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“Braille, and my school – both have immensely helped to further my independence”

A family that will do anything for him. Several deep, steadfast and long-standing friendships. An educational institution that provided tremendous support. What more can a fortunate man have?
 
Shabeer Ali Adany has more. We found this out last week when EGS contacted Able World, the institute for the disabled at Ma’din Academy in Malappuram, Kerala to speak to the 25-year-old teacher. The COO of Able World, Aneer P, told us cheerfully, “Actually he is getting married on Sunday!”
 
Since Shabeer was obviously immersed in hectic D-day preparations we voice-messaged him a list of questions. Aneer supplied some background on him. The Ma’din Blind School is his alma mater; he studied here from first standard to Plus 2. The suffix ‘Adany’ is a degree Ma’din awards those who have completed a seven-year programme that combines Islamic theology with secular education. His name has a prefix too: Hafiz. This is a term for those who have accomplished ‘hifz’ i.e. commit the entire Quran to memory, word for word. He read the Braille version. “He is also a singer,” Aneer told us. “His Madh (Islamic devotional) songs are popular on YouTube.”
 
Shabeer’s impending nuptials sparked our curiosity and our first question to him was about his manavaati (bride-to-be). “All I can say is it was a matter of luck,” he replied, repeating, “It was luck. Her name is Fatima, she’s from Kollam [a city in southern Kerala], she completed Plus 2 and she has no disability. She liked my music videos and came here to make enquiries about my family.” Did her family raise the objections that normally crop up when a non-disabled person wishes to marry a disabled one? “They were initially a little hesitant, but Fatima insisted. My blindness was not a problem for her.”
 
Shabeer’s home is in Pothannoor village near Edappal town in Malappuram district, a 90- minute journey to Ma’din Academy. The Academy has hostels for its students; Aneer told us that even now Shabeer lives here most days and goes home infrequently. His father, Basheer, is an electrician and his mother, Basheera, a homemaker. The couple has three girls and two boys of whom Shabeer is the eldest. Were his parents disappointed when their firstborn had blindness? “They might have been a little sad at first but they had no anxiety whatsoever about my future,” he says. “After all, I am not the first in my family with this condition; my mother’s brother was born blind and we had him as an example. My education too didn’t worry them because my father knew beforehand about Ma’din.”
 
When Shabeer’s brother Mohammed Shakib was born with blindness, it wasn’t a cause for concern; the 10-year-old is in fifth standard at Ma’din. Shabeer is all praise for the Academy and its founder and chairman Syed Ibraheem Khaleel Al Bukhari. “I had Braille textbooks up to SSLC,” he says. “I received all the facilities I needed. My teachers were my main support; they motivated me and opened up opportunities for me. I had my Blind friends who helped me and encouraged my artistic side. I grew up in a supportive environment. My family, friends and teachers – they were the shade beneath which I flourished.”
 
From the eighth standard onwards he began the process of memorising the braille Quran while parallelly studying the subjects in his regular syllabus. He brushed aside our admiration for his having learnt the entire Holy Book by heart. “Anyone can do it,” he said. “It doesn’t take any special memory power.” He did tell us, though, that in his Plus 2 exams (“I chose the Humanities stream”) he got A-plus in nine subjects and B-plus in Maths. Well, even if his memory wasn’t the deciding factor here, the results certainly proved that the electrician’s son was a bright spark!
 
After completing B.A. History from Calicut University he made his way back to Ma’din Academy to teach Blind and visually impaired students Hindi and religious studies. He uses the white cane “only when I especially need it”, he says; he is quite familiar with the topography of the Academy and can move about without a mobility aid.
 
If there ever was a success story, this is it! And now he has Fatima as a fellow-traveller in the journey of his life.