Javed Abidi (11 June 1965 – 4 March 2018) was an Indian activist who served as the director of the National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People (NCPEDP) in

India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...

, and the founder of the

Disability Rights The disability rights movement is a global new social movements, social movement that seeks to secure equal opportunity, equal opportunities and equality before the law, equal rights for all people with disability, disabilities. It is made u ...

Group. He received an education in Journalism and Communication at

Wright State University Wright State University is a public research university in Fairborn, Ohio. Originally opened in 1964 as a branch campus of Miami University and Ohio State University, it became an independent institution in 1967 and was named in honor of aviatio ...

Dayton, Ohio Dayton () is the sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County. The 2020 U.S. census estimate put the city population at 137,644, while Greater ...

. He set up the

disability Disability is the experience of any condition that makes it more difficult for a person to do certain activities or have equitable access within a given society. Disabilities may be cognitive, developmental, intellectual, mental, physical, s ...

wing of the

Rajiv Gandhi Foundation The Rajiv Gandhi Foundation was established on 21 June 1991. The foundation works on a range of issues including literacy, health, disability, empowerment of the underprivileged, livelihoods and natural resource management. Its current focus ar ...

in India, after being invited to do so by Sonia Gandhi.

Early life

Abidi was born on 11 June 1965 in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh. He was born with

spina bifida Spina bifida (Latin for 'split spine'; SB) is a birth defect in which there is incomplete closing of the spine and the membranes around the spinal cord during early development in pregnancy. There are three main types: spina bifida occulta, m ...

. Abidi first had surgery at the age of eight to treat his spina bifida. As a result, he had nerve damage. He required another surgery at the age of 10 after an injury from a fall. He moved with his family to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

. After their move to the United States, Abidi received medical care at the Boston Children's Hospital and the

Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago The Shirley Ryan AbilityLab, formerly the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago (RIC), is a not-for-profit nationally ranked physical medicine and rehabilitation research hospital based in Chicago, Illinois. Founded in 1954, the AbilityLab is design ...

. Abidi began using a wheelchair at age fifteen. Abidi studied at Wright State University. In 1989, he moved to India to pursue a career in journalism.

Involvement in disability awareness

In 1993, he started working for Sonia Gandhi, creating and building the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation's Disabilities Unit. A year later, Javed Abidi joined a small advocate group called the Disability Rights Group and started raising awareness for the disabled people of India. A large pro-disability rights movement arose, with the goal of getting the

Parliament of India The Parliament of India (International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration, IAST: ) is the supreme legislative body of the Republic of India. It is a bicameralism, bicameral legislature composed of the president of India and two houses: the R ...

to implement a bill of rights for disabled people. Javed Abidi led a protest before Parliament on 19 December 1995. The protest pushed Parliament into passing the

Persons with Disabilities Act A person ( : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of property, ...

on 22 December 1995. In 2004, his letter to Chief Justice of India addressed the accessibility of polling booths for persons with disabilities.

Involvement in the NCPEDP

The

created the National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People in 1995 and appointed Abidi as its director. Abidi collaborated with business executives from IBM, Apple Inc.,

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, and Hewlett-Packard to employ disabled individuals in these companies and in the high-tech industry in general. In 2000, Abidi urged the

Archaeological Survey of India The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) is an Indian government agency that is responsible for archaeological research and the conservation and preservation of cultural historical monuments in the country. It was founded in 1861 by Alexand ...

to install wheelchair ramps at various prominent monuments, including the

Red Fort The Red Fort or Lal Qila () is a historic fort in Old Delhi, Delhi in India that served as the main residence of the Mughal Emperors. Emperor Shah Jahan commissioned construction of the Red Fort on 12 May 1638, when he decided to shif ...

, Qutub Minar,

Humayun's Tomb Humayun's tomb ( Persian: ''Maqbara-i Humayun'') is the tomb of the Mughal Emperor Humayun in Delhi, India. The tomb was commissioned by Humayun's first wife and chief consort, Empress Bega Begum under her patronage in 1558, and designed by Mir ...

, and

Jantar Mantar A Jantar Mantar (Hindustani pronunciation: ͡ʒən̪t̪ər mən̪t̪ər is an assembly of stone-built astronomical instruments, designed to be used with the naked eye. There were five Jantar Mantars in India, all of them built at the com ...

. The impetus for the ramps was to accommodate Stephen Hawking while he visited these sites. For the next two years, Abidi and the NCPEDP focused on accessibility for disabled people, publishment of disability issues, and work opportunities for disabled people.

Death

Abidi died on 4 March 2018 from a chest infection.

References

External links

National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People (N.C.P.E.D.P.)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Abidi, Javed Indian disability rights activists 1965 births 2018 deaths People from Aligarh Wright State University alumni Indian people with disabilities People with spina bifida Activists from Uttar Pradesh