
KANNUR: In a world that often moves too fast to notice, there exists a group of unsung heroes fighting an extraordinary battle – those living with disabilities. For them, every achievement, every step forward, is not just a personal victory but a testament to the resilience and the power of community.
Recognising the need for their support and inclusion, several like-minded people came up with the idea for FLY (Freedom for Limitated Youth), which was established as a charitable trust on September 20, 2006. Six of the seven founder trustees of the trust were themselves disabled.
Founded on the belief that every individual deserves dignity and opportunity, FLY focuses on empowering physically disabled individuals to thrive as active members of society. “FLY instils self-confidence in members to embrace the mainstream and looks to shape efficient, intelligent, determined and creative individuals.
We encourage and make use of their creativity to enable them to generate income, to help them lead independent lives. We currently have a music troupe and an umbrella-making group,” FLY chairperson Rajeevan Mathil said.
“We organise yearly camps for our members. These get-togethers are an opportunity for us to mingle with each other and share our thoughts. The camps are organised with funds collected from our savings. They enable the sharing of experiences, aspirations, issues related to health and familial life, overall wellbeing and mental relaxation,” he said.
These camps have also become a platform to find partners. FLY now has five couples – all of whom connected through the camps. Suresh Aduthila and Manju P A met at a camp in 2013. They got married three years later.
“I am from Kannur, while Manju hails from Thrissur. We may never have met, if not for the FLY camp. Over the next three years we interacted over phone. We shared our thoughts, likes and dislikes. We received immense support from FLY members throughout our journey. This has also been the case with the other FLY couples,” said Suresh.
FLY currently has more than 300 members in the state. “We started with 40 members. Over the years, we have provided employment opportunities to around 40 members. We have a dream now: an office building of our own. We function from a rented building. We hope to have a place to organise events and camps,” Rajeevan added.