Students take part in the workshop in Patna on Monday. Picture by Ranjeet Kumar Dey

Patna, Nov. 15: Child Concern, an NGO, organised a workshop for siblings of differently abled children to help them understand the state of their special brothers and sisters.

Around 100 siblings of differently abled children took part in a discussion where they were given suggestions how to develop a bonding and evoke the social consciousness through their moves.

The workshop saw many differently abled personalities like Sandeep Kumar (fourth rank holder in the World Summer Games 2007 for athletics) and Iqbal Hussain Asraf (consecutive five-time winner in javelin in Para Olympic games).

Despite their handicap, the duo have clinched recognition at the national and international levels. Sharing their journey, many of them got emotional but apparently it seemed their speeches boosted the confidence of the siblings to continue their fight.

“Unity makes the difference. If the families cope up well with their differently-abled members, that will help them take on the challenges easily just because they gain moral capacity that makes them much stronger than earlier,” said Shivaji Kumar, the area director of Child Concern.

“Parents should let them (the differently abled) free and not make them dependent on others for every work that will give them confidence to stand for leading a life not meant for being incumbent,” said Sulekha Kumari, the secretary of Samarpan, an NGO, and vice-chairman of Bihar Viklang Khel Sangh.

Sunny Kumar, a 17-year-old footballer, was so excited that he took part in almost all the fun games like balancing the ball and making a chain. Vidya Shankar Prasad, a teacher of social sciences in a government middle school and Sunny’s father, felt happy that his child has shown great improvement since he started playing with the football in 2005.

Initially for him and her wife it was being difficult to understand Sunny, a differently abled child. “His growth was very slow, he used forget things at times. We were in dilemma about what was happening actually. On consulting, the doctor told us about Sunny’s condition. He was four then.”

“But today, we are proud parents of an international player who proved himself in 2007 World Summer Games by getting the bronze for first and continues his journey still,” said Sunny’s father.