With enthusiasm brimming inside, he steps out of the car with a camera, and exclaims happily when he sees the same camera with us! As we start asking him questions, we’re caught off guard by his answers in the form of questions, right back at us! This goes on to an extent that team KYS is confused who was supposed to interview whom. He is the first CDCS(Certified Documentary Credit Specialist) with cerebral palsy in India, who is presently a manager at IndusInd Bank Ltd. Recipient of National award by Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment as ‘Best Employee with Cerebral Palsy’, the ‘Lala Kailashpat Singhania Award’ from National Society for Equal Opportunities for Handicapped and the Helen Keller award for being a positive role model, KYS is proud to present a special star, Mr. Siddharth Jayakumar.(Do Read Siddharth Jayakumar Biography)
Rockstar Of IIS 2012 – Has The New Morning Arrived?
(laughs) I’m not aware about this reference because I just enjoyed my talk over there. I enjoyed meeting and connecting with different people at IIS 2012. But I’m really happy about the way people have responded to this year’s IIS. It is magnificent! I’m happy that the last year’s summit was able to attract more people this year to spread awareness.
Lots of things still need to change. One particular event can’t change the whole world. Life processes change at a snail’s pace, especially in the disability world. Why is it slow? It’s because we need to change the attitude and mindset of people, which is extremely difficult. Just because I gave a good talk, or that the event was a huge success doesn’t mean we can change everything overnight!
Tedx Chennai – The First Talk
Imagine speaking for the first time in your life on such a huge platform. I never realized its importance at first. I just went there and gave my talk. It’s after the event that I realized how significant that thread was, in terms of its reach and the visibility we got. It was simply amazing!
I’m not a professional speaker. People hear about me through word of mouth. I love meeting people, and so I never say no to meeting new people. Until now, I haven’t refused anybody who has tried to reach me.
First CDCS(Certified Documentary Credit Specialist) With Cerebral Palsy
I feel happy that I was given the opportunity to write this exam, within six months of my job. At one time in my life, I was looking for opportunities, but wasn’t getting any. Suddenly I got a chance to work in a bank and then from there I kept moving forward. People from all over the world wrote the exam and only 55% passed the exam that year. I still remember that when I cleared my exam, many people were happy. I do feel proud about that.
Your Backbone. Your Inspiration
I never pinpoint on any one person, because I feel it’s really unfair to talk about only one. In your house, you have so many people. Do you think it’s possible to get everything from one person? No! I am inspired by a lot of people; my teachers – who fought for my education, my parents – who never made me feel that I’m different and my friends – who made me feel one among them.
Life In A Regular College
Have you ever read about my experience in a regular college? (laughs) That’s because I never talk about it.
It’s very difficult to convince people, especially in my case. Even getting an admission was very difficult. Transitioning from a special school to a normal school was very tough. But there’s no point in blaming people, right? What happens when you keep blaming people? They will blame you back. Forget the people, what happens to you when you blame others? You become more negative from the inside. That’s why it’s very important to understand the world. You have to mould yourself according to where you’re situated.
But at times we have to fight and I have fought. Fighting doesn’t mean hitting and yelling at people. You have to fight from within. It’s very frustrating because are angry from inside, but can’t show it. What happens when you show your anger? People will want to run away from you and not want to be around you anymore, and we don’t want that to happen. Since I was able to realize that, I learnt to control my anger.
Building Friendships
When you were small, did you have enough maturity to understand others? No! When I was young, among my age group, I was a person who was different from others. Can I expect people to have the maturity to understand me? That’s where the problem lies. It’s very easy for me as an individual to complain that I didn’t have any friends. But we need to go one step beyond ourselves in understanding why something like this is happening. The minute you understand that, everything becomes very clear.
I was fortunate to have understood that. I understood that people in my own age group didn’t have enough maturity to understand me. They didn’t know how to interact with me. And since they didn’t know how to interact with me, naturally I couldn’t make many friends.
The Fight Is Still On
I’m still fighting. I have realized a lot of things and learnt a lot of lessons in my life. I have to take care not to repeat the same mistakes. Even if the fight outside is over, the fight inside will never stop. I’m still fighting with my body, with my mind to cope up with the day-to-day processes of life.
It’s not difficult for me to move or talk, because it’s just a part of me. So I don’t feel the pain and don’t realize that it’s difficult or easy. But in front of someone else, they may feel that I’m struggling a lot. I can’t help it!
Meeting APJ Abdul Kalam
Good, fantastic!
My life changed since then because I got more visibility. Meeting the then president was amazing. It was planned and we met at the airport. APJ sir read about me in the internet. He called me up and told me that he wants to meet me. And it happened!!! My idea was to tell him about what is happening in the disability world. I went to him with a small presentation. I was happy that I was able to make him think at least a little bit in that direction. !
One thing you want to do
SLEEP!
That’s one thing I really like to do and something I’m missing to do.
But when we are talking about our dreams, I don’t have any high funda dreams. It’s important to have many short term goals though. It may or may not happen, because it’s not easy to achieve a dream without any barriers. My short dream right now is to grow up and up in my career, continuing with all these talks. But these talks are not in my hand. They are based on invites. Depending on the invites I get, I go and talk.
Biggest fear
I used to fear meeting people. I used to fear seclusion. I used to fear my body, about how far my body will take me. I used to fear failure! Personally I should not put myself down because of a lot of external factors. That’s failure for me and I fear that.
Vision for the disability world
Disability is not suffering. It’s just a way of life! Each of us is different in our own way. We need to learn to accept people as they are. I don’t represent anybody. I only represent myself. But by representing myself, if I can bring some change around me I’ll b very happy.
Fighter called Siddharth
The fight goes on and on and on!
KnowYourStar.com (KYS) interviewed Mr. Siddharth Jayakumar as part of India Inclusion Summit(IIS). IIS is a platform that brings awareness and drives inclusion of specially-abled people at corporates, schools, policy makers and NGOs. Yes, KYS is backing IIS whole-heartedly in a thirst to see an Inclusive India.