Jagdishbhai Patel

Founder

Founder of Blind People's Association (India)

Jagdishbhai Patel is the founder of Blind People's Association (India) (1954)[1], an Indian non-profit working on disability, healthcare and sports from Ahmedabad.

Jagdish Kashibhai Patel, generally known as Jagdishbhai, was an Indian social worker who was blind from childhood and who founded the organisation in Ahmedabad that became the Blind People's Association. He was awarded the Padma Shri for his work on the rehabilitation and education of blind and disabled people.

Early life and education

Patel was born on 5 September 1928 at Borsad in Kheda district, Gujarat, to Kashibhai Patel, a physician, and Lalitaben. He lost his sight at the age of eight. He was educated at the Calcutta Blind School at Behala and later at the Victoria Memorial School for the Blind in Bombay, and qualified as a physiotherapist in 1947.

Career

In 1954 Patel and a small group of blind people in Ahmedabad formed a recreation club for the blind, registered as the Blind Men's Association. The organisation grew into a large agency providing education, vocational training, rehabilitation and employment services, and in 1998 was renamed the Blind People's Association. Its work extended from blindness to other disabilities.

Patel was the founder secretary of the Gujarat state branch of the National Association for the Blind, established at Ahmedabad in 1964. He was associated with the All India Confederation of the Blind and co-authored guidelines on the social and economic rehabilitation of the rural blind.

Recognition

Patel received the Padma Shri in 1991. Other honours included the All India Confederation of the Blind Award in 1987, the Help the Aged International Award for Community Services Overseas in 1991, the National Award for the Blind, the Braille Shree Award and the Pride of Ahmedabad Award. A road junction in Vastrapur, Ahmedabad, where the Blind People's Association campus stands, is named Dr Jagdish Patel Chowk after him.[2][3][4][5]

Blind People's Association (India)

The Blind People's Association provides services for people across all disability categories from its Ahmedabad base. Its work includes an eye hospital, skill development, hostels, sports programmes and a digital audio library.

Blind People's Association (India) reports the following, on its own site: