QUETTA: On a cold November morning, Syed Rafiullah Shah arrived sleeveless to an examination hall in Quetta, southwestern Pakistan to sit an eighth-grade test. He finished it faster than many other students, writing swiftly on the paper with a pen held in his right foot.
Born without arms, 13-year-old Shah is one of millions of Pakistanis living with disabilities. While the exact number is not known, Human Rights Watch estimates it can be up to 27 million, or over 12 percent, of the country's population.
Although the country has ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and last year passed its own Rights of Persons with Disabilities Bill, in many parts of Pakistan, disability is still considered a taboo, keeping many people confined within the walls of their homes.
Shah's story is different.
"I am a living example that people with physical impairments can have a normal life," Shah told Arab News.
Syed Rafiullah Shah plays cricket at his home in Quetta, Pakistan, on November 27, 2021. (AN photo)
“I have learnt to do my daily work with my feet. Even now I am able to play cricket, soccer and other sports with my cousins and friends,” he said. “Physical impairment has never deterred me.”
He has been encouraged by his family members to master the same skills as physically abled children. It did take more effort, but with his spirits, Shah had excelled.
"I have learnt to do my daily work with my feet. Even now I am able to play cricket, soccer and other sports with my cousins and friends," he said. "Physical impairment has never deterred me."
Shah has been encouraged by his family members to master the same skills as physically abled children. It did take more effort, he said, but with his spirits, he has managed to excel.
"My aunt encouraged me to write with my feet when I was just four years old," he said. "Today I am studying in eight standard and I'm able to write in both English and Urdu.”
When it comes to sports, he regularly practices cricket with his elder brother, Syed Mujeebullah, for whom Shah is a source of pride.
“Rafi hits the ball with his legs," Mujeebullah said. "I feel pride when I see my younger brother competing with normal students in school and sports."
Syed Zahoor Ahmed, who was overseeing Shah's exams, told Arab News he was surprised to see the boy's confidence as he wrote with his foot.
“I have asked Rafi a couple of times if he needed extra time, but he refused and completed his papers within the given timeframe," Ahmed said, adding that Shah was even faster than other students.
Syed Rafiullah Shah poses for a photo with his father, Syed Sadar-ud-Din, at their home in Quetta, Pakistan, on November 27, 2021. (AN photo)
"I have never considered Rafi a physically impaired student but a talented child," he said.
It was his grandfather who from the beginning believed the boy was a "blessing."
Syed Sadar-ud-Din, Shah's father, remembered calling his father to tell him his child had been born without arms and shoulders: "He told me to accept it as God’s decision since it would prove to be a blessing for me."
When he was a toddler, Shah could not crawl like other babies. But soon, he started to walk.
"He got many face and head injuries during his childhood because he wasn’t able to protect his face while falling down on the ground," the father said. "But the days of our worries ended when he enrolled in school, and now can handle any situation.”
While the family has never seen Shah's disability as a burden, Sadar-ud-Din is well aware of the difficulties he will have to face in Pakistani society as he grows older.
"I want to request all parents who have children with any disability to start supporting them and encourage them," he said. "Until we don’t believe in them, no one else will."
