BLIND DEVOTION: NOORIA NODRAT
- From: "BlindNews Mailing List" <BlindNews@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <BlindNews@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 4 Oct 2007 22:17:28 -0400
New York Post, NY, USA
Thursday, October 04, 2007
BLIND DEVOTION: NOORIA NODRAT
By SUSANNAH CAHALAN
WOMAN LIVES TO HELP
A blind visionary.
October 4, 2007 -- Nooria Nodrat has known adversity - she lost her eyesight
and her husband in unrelated but equally horrific tragedies - but she still
devotes her time to help blind students who need it most.
Nodrat, who emigrated from Afghanistan in 1991, had already lost her husband in
a terrorist bombing in Kabul in 1988, and earlier had watched in horror as
fanatics kidnapped her brother, who is still missing.
She was then robbed of her eyesight in 1997, when a deranged, drug-addled woman
attacked her on the subway at 34th Street.
But these horrors have only motivated Nodrat to help others.
As president of the National Federation of the Blind's New York Student
Division, Nodrat, 45, now works tirelessly with blind students.
She has been nominated for a Post Liberty Medal in the Freedom category by Dale
Tarnowieski, of the New York City College of Technology, for her courage and
relentless dedication to disabled women and children.
"I really don't deserve this honor. But I'm so grateful that I've been able to
make a difference," said Nodrat, who will get her human-services bachelor's
degree from City Tech this fall. "My mission is to empower students to
understand their rights and get the opportunity to have an education."
In her free time, she volunteers for the Catholic Guild for the Blind and the
Jewish Guild for the Blind, where she teaches English as a second language.
In addition, she interns two days a week at Citiview Connections, providing
educational programs for homeless people with mental illness, and works with
mentally and physically disabled adults at the Day Care Progress Center for
Mental Health.
But her long-term goal is to return to Afghanistan and start a foundation for
blind women and children.
As for herself, she said, "My disability has only defined a part of my life,
not my whole life."
Liberty Medal winners will be picked by a distinguished panel of judges and
honored at a ceremony on Oct. 17.
http://www.nypost.com/seven/10042007/news/regionalnews/blind_devotion.htm
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