Skip to main content
  • Accessibility
  • Headlines
  • Get-Hooked
  • Technology
  • Education
  • Employment
  • Parasports
  • Events
  • Ask Bhavna
  • NHBrandView
  • Lifestyle
×
Newz Hook – Changing Attitudes towards Disability Logo
  • Stories
  • Videos
  • Events
Newz Hook on WhatsApp Message "Start" at +917738204376

Accessibility Tools

Text Size:

Reset

  • Home
  • Get-hooked
  • "Grecco gestures & Nickollas moments" – Life lessons about raising children with disabilities

"Grecco gestures & Nickollas moments" – Life lessons about raising children with disabilities

Get-hooked

A heartwarming story that made headlines around the world recently was that of a Brazilian mom out with her 12-year-old son enjoying a game of football. Everyone was moved by the sight of Silvia Grecco explaining every single moment to son Nickollas, who is blind and has autism.

Grecco, who is mad about football, is determined that her son gets to enjoy the game as much, regardless of his disability.

To the world at large, a person with a disability is defined by his or her limitations; they are looked at through the lens of the things they cannot do or enjoy. It’s a mindset that can be discouraging, demoralizing even, and is often the hardest battle to fight.

If there is one set of warriors people with disabilities can count on to fight this battle, it’s their parents and siblings, as the Brazilian mom showed us. Most people looking at Nickollas would wonder what he was doing at that game, but Grecco showed the world how enjoyment, passion and engagement can happen for anyone. And that the barriers really lie in our minds.

Everyone with a disability has a story to share about their own set of warriors. People who refused to let them drown in the bucket of things they were told they could not do. Instead, they show them every day how they CAN.

For Amar Jain, a visually impaired lawyer, the earliest such memory dates back to his childhood, when he wanted to know what the map of India looked like. There were no tactile maps in his school and he wanted to understand boundaries and locations of states.

I wanted to know what the geographical map of India looked like and I remember my parents created a map of India for me using wool, like the kind we use for sweaters, so I was able to feel and understand how the geography of India is spread out. – Amar Jain, Lawyer & Disability rights advocate

This was just one of the many things his parents did, and still do, to bring aspects of the world he cannot see, come alive in other ways.

“I love to visit museums and I always go with my dad because he reads out what is written there, even details about who the architect was and the history”, says Jain. “I have visited many forts and museums across Rajasthan with my dad because he knows exactly how to describe them the way I like it”.

For Anupama Bakhshi, Brazilian mom Greccco not just raises the bar for fellow moms, but does much more.

“When Grecco acquires the avatar of a soccer match commentator for her blind son, she raises the bar for the fellow moms, yes, inspires, yes and shows how the community around will believe in a sincere dream because the mother emphatically does yes, but what she does for Nickollas is indescribable. She creates the priceless ‘Nickollas moment’, of a commitment that no experience, no feeling and no avenue will go unexplored…simply because there is no reason it should”.

As mom to 18-year-old Pranav, who has autism, Bakhshi lives such moments every single day. Pranav’s ‘Nickollas moment’ came when he made his debut on the professional ramp walk circuit at the Benetton AW’19 Fashion Show, a dream he had long cherished.

As Ruchika Thakkar Sethi, mom to teenager with an intellectual disorder, puts it, “If I have the skill sets and tenacity to share, then a child like her can experience the same thrill and gush of emotion”.

Sethi’s daughter, who is 17 years old, is unable to participate in the rites of passage typical to her age. “I see her watching girls and boys and I know she wants to experience some of those things, like dressing up”. She occasionally takes her daughter to beauty centres at malls and asks the consultants there to do make up trials. “I ask them to dab a little blusher or eye shadow so she gets a feel of it and enjoys some of those experiences”.

This kind of unstinting support and love goes a long way in defining the child’s own attitudes and choices going ahead. For Vineet Saraiwala, deputy manager with Future Group Retail and a visually impaired marathoner, it was his uncle’s quiet, steadfast support during runs that helped him shake off his own uncertainties.

“For him, it was just two runners enjoying the practise, it had nothing to do with my disability. He told me to run freely without any worry of the vehicles, commuters or safety risk. I just believed in him and with all the courage, confidence and determination, started my journey into marathons. For most of activities, trust from family is what initiates confidence and disability disappears from the scene”, says Saraiwala.

Trust and the vision of the community around, points out Bakhshi. “It requires the faith of the right people at the right time. Above all, it requires a belief in the commitment of a mother. To those who have the time, the space and the sensitivity to scaffold and support it, may your brood increase for you hold the key to unravelling unparalleled magic!”

Watch in Sign Language

Follow us on:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)

Read more on Newz Hook

  • Headlines |
    December 12, 2019
    Indian-origin doctor in UK guilty of sexual assault
  • Employment
    #JobsForDisabled – Shiv Kumar, systems analyst at ANZ, loves resolving customer problems
  • Events
    Study Skills Workshop
  • Events
    Tandav 6.0
  • Accessibility
    Pleas to make Trivandrum city accessible for wheelchair users go unheard
  • Headlines |
    December 10, 2019
    Jaipur theatres stop Panipat screening
  • Headlines |
    December 11, 2019
    Disabled man who inspired ice bucket challenge dies
  • Parasports
    Para shooter Akhil SR hopes to bring home international accolades for India
  • Headlines |
    December 10, 2019
    Lok Sabha passes Citizenship Amendment Bill
  • Headlines |
    December 8, 2019
    Unnao Case Updates

Ask Bhavna


Ask your question about any issue related to disability, this is your space to find the answer.

Ask your Question

Newsletter

 Subscribe to our Newsletter

Want to feature your inspiring story or share an event with the disabled community? Write to:

editor@newzhook.com

Related News

Get-Hooked

TikTok criticised for blocking content for disabled users, decision unfair says community

Get-Hooked

Trending Stories on NewzHook 30 Nov – 06 Dec

Adi Iyer

Get-Hooked

Self-taught artist with autism Adi Iyer finds inspiration in Indian mythology & Italian painters

Get-Hooked

Indian Association of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation Delhi celebrated World Disability Day

Newz Hook - Accessible News

Download App Now!

Videos

View More

Get-Hooked

Understanding Headaches in Children with Autism

Get-Hooked

Understanding Benefits of Learning Coding For Children with Intellectual Disabilities

Get-Hooked

Understanding Stress of Moving House for Child with Autism

Parasports

National-level para sportsperson Anthony John seeks help for better quality wheelchair

Ask Bhavna

Hi, I'm Bhavna Sharma. An Inclusion Strategist with Newz Hook. Yes, I am a person with disability. But that doesn't define who I am. I am a youth, a woman and also the 1st Miss Disability of India 2013. I wanted to achieve something in life and I have been working for the last 9 years. I have recently completed my MBA in Human Resources because I want to grow. I am like every other young person in India. I want a good education, a good job and I want to help my family financially. So you can see I am like everyone else, yet people see me differently.

Here is the Ask Bhavna column for you where I would like to talk to you about the law, society and people's attitudes and how we can build inclusion in India together.

So, if you have a question about any issue related to disability, bring them out and I can try to answer them? It could be a question relating to a policy or of a personal nature. Well, this is your space to find the answers!

All fields are mandatory unless specified as optional.


About Newz Hook

We are India's 1st Accessible News Channel. Changing attitudes towards disability in india with a special focus on disability related news. Accessible to visually impaired screen reader users, promoting sign language news for deaf and using simple english.

Newz Hook is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Follow us on:

Related Links

  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Submit an Event
  • Partner with Newz Hook
  • Embed Newz Hook Timeline
  • Affiliate disclosure

Our Awards

Zero Project Award Winner 2018
Back To Top
© 2019 All Right Reserved. Inclusive News India Private Limited.