Fatima is 9 years old and has quadriplegic cerebral palsy which causes seizures. She has been attending the Chingari Trust clinic in Bhopal for just under a year, receiving free physiotherapy, speech therapy, and special education. Her paternal grandfather is a survivor of the 1984 Bhopal gas disaster, and her father is a moped and motorbike mechanic. Her mother brings her to Chingari while her two brothers are at school.
Despite already being 8 years old, when Fatima arrived at Chingari she had not received the regular treatment she required to manage her condition, and she was struggling with muscles tightness in all four limbs that affected her balance, coordination, and ability to sit or stand. The physiotherapists have been working with her to ease the tightness in her muscles and increase their strength, and the results so far are encouraging. Fatima can now sit comfortably and can squat or stand with support. When she first started speech therapy Fatima could not speak, but she has now mastered proper tongue movements to form sounds and can speak a few words like ‘mama’ and ‘abba’. In her special education classes Fatima is learning to make eye contact and engage with the teacher. The educators are working with her to begin improving her fine motor skills through exercises and creative play.
Fatima’s favourite food is chick schawarma, which she calls ‘pop’. She asks her father to bring her home some ‘pop’ when he returns from work and she is very happy and excited whenever he does. She adores her two brothers and loves to play and spend time with them.
