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She has overcome
By Esther Williams
"Society has a negative attitude towards the disabled. But we are not worthless. We can contribute if given an opportunity to reach our potential," says Thanuja Navaratne.

Born with multiple congenital abnormalities that affected her hips and lower limbs, Thanuja has faced many battles in life. When her parents initially consulted paediatricians, one of them told them to leave her in hospital, as she did not have long to live. Another indicated that if he had a child with that condition he would not have allowed her to live.

Having been born after a couple of miscarriages, Thanuja was very precious to her parents. They took her home to Kandy where orthopaedic surgeon Dr. Mark Amerasinghe declared it to be merely a physical deformity. He told them that their child would be very intelligent and advised the parents never to give up on her.

Thereafter he operated on her legs eight times during the course of a year. By age four, Thanuja was able to walk with shoes that had a steel frame upto her knees, although physiotherapy continued for over two years. Dr. Amerasinghe did not attempt to operate on her hands as it could have affected the nerves and denied her the use of her fingers.

"To reach my current position, I had to face more difficulties than an able-bodied person," Thanuja says, recalling numerous instances of discrimination. To begin with, Thanuja was not admitted into the government school closest to her home in Kandy. "We were told that it was not a school for the disabled," she says.

Eventually a convent in Kandy took her in, waiving the school fees as a sympathetic gesture. The Grade 5 scholarship exam saw her among the top five in the Kandy district. She was then invited to join Girls’ High School where she gained distinctions in all subjects at the O/Ls, obtaining the third highest aggregate in the district. "They would gather all my prizes and announce them simultaneously to save my repeated trips to the stage," she smiles.

Having studied Bio-Science for her A/L, Thanuja applied to the Science Faculty at Peradeniya. In the meantime she entered Law College and found that to be her calling. Two years into the course she was selected to the Science Faculty at Peradeniya but missed the Law Faculty by one mark. Although it was stipulated that disabled students would be given extra marks to enter the Law Faculty, she was denied the seat.

Undeterrred, Thanuja graduated in 1994 and took oaths as an Attorney-at-Law. To say that Thanuja was not hindered by her disability is an understatement. Throughout her schooling she was in the debating team and choir and represented the school in various singing, quiz and oratorical competitions. Being a cricket fan, she initiated a Cricket Fan Club. At the 1993 Asia Pacific Law Conference, she represented her college as the reception and information officer.

"I was never ashamed of my disability," says she. Her parents treated her as a normal child and made her no concessions, insisting that she learn to clean, sweep and cook. Although she deeply resented it at the time, she now says, "It made me very independent”.

Speaking of mistakes that parents of the disabled make, "Why do they do everything for their child - that they become dependent and unable to participate in regular activities?" she asks. Her parents did not hide her from society but made her participate actively in it. "Hence, I did not feel any different and consequently, people also began to accept me," she says.

Thanuja practised in the Kandy Bar for five years and one of her proudest moments came when she argued the case against a President's Counsel in Colombo and won.

Over the last decade she has been instrumental in organising legal camps where members from the Bar (labour, criminal, civil) visited villages and informed people of their rights, giving legal advice. She also conducted lectures for Grama Sevakas on practical legal issues and with the help of District Secretaries arranged lectures for women’s organisations in Kandy on women’s and children's rights and family law.

Her tryst with politics began with helping Navin Dissanayake in his political campaign and led to her becoming the Secretary for the Ministry of Plantations for 1 ½ years. She has also worked under two President's Counsel and at a leading law firm F.J. and G. de Saram.

Having come thus far - does she have any regrets? "I couldn't do many sports," she smiles. On a more serious note, she says, "People think they know what I can do and what I can't! But I have a right to decide what I want to do and resent it when others impose restrictions on me."

"Though I am disabled I have the same needs and feelings like normal people and they do not recognise that. I am not disabled in my mind," she stresses. "Many disabled people shy away from the public and have no guts to enter the mainstream. I want to help them and I hope they will be inspired by me." Attributing her success to her determination and perseverance, Thanuja says, "If you are strong, you will have the power to overcome it and make a contribution to society. Society in turn will accept you."

"It is initially more difficult than for a normal person but we can do it," she says. There were times when she went for ten interviews before she was selected. Thanuja is now with the Access for All Campaign that is focusing on obtaining legal status for architectural accessibility for the disabled in post-tsunami reconstruction.

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