HARIPUR: Dr Bakhtawar Khalid Kiyani, Asia’s first visually impaired archer, has said she discovered the four core values when life took an unexpected turn in the middle of her Bachelor’s studies in dental surgery that helped her navigate the difficult times and turn her disability into strengths.

She expressed these views as a guest speaker at the Lok Chaupal programme held at Wakefields Pind Gakhra, Khanpur, here on Sunday.

The topic of her talk was ‘Andekhi Rahein’ (unseen pathways). The host, Ayaz Gul Kiyani, moderated the session, while physicians, engineers, members of academia, literati and development practitioners were among those who were in attendance.

The visually impaired athlete also gave a demo of her sports skills as a world class archer.

Sharing her life story, Dr Bakhtawar, who is currently serving at the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council, said she was studying in the second year of Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS) when she began to suffer from Retinitis Pigmentosa, a type of visual impairment. “I was to decide whether to quit study and become dependent on others or to create my own pathways. So I chose the latter and completed my studies as a silver medal laureate,” she told the audience amid a round of applause.

The second obstacle, she was exposed to was how to secure licence to practice dentistry from the PMDC as being a person with different ability she was unable to carry out surgeries but again her commitment and efforts paid her dividends and she eventually succeeded in becoming a licensed dental surgeon but allowed to do only health management rather than practicing dentistry. She was now heading the communication section of the PMDC.

About her struggles, Dr Bakhtawar said that there were four core values that came in handy overcoming her difficulties, and these values were resilience and ethics. She boastfully listed the support that her family, especially her mother, a teacher by profession, extended to her all the way facilitating her to achieve the targets that she set for her life.

About her decision to choose costly and difficult sports of archery, she said that after graduation she was again driven by her passion not to give up and do something different. She said she turned towards archery and began practicing. “But without proper training it was not possible so I sought the help of Saad Ahmed, an archery coach, who has been continuously helping me brushing up my sports skills.”

Bakhtawar shared with the audience that she had won silver medal in the national event of archery and attended two international events in Dubai and Birmingham, and now she was spending most of her time after job on practicing archery as she was committed to grabbing the victory stand at the forthcoming international event of archery in Korea next year.

She urged the women with any disability to put up courage to become resilient to the challenges.

Bakhtawar’s coach, Saad Ahmed, who was also among the participants, briefed the audience about the game, rules and points, and how Bakhtawar had overcome her difficulties through continuous practice and commitment.

Published in Dawn, December 2nd, 2024