CHENNAI: When Richard Bach wrote, within each of us lies the power of our consent to health and sickness, to riches and poverty, to freedom and to slavery. It is we who control these, and not another, he was probably scripting the story of Madurai-based 22-year-old Divya Bharathi. Diagnosed with Intellectual Disability (ID) from a very young age, Divya’s life is an example that limitations are within our mind. She recently won a gold medal at the Special Olympics- World Summer Games in Abu Dhabi, in badminton, thereby breaking the mould of what disability can or cannot do.
She is among the three from Tamil Nadu to have won gold at the Special Olympics 2019. She also won a silver in the doubles badminton category. Not letting complacency overpower her humble bringing, Divya says, “I am happy when I play badminton; I will keep playing it.” She made her disability her strength. Her mother Vijayalakshmi says, “Divya was identified as a child with intellectual developmental disability when she was a toddler. She couldn’t continue going to a regular school. We admitted her to a special school in Tirumangalam when she was about nine years old. Around 2008, she joined the Bethshan Special School in Madurai. Since then, she has been involved in sports activities like athletics, basketball, handball, volleyball, tennis and badminton, on a daily basis.”
Badminton always fascinated Divya. She practices for ninety minutes in the morning and evening. Her first significant victory in badminton came in the form of a fifth place at a national-level tournament held for special kids, in Mumbai in 2015. After that, she started training under Sathya Narayanan, a badminton coach from Sai Academy of Badminton, Madurai. She soon bagged a silver medal at the annual national tournament conducted for People with Disabilities (PwDs) in Trivandrum, in 2017, which got her selected in the Special Olympics in Abu Dhabi.
She has been working as a library assistant at the Lady Doak College for the past two years. Her coach says, “She was introduced to me by the college she works for. Her commitment towards practice is quite incredible. Despite working full-time, she doesn’t miss out on any of the sessions. After getting selected for the Special Olympics, her training sessions were extended to more than two hours per day and she still managed to do it with a smile.”
In the last 50 days that led to the Special Olympics in Abu Dhabi, Divya practised for about 6 hours every day. “Her enthusiasm and spirit is exceptional. I have always been proud of her,” says Vijayalakshmi. A Jayapal, coordinator at the Bethshan Special School says, “Her achievement is incredible as 7,500 athletes from about 190 nations took part in it. She is among the 72 gold medal winners from India. We wish she wins more laurels in the future championships.”