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Delhi

Disability rights activist Javed Abidi no more

NEW DELHI: Noted disability rights activist Javed Abidi passed away on Sunday morning. He had been suffering from serious chest congestion and admitted to a hospital in Delhi, where he breath his last.
Abidi, 53, was the chairperson of Disabled People's International, a non-government organisation based in Ottawa, Canada, which promotes employment for differently-abled people across the world and had its office in South Extention in Delhi.
He was also the director of National Centre for Promotion for Employment for Disabled (NCPEDP).
Born in 1965 in Aligarh, Abidi became a wheel chair user at the age of 15 after being diagnosed with spina bifida at an early age. He studied at Aligarh Muslim University and later at Wright State University in Ohio, USA.
In 1989, he returned to India, seeking a career in journalism.
In 1993, Abidi began working for Sonia Gandhi and, a year later, joined a small advocate group called the Disability Rights Group, to raise awareness for the disabled in India.
In 1996, he founded NCPEDP, with the help of the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation, serving as its first director.
At the time of his death, Abidi was working on a series of 10 state seminars on Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
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