Inspiring Woman Who Lost Hands to Grenade as a Child Bags PhD, Motivates Others as Disability Activist

• An inspiring woman from India is proving that with willpower, determination, and a little ingenuity, anything is possible
• Despite losing her hands and severely damaging her legs at the age of 13 after accidentally picking up a grenade, Malvika Iyer still managed to obtain a PhD
• The perseverant woman also holds a whopping two master’s degrees and is an award-winning disability rights activist

A brilliant woman from Rajasthan in India isn’t allowing her disability to get the better of her and is slaying in every area of her life, despite the tragedy that led her to lose her hands and damage both of her legs.

At the age of 13, Malvika Iyer accidentally picked up a grenade, which blew her hands off and led to severe leg injuries, with the woman barely escaping with her life.

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In a post shared on LinkedIn, Women Power Africa noted that the woman was bedridden for two years after the incident and needed to undergo several surgeries over a two-year period while enduring a tremendous amount of pain.

However, in spite of all the hardships she has encountered, the perseverant woman still managed to bag an entire doctoral degree by the age of 28 in social work from the University of Madras in India and holds a Master of Philosophy in Social Work and a Master of Social Work from the same institution.

According to the World Economic Forum, Malvika is also an award-winning disability rights activist and received the ‘Nari Shakti Puraskar’ award, which is the highest honour an Indian civilian can receive from the president.

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The good doc told Chennai Insider that she takes everything in her stride and prefers to look at the positive side of life instead of focusing on her disabilities:

“When the bomb blew up my hands, the doctors were under a lot of pressure to save my life, so they made some surgical errors, the stump has a bone protruding out which is not covered. But that very mistake has proven so incredible that the bone acts like my only finger. That’s how I type.

“I have come to realise that I could be the president of India and people would still pity me. It’s in their nature. Now I concentrate on my own abilities and not on people’s reactions towards me.”

Malvika encourages others to not look at disabled people differently, or pity them, but to instead just see them as individuals who are on their own journey with some specific challenges.

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"The next time you see someone differently-abled, think about it, we are all people and we have to remember that at all times, those people didn’t choose to be born or have that disability, that is just how things go from time to time,” she saiadd.

Meet Jeffrey Masha, a disabled man cleaning the streets of Mamelodi in his wheelchair

In a related story by YEN.com.gh, one man’s life changed in an instant when a tragic incident left him temporarily wheelchair-bound.

His disability has not taken away his determination to live a normal life, despite losing his job as a result. He now gives back to the community by cleaning the streets. Doctors believe the father-of-two will be able to walk again if he undergoes clinical neurological physiotherapy, an expensive procedure.

Source: Briefly.co.za