more-in Rehmat Shaikh is 12, but until recently he had never stood up on his feet, let alone walked. There’s nothing wrong with his legs; the problem is with another disability, a congenital bilateral optic nerve atrophy, which leaves him without sight. In Kolkata, where he was born, his parents Rabiya and Shakeel, who make a living doing odd jobs, worried about his safety and never let him walk or do anything else for himself. As a result, his leg muscles are weak. He also has a speech impairment. Six months ago, though, his life began to change. His mother’s sister, Raziya Shaikh, brought him to Mumbai to seek medical help. Ms. Shaikh, who lives in Mahim, also does odd jobs and sometimes begs when she falls short of money to look after her four children. She began taking Rehmat with her to places of worship, where both would beg for alms, making a few hundred rupees a day at most. “There was no one to look after him at home,” Ms. Shaikh says, “so I started taking him along.” Last month, a woman spotted Rehmat on a wheelchair near Minara Masjid asking for alms. The woman, who asked not to be named, said that after some questioning, she found out that the boy had not been allowed to stand and walk since he was a baby. “I felt he could be helped,” she says, so she took him to Noor Hospital in Pydhonie, near her own home in Mazagaon, and where she was also undergoing treatment. The therapy “The loss of vision had impacted his overall development,” says Sadiya Vanjara, head of physiotherapy and pain management at Noor Hospital. “His muscles have weakened and his body movements were not in sync. We are giving him vestibular training for better balance, and proprioceptive training for positioning and movement.” The hospital is also providing him sensory system stimulation as a first step to dealing with his speech impairment. Since February 28, Rehmat has been visiting the hospital every evening for an hour. He has been learning to hold, throw, kick, get up from a bed on his own, and does some exercise on a stationary cycle. In the background, the therapist plays music or rhymes for sensory stimulation. “After he walks well, we are considering putting him on speech therapy as well,” Dr. Vanjara says. His anonymous benefactor pays the ?370 per session subsidised rate the hospital gives him. Getting better His aunt says Rehmat has progressed extremely well. “If he gets right help, he can grow up and get some work to support his family. I don’t want him to beg.” Ms. Shaikh says she will inform his parents only when he is walking comfortably unassisted. Meanwhile, Rehmat’s face is the indicator of the success of the therapy so far: with each step he takes on his own, his face lights up with a huge smile.

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