Xtraspecial
A disability rights activist, Sripad Vinayak Pai Bir was awarded the ADAPT National Award for Civil Rights and Activism on World Cerebral Palsy Day in Mumbai at ADAPT (formerly Spastics Society of India). Born with cerebral palsy, this Chimbel youth had to fight a long battle with the Directorate of Transport for getting his driver’s licence. Not giving up for years, Sripad fought for his right and finally got his licence.
A determined Sripad recalls that as a kid he insisted on having a three tyre cycle of his own. Once he learnt to ride that, he demanded for a two-tyre bicycle, and learning it, he became 90 % perfect in his physical activities that were impacted by cerebral palsy. He rides a cycle, scooter and also drives a car. He had to fight for a driving licence from 2008 till 2014. Now he helps other PwDs to get their licence. “I have three licences “ one is for a normal two wheeler, other for a four wheeler and the third for three wheeler scooter with a side car,” he shares.
Keen to voice issues of the persons with disability (PwD), he is a self-employed business person running his electrical and electronics training centre in the heart of Panaji. A decade ago Sripad was felicitated by the We Care Film Festival for outstanding achievement for PwDs. An active member of the Disability Rights Association of Goa (DRAG), Sripad, the only child of Vinayak and Neeta Pai Bir, has made his parents proud.
“My father has retired as a marine instructor from the Fisheries department and my mother from the Information department,” says Sripad who was lucky to have mentors like Dr Anup Priolkar, Dr Mahendra Kudchadkar, Jayant Kamat, Narendra Gurav, Laxman Naik, Prema Sridharan, Kavita Mone, Prasad V Kamat Sambari, Jagdish Bandodkar, Sunita Sail and Avinash Shinde who believed in his capabilities.
Sripad got trained under the scheme of Integrating Persons with Disabilities in the main stream of Technical and Vocational Education securing ‘A’ grade. This was the first case in Goa where a person with cerebral palsy underwent the training and became self-sufficient after mastering the skills. He also did an Entrepreneurship and Skill Development Programme on mobile phone servicing at Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Institute at Margao. He never looked back after that and started earning at a young age.
Today, Sripad independently handles his business at Bir Group. Running Bir Electricals and Electronics Works Training Centre from Emerald Towers at St Inez in Panaji, Sripad offers various services “ emergency lights assembling and sales, repairs and sales of all electrical works and kitchen and home appliances, AC repairing and servicing and even mobile repairs. People visit in person and bring their electrical items for repairs.
But the journey to reach this state was not so easy for Sripad. A premature child, born in the seventh month of pregnancy, doctors had given away hope of his survival. After birth, he did not cry for 72 hours and the doctors said the baby has only 48 hours to live. He was kept in an incubator while the doctors tried to save his mother who was critical. Sripad’s father allowed the doctors to experiment on the newborn and try if the child can be saved. After saving his mother, doctors noticed that the child is still alive.
It’s here when they got a ray of hope that if a specific medicine was imported from England as early as possible, the newborn can be saved. Luckily the medicine was available in Mumbai, and the parents ordered it immediately. The life-saving medicine reached Goa by the first flight, in time, and thus Sripad got a new lease of life. “It was a miracle, how I survived, but maybe my time had not come and God wanted me to live for myself and for others,” says Sripad, who has victoriously come out of his cerebral palsy issues, and the only visible trace is his speech, which is blurred.
One can see Sripad walking on the streets of Panaji, travelling in the city bus, riding a scooter or driving a car. When cerebral palsy restricts many movements of the affected persons, Sripad has conquered this disorder associated with the brain and the body, and he not only survived a premature birth, but grew up to an able electrician, running his own business and earning independently which is an achievement in itself.
“I started my business in 2006 soon after I completed my course at Polytechnic. It’s been 20 years, and I have earned enough. Now I want to take a break and travel across India and abroad with my parents,” shares Sripad who plans to settle now. He is constructing a building of his own which will be completed by December this year. After shifting there, his office in Panaji would be his headquarters, from where he plans to devote time for social work, and supporting, guiding other PwDs. Sripad is an ideal example of how a person with 75 % cerebral palsy has emerged victorious and even thinking of retiring at the age of 35 after running a successful business “ unlike others who start life at 35.
