table. Pitying him Gohil not only lent him Rs 10,000 but also opened a tailoring unit at Narol with seven sewing machines six years ago. Today, the same unit has 70 machines and employs over 100 people, including disabled, and many disabled buy from it to sell in the retail market. “The aim to start a garment unit was to enable the uneducated disabled to earn livelihood and the more people get involved, the more employment opportunities they create or others like them,” he adds.
Despite being physically challenged, he is a sports enthusiast. He has been to Australia and England to participate in swimming competitions and to London to participate in bicycle championships. He has won over 100 medals, including 30 gold medals in mountaineering, swimming and badminto
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