She does not need easy. She just needs possible.
Turning her physical disability into her strength and overcoming every adversity, Wheelchair Basketball champion, Inshah Bashir Saturday added another feather to her cap when she received the National Award from President Droupadi Murmu in New Delhi.
Inshah of Beerwah, Budgam, received the National Award for Individual Excellence 2022 ‘Shrestha Divyangjan’ – Locomotor Disability – on Saturday at a glittering function held in New Delhi.
On the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, President Murmu as part of the National Awards for the Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities for 2021 and 2022 felicitated 52 such people for their laudable contributions in various fields. Among them was Inshah Bashir from Kashmir who has been a shining example of courage and determination.
President Murmu on the occasion stressed on the maximum use of technology to remove language-related barriers in education and to make education more accessible to children with disabilities. Inshah, who after the 2009 accident lost her ability to stand, has been active in Wheelchair Basketball since and has been making J&K and the country proud at the international level.
She has represented India in international competitions including one in the USA.
“I am currently captain of the National Women’s Wheelchair Basketball, J&K. I met with an accident when I was studying in class 12th, which injured my spine at L1 vertebra. This damages the control communication between the brain and legs,” Inshah said.
“Even today I could not stand on my feet. This incident shattered me for a while but I still continued my studies though on a wheelchair and focused on my goal,” she said.
Inshah joined basketball in 2017 and is the first female wheelchair basketball player from J&K to have represented India.
“From 2017, I am active in playing basketball, doing social work, and became the first female wheelchair basketball player from J&K to represent India in the USA,” Inshah said. “After that with the help of Voluntary Medicare Society, we made our own women’s team of J&K. Recently for the first-time ever an international Wheelchair Basketball tournament was held in India and I was selected from J&K to play for India and I bagged a silver medal,” she said.
Apart from being active in sports, Inshah has continued her activities outside the basketball arena as well.
She has been delivering lectures on various platforms to motivate people.
“I am the first TED Talk speaker from Kashmir, thus an inspiration for a lot of people in general and girls in particular,” she said.
In the year 2017, Inshah participated in the National Wheelchair Basketball Championship held in Hyderabad.
She played another National Wheelchair Basketball Championship that was held in Tamil Nadu in 2018.
In 2019, she participated in her third National Wheelchair Basketball Championship held in Mohali, Punjab.
She was the captain of the J&K team and in that competition J&K qualified for the quarterfinals.
Her big break came in 2019 when she represented India in an international competition held in the USA.
In October this year, Inshah won the J&K Police Marathon in wheelchair category and received the award from the Director General of Police. Last month, Inshah represented India and won a Silver medal in the International Wheelchair Basketball Tournament held in Noida.
Over the years, Inshah has bagged various awards both at the local as well as at the national level.
The National Awards for the Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities for 2021 and 2022 she received on Saturday is the biggest achievement for her so far and another motivation for her to continue on her journey.
“This is big and I am proud to receive such a high profile award from the President of India. It gives me further motivation to continue my journey and inspire others,” she said.
“In my journey so far, my parents and family have played a huge role. Without them it wouldn’t have been possible. There are others as well who have been the guiding forces behind my rise in the basketball arena. I am thankful to everyone,” Inshah said.