This Kargil war veteran is India’s first blade runner – Major D P Singh

When he was brought to the hospital, Major D P Singh was declared dead. But, as luck would have it,  he recovered. This was during the Kargil War in 1999.

Along with the multiple injuries, he also lost his leg. And, this saw Major D P Singh treading on a new journey. Sharing his story with folomojo, he says, “While facing the reality and overcoming the trauma can be difficult for many, for me and many others who were injured, it was a sense of pride. We were injured during the fight to safeguard our country. We received huge public support, sometimes from people we had never met. Moreover we had the support of one another – we were a group of army officers who kept motivating each other while we recuperated back to life.”

Becoming India’s first blade runner

In a year and two months, while the wounds began healing, Major D P Singh began to walk – initially using crutches and later transitioned to a walking leg. And 10 years later, he participated in the Airtel Delhi Half Marathon.

Talking about the experience of making it to the finish line, he says it was “incredible.” After that the army veteran has participated in 14 marathons. It was in his fourth half marathon, that Major D P Singh began to use the blade for running, becoming India’s first blade runner.

The challenging ones – A support group for amputees

As someone who has tackled challenges related to disabilities, he says, “Your outlook towards life and how the people around you perceive you, matter a lot.” Having gone through and observing the challenges that people with disabilities face, he started a support group for amputees – The Challenging Ones. Major D P Singh says, “I wanted to create a platform for discussion where amputees and their families can come together to inspire and support each other.”

The support group helps the family by addressing doubts, fears and questions related to challenges since most of the time the family is not prepared to face the situation as much as the amputee himself. Major D P Singh says, “For a person who is physically challenged it takes much more effort to live a normal life. We help such people to come to terms with challenges related to amputation. We motivate them to not limit themselves because of the disabilities and encourage them to focus on their abilities instead. We share our stories, videos and help them bounce back to life.”

Major D P Singh also conducts regular webinars and explores the social media to connect, engage and inspire people.

Sport as medium of empowerment

The support group encourages the group members to participate in sporting events like, swimming, badminton, etc especially, because in Major’s words, “Sports give a sense of achievement. And, in a marathon you have a lot of people cheering you and that is a huge motivation booster in itself. It even works vice versa, seeing you run in spite of the physical challenges, it motivates many others.”

He says, “We call everyone who is a part of the support group as Challengers. For me ‘disability’ is a mind-set not a physical challenge. Challengers break all shackles of dependency, fears of lack of mobility to open and live their life the same way as it was earlier and keep going in life with speed.”

Out of the 750-odd amputees who are part of the group, many have participated in numerous sporting events and have won medals.

An idea that needs to be changed

Major D P Singh admits that there has been a positive change in how media portrays physically challenged people, still much more has to be done. He says, “Every person has limitations in some areas. So let’s not categorise people based on limitations. We need to focus on what people are good at and not the other way round.”

Watch this inspiring video where he tells his story

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