Tenzin Dadon, ENVISION Fellow 2016-17
Being young, I am hot-blooded, impulsive, optimistic, and so on. While there have been many ways through which I have channelled this optimism and determination, I have always been sure of one thing and that is my desire to work for the underserved. Sometimes I am overwhelmed by the sheer determination to do something but often find myself lost at ‘how do I go about it?’
Having volunteered at various organisations in different capacities, I wanted to explore more in the field of special education for differently abled people as I realized that it is in the quest to be a helping hand for those in need that I am the happiest and fully content.
In the field o
f special education, or inclusive modules and policies, I wish to bring about a change in our community especially in the understanding of disability and the society’s treatment – good and bad both – of it. I feel that disability has always been a neglected issue by the policy makers and even the public at large. In fact, in our public health discourse, I feel when it comes to health the main focus has always been communicable diseases. Disability, mental illness even autism has hardly ever found importance in the framework of our public health programme. Furthermore, to make it worse, many in our society think that people with disability are the way they are because of their bad karma, and hence it is accepted as a result of fate and not as a social responsibility. It is around this time when I was grappling with such thoughts and looking for ways to learn more through training or a course on special education that I came across an online post about CII (Community Initiatives in Inclusion) course posted by Tibet Career Centre on their Facebook page. The course module really interested me and so the very next day I went to the Centre, here in Dharamsala where I reside. There I met the counsellor and she gave me the contact details of a girl called Passang Bhuti who had done the course last year.
A few days later, I went to meet Passang Bhuti and she was kind enough to share her experience and how she got enrolled in the course. She said she applied for a fellowship at ENVISION and also gave contact details of Apa Lhamo (Senior Programme Officer, ENVISION). The course fee was 900 sterling pounds and another 20 sterling pounds for registration. This much money, impossible, I thought at the moment. And so on 17th September 2016, I sent my first mail to ENVISION asking for a fellowship. I got a prompt reply two days later -‘Thank you for writing to us. We will get back to you soon.’ I didn’t think they would respond and in the back of my mind, I was sure the wait will be long or even useless for often these are standard responses for no actions. So honestly I wasn’t expecting much. But I was very wrong, ENVISION actually got back to me soon after. They asked me to fill the fellowship form as well as the ADAPT CII application form. They helped me fix an online interview date with ADAPT. After I cleared the interview and got selected for the course they negotiated a subsidised fee for me, as has been the understanding – between ADAPT and ENVISION – for all Tibetan candidates before me.
ENVISION not only helped secure a seat in this course at Mumbai but guided me all through the way. I can say now that ENVISION really helps empower young Tibetan youths like me to be our best – educationally and professionally – to contribute to the society. All they expect from us is to be sincere and responsible. Honestly speaking I didn’t know much about ENVISION before enrolling for this course. It was so easy to approach ENVISION and the team there. There was no highhandedness or typical formality expected by any of the staff. I really feel immense respect for all the members of ENVISION. Even the Deputy Director, who spoke with me to emphasize ENVISION’s hope and expectation from a Fellowship candidate, is so humble, and so always willing to help and guide. Apa Lhamo at ENVISION has been a constant moral support throughout my application procedure.
Fast-forward three months after the selection, here I am, in Mumbai and my CII course has commenced. The inauguration of the 16th CII course was held on 10th of Jan. 2017. This is a course for trainers and planners of community disability services for Asia pacific region. The course module focuses on Disabilit
y, Inclusion, Policy and Community. This year there are participants from Bhutan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Mongolia, different states of India like Dehradun, Nagaland, Mumbai, and of course myself a Tibetan-in-exile from Dharamsala. A total of 21 students, 20 female participants and 1 male participant make up the CII 2017 batch. All of my classmates are members of NGOs from their respective countries and exude immense motivation to bring about a change rather than waiting for others to bring the change. Coming here made me realize that CHANGE is possible provided you work for it with love, compassion and dedication. The CII course at ADAPT formerly known as the Spastics Society of India, in the early years of its inception, interestingly began with a full fund support from the UK women’s council but now only 40% of it is funded by the women’s council and ADAPT funds the rest 60%. This makes me believe that Tibetan organizations should also strive for financial independence and it is possible if we commit and work toward it.
Truly, what I aspire to do after finishing this course is to be able to give workshops on inclusion and actually strive for the rights of differently-abled in my community. Being able to change the current discourse on disability and to work with care providers like CSOs, associations will be my focus. Often times I have felt like being a refugee is a drawback because we don’t have even a piece of land to call our own let alone bringing changes at the macro level. But then looking at it from another perspective, because our community is small, homogenous it is actually easier to work at the micro and mezzo (mid) levels. So while I am here the next few months, in this beautiful environment of growth and inclusion, I look forward to a great learning experience, exchange of ideas, thoughts and building my knowledge to be the ‘Change’. And slowly work towards bringing change in my community to help make it more inclusive. I have a long way to go, but I know I have started this journey with ADAPT. Thank you ENVISION for supporting me in this endeavour .
