I remember a quote from life: “Appearing at all times, as if you were there”. My parents’ first daughter died due to complications during childbirth, and exactly the following year, on the same day as November 1, I came into their life. Of course, I was a timid and weak baby and my parents gave me their full attention. At the age of 11 months, I got an attack of typhoid and my parents didn’t give me polio drops after a few days, Doctors pronounced me poliomyelitis and it affected my right leg. A permanent disability became part of my life. After a torrent of tears and shocking conditions, my parents came together because it was time to decide if I should live with this burden or put it aside for others.
They took me to a qualified doctor and he suggested that daily physiotherapy might bring about a positive change in my leg. After long efforts at the age of 3, I took up my first step, but I was walking lamely. During this period, my parents did not ignore my studies, so I passed the entrance exam in two prestigious schools in Lahore. My parents were delighted at the time because many people insisted that I go to a school for the disabled, but they refused. They didn’t want to turn my mind off.
The day came and I entered the school with my leg brace. I remember teachers and students staring at me because I wasn’t as healthy as them. Time flies, and at last, I did my Master’s in English Literature from Punjab University. Then, thanks to my adequate resume, I found a job as a senior teacher at a popular school in Lahore and a new phase in my life began. Firstly, my students were surprised to see how can a disabled teacher teaching us, and secondly, how would an English Postgraduate teach us a science subject like Biology? I took this part as a challenge & achieved higher board results in my subject. Times went by and now many of my former students have been placed in high ranks, but they always give me the same admiration while they are still students. Now both of my parents are deceased this time (may Allah Pak rest their souls in Jannah) while I am there.
My younger sisters are settled in their lives Masha’Allah. I’m single and now you people are thinking that I’m lonely, but no, I have my precious family, my adorable friends, my cherishing students, and most of all my education. I am ever grateful to my parents for giving me this thing and they didn’t mind being the parents of a disabled daughter. I’m still following this quote from an excellent English theoretical physicist, and cosmologist, Stephen Hawking, “My advice to other people with disabilities would be to focus on the things your disability doesn’t prevent you from doing well and don’t regret the things you do.”
