Srinagar, MINA – Sport brings hope to many disabled people in the Indian-controlled region of Jammu and Kashmir, including Inshah Bashir.

“Wherever there is hope, there is life,” said Inshah Bashir, quoted by Anadolu AgencyTuesday (27/12).

Bashir, 28, is the captain of the Jammu and Kashmir women’s wheelchair basketball team. He recently received the National Individual Excellence Award from the President of India on the eve of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities. His team won a silver medal at this year’s basketball championships in India.

He said he found hope and solace in sports. “It gives me an identity and the power to achieve what I can aim for,” he says.

Bashir has won awards and accolades for his athletic ability but he has not given up fighting for the rights of disabled people in the Kashmir region.

In addition to being an athlete, he worked as a goalkeeper at Voluntary Health Insurance Company to help people with disabilities in the area, providing them with advice and moral support.

He said that in Kashmir many people needed support and a helping hand.

“If I could help them, I would respect myself even more,” he said.

Formerly Bashir was very active. He likes to go out. But an accident 13 years ago deprived him of all ability to move after he fell from the balcony of his house in the Budgam district.

The accident damaged his spinal cord and despite several surgeries, he was unable to stand. He suffered a locomotive disability and has since been confined to a wheelchair.

According to a study by Kashmiri sociologist Bashir Dabla, there are more than 600,000 disabled people in Kashmir, almost 50% of whom have permanent disabilities. (T/RE1/P1)

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)