S. Mohammed Ali, was born to a family of farmers, and his parents and grandparents were illiterate. Mohammed, grew up with his grandparents, but when he was six years old, he contracted polio and lost the use of his legs. After surgery and treatment, Mohammed signed up at Amar Seva Sangam, so he could have other friends like him.
It was here, that he developed a love for drawing and painting. When he was in 10th standard, he won a state drawing competition, which really boosted his confidence. Now after completing high school, Mohammed is enrolled in Kumbakonam Arts College, where he is pursuing a college degree.
Despite being disabled and underprivileged, Mohammed is now a successful, literate person.
Right: S. Mohammed Ali with a sample of his artwork.
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S. Mohammed Ali was born into a poor household of farmers, who had never been educated and therefore were completely illiterate. Following the birth to Mohammed Ali, his mother suffered from some postpartum psychological disturbances. Therefore, his father left her and remarried. With a psychologically disabled mother and no father, Mohammed Ali was left almost as an orphan, until his maternal grandparents took him in a brought him up. His grandparents were also poor farmers.
Tragedy struck again, when at the age of 6, Mohammed Ali had a severe fever and lost the use of all four of his limbs. They realized that he had been struck by polio. Over the next two years, he slowly regained function of his upper limbs, but was never to regain function of his legs. His grandparents took care of him well, taking him to a local hospital and arranging for surgery to relieve contractures (extreme stiffness of muscles and ligaments, leaving a joint immobile and held in a flexed or extended position) in his legs. His grandparents arranged for him to go education and he was carried back and forth to school.
When he was in the 3rd Standard, his friend’s older brother showed him a picture he had drawn of a parrot. He was very impressed with the drawing of the parrot. He begged his grandparents to buy him coloring pencils. They saved up and finally did and he drew a parrot using his friend’s picture as a model. After that, his interest in art was sparked and he began drawing many pictures. After finishing the 4th Standard, his grandparents found it very difficult to continue carrying him to school. They heard of an institution called Amar Seva Sangam (ASSA), an institution which had facilities to house, rehabilitate and educate disabled children from poor families free of cost. They signed him up for the 5th Standard and he has been at ASSA since becoming the only literate and educated member of his entire family!
He enjoyed his time at ASSA very much. Interacting with other disabled children allowed him gain confidence and seeing how other people at ASSA more disabled than he was achieve so much instilled a sense of hope and a drive to succeed in him. At ASSA, he was rehabilitated by physiotherapists and was fitted with calipers and crutches. Soon, he began walking for the first time since he was a child.
At ASSA, there was time for physical activities and games. However, being disabled, many modifications to sports and games had to be made. He play cricket with the others however, he had to sit down while bowling and bat sitting down. Children with better leg function than him would run for him after he batted. While standing up with crutches and calipers, they used to play a modified version of football/soccer, whereby they would use their crutches instead of their feet to hit the ball into the net. Other sports included Kabadi and Carom Board. The school at ASSA was integrated having both disabled and non-disabled students. However, Mohammed found it very difficult to play with the non-disabled due to physical limitations and mostly stuck with his disabled friends during play time.
Mohammed continued to draw and paint at Amar Seva Sangam, with the support of teachers and staff at the Home for the Disabled. In the 10th Std., he competed against students from many schools across Tamil Nadu in the Vivekananda Kendra Arts competition and won the 1st prize for his depiction of a scene from the Ramayana. This was a very empowering moment in his life. Though, he had gained much confidence over the years at ASSA with regards to interacting with others he never fully believed that he could achieve anything. He was always plagued by thoughts of his family’s poverty and his disability and felt that after leaving ASSA, nothing would come of his life. However, after winning this competition, he thought that maybe, just maybe he could become a great artist one day.
He went on to win more awards in the 11th and 12th Standards. After completing his high school education, he was asked by the President of Amar Seva Sangam, Mr. Ramakrishnan what he wanted to do next. Mohammed Ali told him that his main interest was art, however, at that time, he didn’t realize that he could pursue a higher education in art. Mr. Ramakrishnan and other staff at ASSA fully supported his desire and began helping Mohammed search for the correct institution. They found Kumbakonam College of Arts and he enrolled into a 5 year Bachelor of Arts program. He is currently enrolled in his 3rd year of study. For the first year, Amar Seva Sangam sought out a sponsor and fully funded his college education. After that, ASSA helped him acquire a scholarship from the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation. He has excelled at the Arts College, with people from countries such as Germany having purchased some of his work. His professors feel that he has the potential to become a great artist. His life goal is to become a great artist and use the money he makes to help the disadvantaged, especially the poor.
Mohammed Ali still uses ASSA as his safe haven. During any school holidays, including the summer, he spends most of his time at ASSA’s hostel for the disabled youth trainees. He prefers to only spend a few days at his grandmothers or mothers home, because relatives and neighbors still continue to make comments about his disability, such as: he is a good looking boy, but too bad he is disabled or he is talented in art, but if he can’t walk, what can he really do? The facilities such as toilets and ramps are also nonexistent at his village home, making life difficult. Sometimes little children crowd around him and stare as he uses his calipers and crutches to walk or as he uses his hands to crawl from place to place. Even, street dogs not used to the presence of his crutches or tricycle, crowd around him and bark or follow him as he moves down the street.
At college, he shares a room in the hostel with 2 other young men. Almost everyone is very helpful with him in the hostel and in the classrooms. His difficulties stem from the lack of facilities such as ramps, disabled friendly toilets, etc. available in the college campus. On occasion, he has come across prejudice with his colleagues. One time, he asked a neighbor if he could hang up his clothes to dry for him, since he had difficulty reaching the balcony which can only be reached by climbing stairs. The neighbour told him that if they allow disabled people into the hostel, they should be independent and
therefore he would not do it.
Currently, Mohammed can walk up to a 1 km when he wears his calipers and uses his crutches. When he first came to ASSA, he used to think about his difference with regards to mobility a lot. This has gradually subsided and he is more comfortable with himself now. However, he still feels a difference every time he talks to an able-bodied person and is still more comfortable when interacting with his disabled peers. For example, he still feels much more free amongst his disabled friends at ASSA, compared with his friends at college, because there is still some self-consciousness about his disability.
Below are photos of Mohammed with two pieces of original artwork.
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