03 December,2010 07:02 AM IST | | Rinkita Gurav
President Pratibha Patil to confer national awards on city's visually challenged outliers for being 'empowered' employees
On the International Day of Disabled Persons, the city can take pride on two of its visually disabled residents who will be felicitated with national awards by President Pratibha Patil today.
The award, given for the Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities to model employees by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, has been conferred on Ashish Goyal, while Bandra resident Neha Nalin Pawaskar gets the additional award.
Neha has scaled the Himalayas and been a swimmer
Ashish Goyal has an exceptional record of fiats, but in his own words, 'more is yet to come'.
The ecstatic 30-year-old works at J P Morgan in London as a portfolio manager and has an outstanding positive vibe that goes a long way in contributing to the latest feather in his cap.
Goyal was an avid sportsperson during his childhood when he began losing his eyesight and during his late teens lost it altogether.
He shifted his focus from sports to academics wherein he excelled and completed his MBA from Wharton School in the US.
There he earned the Joseph P Wharton Award that honours the student who best represents Wharton's way of life.
"I am very thrilled as well as humbled for the recognition. It motivates me further," said Goyal, on his way to Delhi.
After graduating from NMIMS, Mumbai, he went pursuing jobs in the investment field wherein he was rejected a number of times. After a summer internship with J P Morgan, he was absorbed there as an employee in 2008.
Goyal, who supports a number of NGOs that reach out to children as well as adults with disabilities, says, "It is very necessary to raise awareness about social issues to empower the disabled persons through motivation and jobs."
Along with him, 41-year-old Neha Pawaskar, who was blind since birth, will be recognised with an additional award in the same category.
Working as a telephone operator at the Sales Tax office in Bandra, Pawaskar says, "After 18 years of constant survival, this award is another driving force in my life.
I did not expect to be the recipient, but now that I have been chosen, I will spread this will among others so that they can achieve what I have."
She scaled a peak of 17,200 ft in the Himalayas in 1992 and has been a national swimmer and the winner of the Shivaji Chhatrapati Award in 2005.
D-Day today
International Day of Persons with Disabilities is annually observed on December 3 with an objective to promote an awareness of disability issues, the fundamental rights of persons with disabilities and integration of persons with disabilities in the mainstream society.
