The Dentist Who Lost His Eyesight But Gained An Inner Vision
Circa 2004, Dr Jitender Aggarwal (29) and his wife Dr Suman were running two dental clinics in Delhi. They had a young son and led a happy life. Suddenly Jitender was afflicted with macular degeneration and learnt that he would lose his eyesight. Their world crashed and a dark future loomed large. Family asked Jitender to help at the small grocery shop. He didn’t like the idea. Meantime, the disease progressed and soon his central vision was gone.
Aggarwal spent three years doing all sorts of work and realised that there were too many hurdles for a person with disability. Some well-wishers advised, “why don’t you do something for others like you”; this ignited an inner vision and a fire in the belly; he dreamt about the day he could touch the lives of every PwD in India. He saw that PwDs indeed wanted to learn and become useful members of society rather than being a burden. He made a resolve to help them do so. The next year was spent doing research on disability organisations all over the country, identifying skills they could learn and planning a centre to do exactly that. The clinic was shut down and Sarthak was born in 2008 with the first batch of eight students eager to learn skills like computer operation, painting, tailoring etc.
Well-meaning mentors came forward to guide the trainees. Corporate sensitisation workshops and job fairs brought eager placement partners and all eight were soon employed and started proving their mettle. Starting with the first donor – Nokia Siemens Network – Sarthak is now deeply indebted to more than 20 generous philanthropists like Tech Mahindra, Hans Foundation, Cap Gemini, Cognizant, H T Parekh Foundation, Credit Suisse, Kotak Mahindra, Kuenhe + Nagel and Amazon. Likewise, their first trainee, employed by Net Ambit for medical transcription work, was followed by 60,000 plus Sarthak alumni now in over 100 large companies, the top five employers being Startek (Aegis), Vishal Mega Mart, Amazon, Flipkart and KFC.
Sarthak has come a long way in the last 15 years. The year 2023 saw the seedling – sowed in the gifted dentist’s modest home – blooming into a healthy tree with 24 centres covering virtually all geographies in the country and also a UK chapter. Two more ‘early intervention centres’ endeavor to analyse small children’s disability and possibly put the kid on a course correction. In 2016, the management of National Abilympic Association of India (NAAI) approached Sarthak to take over the association. This offered a synergetic work – putting PwDs through regional and national competitions and getting a team ready to participate in international abilympics held every four years. The amazing journey of the deeply religious, determined young man who literally never gives up even in the face of daunting challenges, has received much recognition and awards; perhaps the crowning glory being the unprecedented seven medals by ‘Team NAAI’ at the March 2023 International Abilympics in France. With several digital apps to help PwDs, this 15-year-old NGO seems well on its way to fulfill the 2027 vision of touching the lives of 10 million PwDs, sustainable employment for 200,000, establishment of the much needed Global Resource Centre at Gurugram and, hopefully, hosting the next international abilympics event in India.
The author is Member, National Advisory Board, Sarthak and President, National Abilympic Association of India (NAAI)
