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Challenges are part of our lives. Everyone faces different types of challenges like financial, relationship, emotional, professional, and many more. And some people are physically challenged. Some people are born with physical challenges, while some become physically challenged during the later part of their life due to accidents, side effects of disorders, or medical conditions. Physical challenges include disability in vision, hearing, mobility, and physical capacity.

Education and financial independence are important keys for differently-abled people to achieve dignity, security, and empowerment. The opportunity to get employed is an important part of financial independence. However, in practice, opportunities for skill training and job placement are limited to such differently-abled people. Misconceptions, prejudice, and discrimination result in creating negative perception of people with disability' Life of differently challenged people becomes critical due to two main reasons. One is the stigmas which doubt the capabilities of people with disability. And another is the lack of a holistic developmental approach towards the upliftment and betterment of differently challenged people in all aspects.

The government has taken necessary steps, introduced policies and laws for the welfare and upliftment of differently-abled people. It includes a special provision for education, transportation, employment, health, income tax concessions, and social security. Along with the government, corporates should also take initiatives in giving opportunities for the differently-abled. After enacting 'The Rights of Persons with Disabilities Bill, 2016', perceptions regarding differently challenged people have changed. This bill initiated the corporates to introduce policies for recruiting people with physical disabilities.

Corporates can employ candidates according to their ability and comfort zone of working. For example, people with difficult movement may be given accountant, consulting, computing, programming, and other technical works, which can be done by sitting in one place. Equal opportunity and right treatment with the dignity of the differently-abled people is a must. In the workplace, special provisions such as separate wheelchair ramps and restrooms should be provided for differently challenged people. Besides recruiting differently challenged people, big corporates should implement practices that will support the progress of those people. Awareness and training programmes can be conducted for non-disabled people for better coordination with differently challenged people.

Many people who were differently challenged have achieved great heights. Some of them are Hellen Keller, Stephen Hawking, Bharat Kumar, Sudha Chandran, Arunima Sinha, Girish Sharma, Preethi Srinivasan, John Nash, Nick Vujicic, Andrea Bocelli, Alex Zanardi, and Aaron Fotheringham.

We might have all heard of the word 'differently-abled' for people with a physical disability. Have you ever wondered why it is so? It is because those people may be challenged with some physical disability but they may be blessed with different or special talents. We all might have seen a person with no hands, passing an examination by writing in legs or drawing a masterpiece of art with disabled hand, visually challenged people becoming civil servant, mastering dance and many more examples could be quoted. Such people will have a strong mentality, endurance, and high intellectualism. So we should stop underestimating differently able people and start giving them opportunities and moral support to grow.