“Sometimes even the greatest joys bring challenge, and
children with special needs inspire a very, very special love” said Sarah Palin
who reflects my own feelings. Farheena is a special needs child, and the kind
of love she evokes in people is really something very special.
I agree that being a mother to a child with special needs
can be challenging, because you fear for the safety of your child, falling
short of taking proper care of them, not being able to understand your own
child and also whether you are making the right choices or not. You feel more
responsible for your child with special needs. Yet, when you connect with
special needs people, you will know how much of optimism they can bring into
your life. They are in fact special, because they are not corrupted by the vices
of human kind. You can always #lookup to them for motivation and inspiration.
Farheena, with her own unique style and observations has
been a great motivation for people around her, especially to her mom who was inspired
to fight cancer more vehemently to be there for her baby girl. The way she continued
achieving her goals, one step at a time is inspiring for more able people to do
more.
Her struggle to get on her feet was no less. Initially she
had trouble walking, and when she started walking, she developed crouch gait. She
had to undergo triple fusion surgery on both her feet to start walking again. It
was amazing to note how co-operative and understanding she was about the whole
situation. She had complete trust in her doctor, Dr. Gautam Kodikal who did a
wonderful job her feet to get her back walking without crouch gait.
Even though we do take speech for granted, it is a struggle
for Farheena to communicate her thoughts. But she developed a language her
family and friends can follow with the words she could pronounce easily. Just because
she did not have speech ability, she did not give up on communication.
Her view of the world is not complicated at all, it is
simple and so clear. She may not be touched with a genius wand, but at the same
time she is also saved from evils of the world. She doesn’t like to hurt
anyone. When everyone lets down a person, Farheena will be there supporting and
showing her love for him/her. She is the first person to know when someone is
sad and needs comfort.
She knows when to put down her feet and when to draw lines. With
the life skills she has, she leads a dignified life, managing her needs by
herself to a great extent. She lives her life with great plans for everyone
around her. She wants to buy a house with swimming pool, a red car and adopt a
baby.
Our society does not allow special needs people to make many
choices. We pick the food they eat, the dress they wear, the school they go to
etc. But Farheena is lucky that she gets to make her choices on many levels. She
also had a choice of either to be happy or not, and she choose to be happy with
whatever she has in her life. She takes pride in everything she does. We may
still be pondering over whether the glass is half full or half empty, when
Farheena with her simple way of looking at life would say, let us be happy that
there is a glass without bothering whether it is empty or full. She has great optimism
about life, about love, about the world and its future and she doesn’t hesitate
for a moment to spread it around.
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