Sai Prasad, the first
disabled person to skydive, leads by example. His emphasis on the role of
educationand how universities can allow a disabled to live a full life is a
winner.
Parents' persistence helped, even though I had to change several
schools. My medical condition did not allow me to sit in the classroom for a
long time, which is why schools were skeptical,” Sai shares. Not one to be
deterred, he went on to win the gold medal at ISB, Hyderabad during his MBA.
The college is special to Sai because they ensured that the entire campus was
made disabled-friendly before his academic year began. “They did that for just
one student. We need more colleges and universities that are ready to
accommodate disabled students,” he says.
At ISB, Sai developed an employment model for the disabled that
focused on turning their disability into their strengths. “For example, a
traffic policeman has to work in an environment where there is a lot of noise
but a hearing impaired individual would not be bothered by that,” Sai explains.
The model won him the Hellen Keller award given to ‘Role Model Disabled
Individuals.' Currently a management consultant with Deloitte, Sai is an
adventure sports enthusiast. Apart from sky diving, he also became the first
Asian disabled individual to go to Antarctica. “The Bhagavad Gita blames our
current life on past life karmas, and talks about the five essential elements -
the earth, water, sky, space and fire. I want to prove that even a disabled
person can enjoy all the elements if supported and it doesn't have to be about
your past life,” he elaborates.
Sai funds his adventures in an innovative way. While he trains
his students for GMAT, it is only after they get their admit cards from
Universities like Stanford among others that they pay back their inspirational
teacher. “They contribute towards my travel. We work as a team,” he adds. He
also has an amazing success rate. “180 out of my 200 students have scored over
700 in GMAT,” he says about the test that is out of 800.
In the future, he would also like the government to intervene
and ensure that colleges and universities are accountable to their students. He
says, “A disabled person needs to be able to communicate and express at the
very least to be able use the benefits available.” While social media and the
Internet have made the research easy, he remembers spending most of his early
years conducting massive amounts of research to be able to move ahead. He was
recently awarded the Dr Batra's Positive Health Award 2016. So what's next on
the agenda for the adventure junkie? “I want to explore the element of fire.
For that I have plans to climb the volcanic mountain close to New Zealand.”
Source: DNA-29th
November;2016 http://epaper2.dnaindia.com/index.php?pagedate=2016-11-29&edcode=820009&subcode=820009&mod=1&pgnum=2
