Suborno Nagorik Foundation: A beacon of hope
"Although people with disabilities are the largest minority group in the world in terms of numbers, I didn't even think about them before I experienced that massive accident," said Asif Iqbal Chowdhury while sharing the story of how he founded Suborno Nagorik Foundation.
Considering the larger number of people with disabilities in Bangladesh, he found that the country has very few facilities for them. So, he established the foundation to address the gap and as such, it is currently working for the rehabilitation and social welfare of people with disabilities.
Unpredictable life event
Asif was born in Rangpur and graduated from Madras University before going on to work at many world-renowned companies like Toyota-Navana for years.
His life was all set in terms of education, jobs and having a happy family, but everything suddenly changed when he experienced a severe accident in Australia on October 21, 2014.
"I was near death but somehow survived after going through two critical operations in Australia," he said, adding that the incident completely changed his physical condition.
Around 80 per cent of his body was paralyzed, pushing him into a life with disability. The new situation shattered him both physically and mentally, and he struggled to find meaning in life at the time.
He got further treatment at several hospitals in Bangkok and Kerala, but no significant improvements were seen.
But under the close supervision of Valerie Ann Taylor at the Centre for Rehabilitation of the Paralysed (CRP) at Savar, Dhaka, he finally got a stable mind and body.
Here, he came to realise the difficulties of being a person living with disability in our society and began to think about working for them. Before that, it had been a challenge for Asif to keep active and remain mentally stable in his now wheelchair-ridden life.
A new beginning
Asif found that people in general can hardly understand the problems and difficulties faced by a person with disabilities, where minimum basic human requirements are barely fulfilled. So, he began sharing his experience in a bid to sensitise people about these issues.
In 2018, Asif started Suborno Nagorik Foundation in his home district of Rangpur and eventually got government registration in 2020.
To ensure the needs of people with disabilities are met, the foundation is working in areas such as accessibility, rehabilitation, health, education, livelihood improvement, training, awareness, peer counselling, women empowerment, legal and human rights, sports and more.
Suborno Nagorik Foundation has gradually expanded its working area to five districts in the country, namely Dhaka, Gazipur, Rangpur, Nilphamari and Kurigram.
During the pandemic, it distributed sports and health equipment, wheelchairs, artificial legs, and others equipment free of cost among people with disabilities.
Currently, the foundation depends on Asif's personal funding and assistance from his friends. However, the endeavour requires more regular funding to run smoothly. Moreover, Asif believes strategic planning and funds would make it more institutional.
In 2022, Suborno Nagorik Foundation in association with United Commercial Bank, Daffodil International University and The Daily Star took an initiative to honour inspirational people with disabilities at a national level.
It awarded people and organisations associated with persons with disabilities in four categories: special needs childrens' parents, successful persons with disabilities, organisations that employ people with disabilities and sports organisations where persons with disabilities are included.
Mostafa Azad Chowdhury Babu, FBCCI senior vice president, was present In this ceremony. In addition, Syed Ashfaqul Haque, executive editor, The Daily Star; Dr Md Sabur Khan, founder and Chairman Board of Trustees, Daffodil International University; ATM Tahmiduzzaman, deputy managing director, UCBL; Abul Kalam Azad, EVP and head of Brand Marketing and Corporate Affairs, UCBL; and others spoke at the event to appreciate such an initiative.
The foundation plans to expand its territory and continue arranging this award ceremony each year with more components to inspire and reward people for their efforts in this regard.
Asif was greatly inspired by Indian paralympian Deepa Malik and Pakistani activist Muniba Mazari, who also are also persons with disabilities.
He believes sports are important for people with disabilities because it provides not only amusement, but also showcases their potential to others.
"Even though our Prime Minister said her government would allot a place for the rehabilitation centre, that commitment saw no progress due to a lack of funding, complex bureaucratic procedure, and other factors," Asif said.
"However, I have high hopes regarding our desired centre for these specialised people. More of these centres should be built in different areas to make the service available for all," he added.
Asif won a national award in 2019 under the Person with Disability category. He is also an executive committee member of the Bangladesh Paralympic Committee and a consultant of Proyash, a special school run by the Bangladesh Army and other organisations that work with people with disabilities.
He is also vocal about the problems of people with disabilities. Asif regularly appears on BTV, The Daily Star and other livestream programmes to motivate and guide persons with disabilities to be active and explore their potential.
Disability is a state of being that anyone can come across at any moment of life. Moreover, the number of people born with disabilities is huge. So, the government should consider implementing appropriate action plans and allocate funds for them. Furthermore, affluent sections of our society and corporate bodies must come forward to support initiatives like the Suborno Nagorik Foundation.