Given the right opportunity, disability does not limit ability. About 70 per cent of the employees working in the Disabled People’s Organization are persons with disabilities. What was once a group often seen as dependent is now leading programmes, and supporting communities. For many of them, education has been the key that opened the door to opportunity.
At a small office of the Disabled People’s Organization, a Civil Society Organisation, 23-year-old Tika Devi Dhakal carefully checks numbers on a ledger, making sure every figure balance.
As the organisation’s accountant, she is responsible for keeping track of finances.
Though she lives with disability, her determination carried her through school. She completed Class 12, an achievement that opened the door to employment.
Growing up, her family struggled financially. Coming from a single parent family, supporting daily expenses was often difficult, and opportunities were limited.
“From PP to Class 3, my mother managed everything on her own, working wherever she could, and it was only enough for ration. When I reached Class 4, we had to rent a house because the school was far from home. We received ration support from the government, which helped a little, but my mother still had to bear the rent and other expenses.”
But education slowly changed that reality.
“Now that I am working and my mother also works, paying rent and meeting daily needs have become far better than before.”
Tika’s elder brother, who has the same disability, is now studying in class 12, continuing the same path shaped by education.
For their mother Hema Devi Regmi, sending her children to school was never a question of choice, but of hope.
“They are cognitively stable, so I believed that providing them with an education would help secure their future. Even if they may not be able to fully take care of me, knowing they can stand on their own gives me peace of mind, especially when I am no longer around.”
The organisation intentionally employs persons with disabilities to empower them and demonstrate their abilities.
Kinley Wangchuk, Executive Director, Disabled People’s Organization said, “Some persons with disabilities who received education through their parents’ support are now working in UN offices, the Ministry of Education, and even as doctors. Seeing this, it is important to raise greater awareness among parents about the need to educate their children.”
For Tika and many others, the journey from exclusion to empowerment begins with a classroom and continues into workplaces where their abilities are finally recognised.
Sangay Chozom
