Ashok Hans

Hans was born in Gwalior on 20 October 1950 into a family that had come to India as refugees from West Pakistan at Partition. The family moved to Bhubaneswar a year later, where he spent his early childhood. He was later sent to school in Dehradun, completed his schooling at a Sainik School and graduated from St Xavier's College, Calcutta. At school he took part in debating, elocution and dramatics and was school captain; he led an NCC contingent at the Republic Day parade in Delhi and was selected for the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute. He played cricket for his college and university, and in 1971 took part in the Second Asian Motor Car Rally from Tehran to Dhaka.

In 1974, at the age of 22, Hans sustained a spinal cord injury in a road accident that left him a tetraplegic. He was rehabilitated under Dr Mary Verghese at Christian Medical College, Vellore, but found no employment open to him afterwards.

In 1985 he founded the Shanta Memorial Rehabilitation Centre in Bhubaneswar to rehabilitate people with spinal cord injuries and to give disabled people a voice in claiming their rights. SMRC applies community-based rehabilitation methods with the aim of returning a person to home, community and work. The organisation has since become known for its work on the rights of women with disabilities, community-based rehabilitation services and disability-inclusive disaster risk reduction, and is an observer member of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Hans also campaigned publicly on everyday access, including disputes with Indian Railways staff over whether his wheelchair could travel with him in the carriage rather than in the luggage van.[2][3][4]