CP stands for Capable Person, not Cerebral Palsy – My Take by Riitesh Sinha, innovator of a bike for the disabled

In My Take this week, Riitesh Sinha, an innovator based in Karnal, tells Newz Hook how a never-say-die attitude has enabled him to overcome the challenges of cerebral palsy.

People refer to cerebral palsy as CP but I choose to believe that CP stands for capable person. All my life I have been dependent on my parents to take me to school and other places. I did not like this so I decided to invent my own tricycle, which I call trike.

I got the idea from a science video and it took me two years of research to get it right. As I am based in Karnal in Haryana, it is hard to find the proper technical support so it took me a little longer.

I added a foot pedal to help me control the cycle and balance myself. Now I use the trike to move around Karnal, and have even gone as far as 10 kms. This has enabled me to be independent. I am part of a literacy campaign that requires me to travel to nearby villages and I am able to travel on my trike. I also attend my classes at Kurukshetra University.

“It is not that I have had it easy. I have had to fight for my rights. Like in 2011, I got a job at the Districts and Sessions Court in Karnal. But I was removed from the position and I challenged the termination at the High Court. I was asked to take an ability test that I passed successfully. The court quashed the termination order.

This was the first time in the history of the High Court that a disabled person had been asked to undergo an ability test, and my name even appeared in the Limca Book of Records. Today, I work at the Karnal District and Sessions court, and my role is to maintain digitised records.

I also have a blog where I talk about the benefits of yoga and have helped others discover its benefits. In my blog, I have listed mudras and asanas that can provide relief to people with CP and Parkinson’s disease.

I believe that the biggest struggle the disabled face in India is social discrimination. People regard us as useless and even though many of us have the necessary qualifications, we rarely get hired.

My biggest satisfaction comes from knowing about people who have benefitted from my experience or work. I love to innovate and my wish is to keep doing so until the rest of my life.

Watch in Sign Language