A little push was all that Mamta needed to take to the skies

Imagine sitting at home without a job despite being a graduate, shunned by neighbours and friends, and with no confidence to carry on with life – all because you have a physical disability.

26-year-old Mamta Gulabrao Kubade was in a similar predicament. She had met with an accident when she was eight years old, and that left her leg burnt, so burnt she couldn’t walk. Despite her disability, she completed her graduation. Jobs were hard to come by, and she had no confidence to seek out one. Confined to her home in Kothara village in Maharashtra, her days were dreary and nights insomnious. Her self-esteem plummeted to a new low every day.

In 2014, Mamta’s life took a turn for the better – it happened like this: The Leprosy Mission Trust India’s IHDID (Inclusive Holistic Development of Individuals with Disability) project team met her after coming to know about her plight through one of the project volunteers. The team counselled her and encouraged her to join the project’s skill development programme for persons with disabilities, so that she could get a job. Mamta readily agreed, for, beneath the benumbing ashes of despondency, sparks of hope were waiting to soar to the skies to paint a new future for her. In the same year, she enrolled, signing up for a course in spectacle making.

After completing the course, Mamta got a job in the optometry department of TLM Kothara Hospital. She earns a handsome salary every month, adding to her confidence and self-reliance. Along with her job, she is pursuing her master’s degree. Her evenings are not drab now, she takes tuition classes for children from disadvantaged background – to create opportunities for them to realise their dreams.

To help her overcome her disability, the project team advised Mamta to undergo surgery to correct her lower limb deformity. The thought of surgery scared her, but her ambition to make it big in life got the better of her fears, and so she readily agreed. In 2016, TLM surgeons performed corrective surgery on her. Today, a busy Mamta literally stands on her own feet, smilingly attending to her customers – challenging the very fate that once drove her into a corner.