By Hira Nafees Shah
Participants and chief guests of the Career Counselling for Persons with Disabilities Workshop with Alumna Anna Iqbal Bhatti
Intermediate student Zain-ul-Abidin was only five when he had a devastating fever which left him disabled. Although he could join his friends in running around the park, he really felt left out when he couldn’t hold the bat to play cricket.
Day to day chores were also difficult to manage without him being able to use his hands properly. But with sheer resilience and willpower, Abidin was able to build a normal life for himself, and even placed first among the 500 students in his sixth grade class.
When he reached college, he was looking for his next step – and found that a Career Counselling Workshop was organized by Anna Iqbal Bhatti in Benazir Abad for people just like him.
MIUSA Exchange Women with Disability Training Alumna Anna Iqbal Bhatti
“I decided to arrange Career Counselling Workshops for people with disabilities so that they can choose the subjects that they like,” Bhatti said. “In this way, they will be able to serve their country better.”
The Women with Disabilities alumna sought the help of an Alumni Small Grant so that she could fulfill her goal. All alumni of various U.S sponsored exchange programs in Pakistan can apply for the grant to enable them to give back to their communities.
Special Persons Discuss Individual Challenges
Bhatti and her team of volunteers conducted three workshops on career counselling in different hotels of Benazir Abad, which included between twenty and thirty people in each session who had been chosen in collaboration with the National Disability Forum.
During the session in the Gymkhana Hotel, the participants had a candid conversation about the difficulties that special people face in Pakistan, especially due to the lack of ramps in public places throughout the country.
Male participants during the Career Counselling Workshop
They also spoke out against the harsh treatment they sometimes received and the difficulties they face in getting an employment adding to their financial hardships.
“The society thinks disability is our weakness but we think it is our strength,” said one participant during the discussion.
“We want social inclusion, we are not children,” said another attendee. “We should be given confidence and we require empathy not sympathy.”
The trainers also agreed that the environment added to the hurdles faced by special people.
“Our disability is not from inside but from outside factors,” said Bhatti while heading a session about UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. “The disability comes from the environment, the society and by not giving facilities to special people.”
The participants appreciated the workshop for opening up new avenues of thought and job opportunities for them.
“I learned important things during the workshop, like the benefit of learning English and computer skills,” said Asma Muneer, a handicapped intermediate student. “I also found out that I can even go abroad, if I become competent in these two subjects.”
Workshops Improve Job Prospects
The organizers taught the participants how to create their resumes and how to prepare themselves for interviews. They also learnt that it was necessary for them to acquire a certificate for persons with disabilities, so that they can show it to prospective employers.
After one training, the audience members also applied for vacancies in the Social Welfare Department which had assigned a separate quota for special persons, with the help of the management.
“The workshop was very productive because everyone spoke confidently and special people received guidelines about how to get jobs,” said Ghulam Nabi Malik, a participant who managed to get a private job despite having special needs.
Female Participants during the Career Counselling Workshop for Persons with Disabilities
For Razia Bibi, she felt that the session enabled her to find out what her rights were as a special person. She also said she would try to apply what she had learned at the event in the future.
“I would try to find out what kind of abilities I have and polish them further,” she said. “Through this process, I will try to become independent and self-reliant and get a government job.”
A closing ceremony was also held at the occasion which included important personalities from the region, like Higher Secondary School Teacher in Jamshoro Mohammad Saleh Memon and the PUAN Sukkur President Bruner Newton.
“The Persons with Disabilities should not feel disappointed because their handicap is not only a test for them, but also for us and the society is at fault if it does not provide them with amenities,” said Memon.
As for alumna Anna Iqbal Bhatti, she says that the Alumni Small Grant is responsible for all the success that she has achieved in her project.
“The Alumni Small Grant helped us to sit down together and gain a solution to our problems,” she said.
As for the next step, Bhatti says that she will keep giving career advice to her participants to help them to overcome any gaps that they might have in their training. And from there onwards the sky is the limit for these very talented, resilient people!
