Women's Day 2023 : How These Disabled Women Went On To Create History

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International Women's Day that is due to arrive on Wednesday, 8 March, 2023, is a special day for Women, especially for the disabled women achievers. Being a disabled person is like being disqualified for the race of life, at the starting point itself. Failure is the only friend that empathises with them from the beginning. It is one thing to get into the rat race and failing in it to certain extent. But it is another grave thing not to be let into the race at all. We have our carved paths right in front of us which requires us to run in our own pace. But some people have tough terrains and not an easy path allotted for them.

Discrimination is something that the especially abled grow up with. They have this deep longing to be a part of the milieu, to find a normal life, which any Tom Dick and Harry is having. But when it eludes them, and when they realize so, some of them become disillusioned people who chose an ordinary desk job and live with a tale to tell. Some of them take it as a challenge, break the barriers and show people that they can't be morally, physically and psychologically bogged down by any societal constraints and stressors. There are several such women, who have nothing but a hollow vacuum in personal lives but have emerged as international stars whose professional lives have a splash of colours to such an extent that their disability has paled into insignificance.

Today Maya Angelou is not known as a disabled person who still made it, but as Dr. Maya Angelou, a strong voice that has brought about significant changes to society like none other. She not only preserved her peace and calm and resilience in the face of challenges, but also performed and managed her life better than the normal persons could ever do, so it is not the disability, it is the ability to face it and outgrow it that matters. Let us celebrate the woman's month by glancing at a long list of such indefatigable warriors of life, who turned their minus point into a point of credibility and strength. The women that appear here in this truly illustrious list are Tammy Duckworth Stella Young, and Dr. Maya Angelou who are shining examples of the famous adage that says "where there is a will there is a way."

Sen. Tammy Duckworth

She has been the decorated junior senator in US who hails from Illinois since 2017. She has a number of firsts to her credit. She was the first female helicopter pilot who led a combat mission, the first double amputee as a result of the Iraq war, the first Thai American woman and first disabled woman to be selected to the senate and the very first senator who gave birth while she was working in office during her working hours. A smiling face that has taken all the scars of life with a pinch of salt and humour, Duckworth's professional track record is immaculately clean and most of the bills that were introduced for the cause of hapless parents had Tammy's hand behind them.

Stella Young

Stella young taught people through the example of her life, that disability is not something that is to be treated as a problem of untouchability. She helped people to understand and normalize the disability by being a writer, editor, online TV host, and even gave an inspirational speech through TEDX Talk in 2014 that was titled as "I'm Not Your Inspiration, Thank You Very Much."

She propounded that disabled people should be seen as living, breathing, feel good memes. It is a common thing to see people praising the disabled as inspirations for the normal people. But they should be treated as any other normally endowed individuals with an unbeatable self-confidence quotient.

Dr. Maya Angelou

Maya Angelou is your favourite poet who writes poignant poems so deeply thoughtful and rich in human essence. But Maya is not your ordinary writer who writes for creative satisfaction and for her own share of lime light. Hers is a forlorn voice that withstood the tests of time and ravages of life upon her and still emerged successful in voicing her concerns in an effective manner for the cause of the disabled. She was a victim of physical violation when she was a child and the predator was none other than her mother's boyfriend. She informed someone about this and this led to conviction, release and then death of the criminal.

Her own physical trauma and the trauma of seeing the predator dead, caused such a problem for her that she developed selective mutism, a disorder that made it impossible to express herself in certain situations. Angelou had fallen silent for a total of five years as this is how it affected her. Her struggles became life lessons to learn from for others and she did not give up even life threatened and completely blocked her route.

If any one of us is in a similar condition, we can't thank Maya enough, for her contributions and the lesson of courage and fortitude that she imparted to every especially abled person on this planet.