‘Breathing Books’ event held to highlight difficulties faced by disabled people

With hopes of highlighting difficulties faced by persons with disabilities, NOWPDP hosted the ‘Breathing Books’ event at TDF Ghar to highlight stories of people with disabilities and their achievements on anti-littering.

A press release shared by the non-governmental organisation said that the event focused on a theme of a library where visitors could come to borrow ‘breathing books’. The books were the persons with disabilities and people could have conversations with them.

“These persons with disabilities are part of a team running a recycling facility at NOWPDP by the name of “Upcycle”, set up in collaboration with Philip Morris (Pakistan) Limited (“PMPKL”) under their anti-littering initiative,” said the press release.

The facility works to reduce litter on the roads, reuse it and revive the ultimate product by up cycling it.

The cohort included the likes of Taimur who is a driver with a physical disability.

Taimur rides a retrofitted vehicle and collects plastic and other kinds of litter. According to him, he felt free when riding his bike and using this skill to make the environment better was the best thing that could happen to him.

Anila, who is also part of the team, has a hearing and speech disability but does not let it define her and works as a tailor for the recycling facility.

“These stories reflect our pillars of Hunar, Rozgar and KhudMukhtari. This initiative is the perfect amalgamation of social inclusion and environmental salvaging,” said Director NOWPDP Omair Ahmad.

Ahmed said that the people part of the project were “spearheading a whole recycling unit after being given a chance to prove themselves, imagine what they can do if they were given more opportunities”.

Head of Communication, PMPKL, Andleeb Uroos Ahmed said that the initiative “connects to the core of the global anti-littering campaign where people with disabilities have been trained to operate retrofitted vehicles to collect trash from across hotspots in Karachi and then recycle them as well”.