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“I achieve whatever I set out to do. I don’t let anything stop me”

The members of People’s Action Group for Inclusion and Rights (PAGIR) in Leh Ladakh duly celebrated the Dalai Lama’s 90th birthday on July 6. They also played a special song Tsewang Dorjey (40) had previously composed for His Highness. Dorjey, fondly called Dorjey Stok after the village (Stok) he hails from, was mentored by (the late) Mohammed Iqbal who founded PAGIR with three others and was its guiding light. “I am very inspired by Mr Iqbal and was fortunate to have worked closely with him,” says Dorjey who had joined PAGIR as a board member right at its inception in 2007, became general secretary and took over as president in 2019.
 
Economic empowerment for the disabled, hand in hand with nature conservation through waste management, is one of PAGIR’s key goals. Its other areas of focus are disability sports and accessible public spaces. One can understand where Dorjey’s passionate call for inclusive education comes from. He has felt its lack all too keenly in his own life.
 
Around age eight, Dorjey was in Class 4 when he caught the polio virus which affected both his legs. There was no other option but to quit school. He remained housebound for six years. When he was a little boy he had fallen once and hurt his leg, and his father Dorjey Tsepsil, a carpenter, had made him a walking stick. Now it came in useful, and Dorjey began to walk around with this makeshift crutch. If he had had assistive aids and physiotherapy at the right time, if there had been an accessible school, his story would have turned out differently.
 
But it didn’t turn out too badly after all. Dorjey worked in a restaurant for a year. One day, when he was listening to the radio at his uncle’s house, he heard about a training programme in handicrafts for young people. His father took him to the training centre where he learnt the Buddhist art of thangka painting on cloth. He practised it for several years and later set up his own shop where he sells his paintings.
 
After joining PAGIR he not only carried out his administrative duties but also explored his artistic side. “Besides painting I am fond of writing poems, singing and acting,” he says. “I like photography and videography as well.” He handled the camera and directed a documentary film on “Jungwa Shungskyobs”, the PAGIR initiative to reduce pollution and conserve nature. Given the delicate eco-system of the region, recycling is crucial and PAGIR’s Maximising Employment to Serve the Handicapped (MESH) has disabled persons making and selling a range of products made from waste cloth and from paper recycled and handmade by them.
 
Dorjey has produced (and appeared in) a music video featuring the disabled – a song called “Semshuk” (Courage). He has written the lyrics for a romantic number, “Song di-ring khong la”, and sung a song, “Sning La”, for which he also produced the video.
 
Dorjey Tsepsil died in 2001 and Dorjey stays with his mother Tsewang Dolma (76), and his younger sister Ishey Angmo (38). His younger brother Rinchen Namgyal lives nearby. Ishey, who works in the Horticultural Department and has a daughter Rinchen Angmo (23), says her big brother never lets his disability limit him. “When we were kids we would play-act as father, mother, children,” she recalls. “He would make us do our chores in a fun way and it would never feel like a task.” She adds, “He is a very strong person and does not let anything bother or affect him. He is always looking for ways to help people. We all love him very much.”