Remembering Sir John Wilson: An outstanding personality

A lawyer by qualification, international aid administrator by profession, social worker by vocation, and a great humanist and champion for persons with disabilities—this is an apt way to describe the outstanding personality that was Sir John Wilson, CBE, DCL. Today, on his 105th birthday, we recall with deep gratitude and the highest admiration his immense contribution to the advancement of services and movement for the rights of persons with disabilities around the world.

Born on January 20, 1919 in Nottingham, England, John Wilson was blinded in an accident at school at the age of 12. Trained in Braille at the Worcester College for the Blind, he studied at Oxford University (1937-41) where he obtained degrees in law and sociology from St Catherine's College, where he was subsequently elected as an honorary fellow. He started his career in wartime London as assistant secretary at the Royal National Institute of Blind People. During this period, he also founded, with others, the National Federation of the Blind, where he was president from 1952 to 1956.

In 1948, following a year's tour of Africa and the Middle East as a member of a British government delegation, Wilson proposed the formation of the Royal Commonwealth Society for the Blind—now known as Sightsavers—of which he was a director from 1950 to 1983. Upon retirement, he became vice-president of this society. During this period, often with his wife Lady Jean Wilson, OBE, he travelled extensively in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas, forming organisations for individuals with visual impairment in some 30 Commonwealth countries and pioneering activities for the prevention of blindness, including the onchocerciasis control programme in West Africa and mass eye treatment projects in developing countries through which several hundred thousand of cataract operations were performed annually. He formulated the Asian plan for the blind (1953) and the African plan (1966).

In 1974, following proposals he had made in speeches at the World Health Assembly, the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness was formed, of which he was president until 1982, when he was elected honorary life president.

In 1981, the International Year of the Disabled Persons, Wilson presented before the United Nations General Assembly a strategy for the prevention of disability, formulated at an international conference which he initiated at Leeds Castle England. Through joint action by the Nations Development Programme, The World Health Organization and Unicef, the Internal Initiative Against Avoidable Disablement (subsequently known as the Global IMPACT Programme) was established in 1983, where he was appointed senior consultant. This began another phase, full of international travels to develop action for the prevention of causes of vision-related disabilities, which are estimated to affect 450 million in the world. In connection with this work, in 1984-86, he undertook a research project as an international scholar at the Fogarty International Center of the US National Institute of Health.

John Wilson visited Bangladesh as chairman of UK Impact Foundation, on four occasions after independence. In 1972, he met with Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who taught him "Ondhojone deho alo, mritojone pran." He also met Sheikh Hasina on November 3, 1966, and he recited this poem appropriately to her. He was the principal architect for conceptualising the mobile boat hospital—Impact "Jibon Tari" Floating Hospital—in Bangladesh to render medical services for restoring sight, hearing and mobility to poor communities in the riverine areas.

I had the privilege of meeting him when I was a student of Class 2 at the erstwhile Rotary School for the Blind in Dhaka, in 1958. Subsequently, I had the good fortune to work with him in various forums and committees for the service of persons with disabilities. He was a great source of inspiration to many of us and directly contributed in changing the lives of millions of people with disabilities around the world.

For his lifelong work, he earned many accolades. He was awarded the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1955, Commander of the British Empire (CBE) in 1964, Helen Keller International Award in 1970, knighthood in 1975, Lions International Humanitarian Award in 1979, Albert Lesker International Services Award in 1979, World Humanity Award in 1980, Rotary International Presidential Citation in 1984, and Johns Hopkins School of Public Health and Hygiene's Dean' s Medal in 1987, among others. He had several publications under his name, such as Travelling Blind in 1960, World Blindness & its Prevention, Volume I in 1980 and Volume II in 1984, and Disability Prevention: The Global Challenge in 1983, as well as various articles and papers on disabilities, development, travelling, short stories, etc.

Sir John Wilsom passed away on November 23, 1999 at his residence in Brighton, leaving behind his family and well-wishers, and a legacy of work devoted to making the world a better place for persons with disabilities.

Monsur Ahmed Chowdhury is founder trustee of Impact Foundation Bangladesh and a human rights activist for persons with disabilities.

Views expressed in this article are the author's own. 

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