HSBC Indo-British Award Acceptance Speech of Akhil

His Excellency Sir Rob Young, Lady Young, Mr. Niall Booker, Mr. Anil Dharker, Richard Groves, Malini, my colleagues and friends!

A very good evening to all of you. It is a true honor to stand before you today as the recipient of this HSBC Indo-British Award. I feel an enormous sense of pride, but I am also incredibly humbled to have been selected for such an important honor.

My heartfelt gratitudes to HSBC and the Selection Committee for this award for giving Deafblindness such a great recognition. On this momentous occasion, I would like to say that this is an Award which has been given to the Deafblind Field in India and I just happen to be the receiver!

I dedicate this award especially to my late father who taught me the meaning of life, my late friend Madhukar Suryvanshi who taught me the meaning of vision inspite of being blind himself and all my partner organisations across the country for believing in Sense International (India).

Dr. Helen Keller, the famous American deafblind women, once said- I am only one; but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; I will not refuse to do something I can do."

I am delighted that the HSBC Indo-British Award is helping me do something more- by donating the Award money of 500,000 rupees to Sense International (India), I wish to bring meaning to some more lives.

There are so many people who have contributed for this Award. My sincere gratitudes to:

• My Teachers of Primary School in Raipur, Indore School of Social Work, Perkins School for the Blind for teaching me deafblindness and multiple disabilities;
• my mother, brothers, sister and family members for a great upbringing;
• friends for always supporting me;
• my colleagues-Binali, Sumitra, Biju, Falguni, Poonam and Harsh- who strived with me to bring meaning to the lives of deafblind people;
• partner organisations who believed in a common dream,
• the families of deafblind people who broke the shackles of ignorance to accept that deafblind people can lead a productive life;
• my donors who gave wings to the dreams and shared a larger responsibility by providing funds; (British High Commission, DFID, Rangoonwala Foundation, Paul Hamlyn Foundation, Community Fund, Zurich Financial Services)
• my Governing Council for giving me the much needed support and guidance;
• The teachers of deafblind, field-workers, educators, medical professionals, Government of India through it’s ministries-Social Justice & Empowerment, Education, Health, National Trust and Rehabilitation Council of India;

Without their support, it would have been impossible for us to "reach the un-reached".
I also remember the training and exposure given to me in the initial days of my career about 15 years ago by Dr. Punani & Nandini and the encouraging support from - Vimal, Madhukar, Jadav and Beroz Vacha.

I owe a lot to - my dear friend and Boss- Richard Hawkes; who gave me the freedom to experiment and always kept his faith in me! I would have never been so successful if he and Emanuela would have not given me the support and most of all the opportunity to prove myself.

And last but not the least, a person, who stood beside me...while I was operating from home or when I was traveling 25 days a month and when I was stressed and tired...this person has been my source of strength, my biggest support, my wife- Gazala. We spend very little time together as she also works for a development NGO called Samerth, on sustainable development and communal harmony in Gujarat. I am thrilled that today she is here with me to share the moment of glory of receiving this Award.

I will be failing in my duty if I do not thank all deafblind children / adults like Zamir, Rajesh, Pradip, John, Akhtar, Mary, Vandana, Lokesh, Dr. Rajinder Sethi, Abbu, Shazia, Vijay, Kanmani, Ahmed....who continue to surprise me with their skills and strength.

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