ISLAMABAD: As Pakistan observed International Day of Persons with Disabilities, the visually-impaired Khansa Maria was over the moon when she came to know that she had been chosen for the prestigious Rhodes Scholarship for 2021.

Her joy was twofold: she had not only become the first visually-impaired Pakistani to have achieved the milestone but she would also get to study at the renowned University of Oxford.

The 21-year-old will pursue a masters in evidence-based social intervention and policy evaluation.

Khansa Maria had impressed the selection committee with her passion and commitment to her cause, which is to bring changes to the lives of differently-abled persons.

Rhodes Scholarship has a competitive process which selects only one student every year out of an average 400 candidates.

But this year, Khansa Maria surprised everyone by winning the scholarship for the first time in the history of Rhodes Scholarship (for Pakistan).

“Khansa Maria is not just an advocate for disability rights. She framed disability in a very proactive manner,” said Rhodes scholar Soufia Siddiqi, who teaches at Lums.

Ms Siddiqi, who will soon be the deputy national secretary for Rhodes Pakistan, said those students were picked for the scholarship who demonstrated a sense of leadership and responsibility, who thought carefully and intricately about life as well as the world around themselves.

She said the interview panel found Khansa Maria very proactive, having a productive mindset and the ability to address the system and think differently.

“She is quite exceptional,” Ms Siddiqi added.

To a query, she said those who dedicate themselves to resolving bigger and difficult issues of the world were Rhodes Scholarship material.

Talking to Dawn over the phone from Doha where she is currently studying in Georgetown University’s Qatar campus, Khansa Maria said her interest lies in the protection of the rights and dignity of differently-abled persons and hopes to work on inclusive policymaking and capacity-building for persons with different abilities.

Khansa Maria knows what all challenges a person with disabilities has to face.

“I want to strive for a new legislation that protects the rights of differently-abled persons and also see it is properly enforced.”

She said though a few laws existed, there was a lack of implementation mechanism, adding that the Constitution guaranteed fundamental rights of all citizens, including persons with disabilities, without any discrimination.

Khansa Maria, who completed her schooling in Lahore before moving to Qatar, said differently-abled persons had been facing difficulties in getting jobs, availing education opportunities, free movement and casting votes, and all these issues needed immediate attention of policymakers.

She said persons with disabilities did not have proper access to government offices, what to talk about private buildings. “There are no proper ramps for wheelchairs and people faced difficulty in movement on a daily basis,” she added.

Khansa Maria said there was no proper data available in the country on the total population of special persons. “Without having authentic data, proper policy cannot be framed,” she added.

Khansa Maria is deeply passionate about advocating for the rights of people with disabilities and designing accessible communities in an effort to ensure inclusivity.

To this end, she has organised and has spoken at various conferences on inclusion and inclusive policy.

Published in Dawn, December 5th, 2020