Everyone sees what a person appears to be but only a few understand who he really is. A neurologist saw Ashwin Karthik as a vegetable, as he described his condition to his parents when 16 month old Ashwin was unable to crawl or walk like the other children of his age. Ashwin had Cerebral Palsy, a neurological disorder that affects body movements and muscle coordination. Today he is India’s first engineer with Cerebral Palsy, successfully working with ANZ in Bangalore.
His journey is a tale of innumerable challenges overcome by his perseverance and support of his dear ones. Anguished by the revelation of her son’s condition, Ashwin’s mother wanted to give up on life. The worries about his future haunted her. Gradually she realised that her child was different- neither better, nor worse, just “different”. The only person who is tougher than a person who has special needs is his special parent. So she became his pillar of strength.
Her struggle started when she took it to her head to get him admitted to a regular school to make him feel at par with any other kid. She would sit for hours outside his classroom to cater to all his needs. She would borrow notebooks from his classmates and made sure his classwork was completed. After the sad demise of his father, she was the sole breadwinner of the family. But she never surrendered to the consequences. Ashwin became the highest scorer with cerebral palsy in class 10, owing to the efforts of his mother.
In class 11, God bestowed him with the greatest of all the blessings, his friend, Bharath Sharma. Soon their friendship blossomed and Bharath made Ashwin’s hardships his own, so that he never faced them alone. This fabulous friendship multiplied all the good in Ashwin’s life.
Ashwin excelled in his 12th class exams whereas Bharath was unable to clear his exams. Ashwin wanted to pursue engineering but his application at the CET counselling was rejected considering his medical condition. He got the admission with some persuasion and needed a scribe for appearing in exams. Bharath, who was planning to re-appear for his exams, took a decision which was opposed by his family and society. But you get to know who your true friend is when you go through a challenging time and see who sticks around. Bharat decided to become Ashwin’s scribe for his engineering, compromising with his own studies.
Ashwin went on to become the first successful engineer with cerebral palsy in India. The journey ahead didn’t become easy though. He spent two years searching for a job. The companies were unsure about his performance. Enable India, an organization to empower people with disability, got him placed at Mphasis, where he worked till 2015 and with his hard work, skills and dedication, he has always earned the respect of his colleagues. Apart from winning many excellence awards, he received the National Award for ‘Best Employee with Disability’ from the President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee on Dec 3rd 2013 in New Delhi.
Besides his work, Ashwin has an inclination towards writing poetry. He even wishes to write an autobiography to inspire others to overcome all the adverse situations of life. He believes that despite his disabilities, he is as valuable as anybody else to the world.
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