26-year-old Manzoor Ahmad lost his leg in an explosion when he was just 10. There are over two hundred victims of land mine explosions in the Tangdar sector alone.
Jammu and Kashmir's Kupwara district, bordering the Line of Control, has a high percentage of people with special needs. Yet there is very little government help - neither for those born with physical challenges, not victims of landmines of which there are many.
Taking care of their two special children is a full time job for Nazir Ahmad and his wife Gulshan. In their remote village at Tarathpora, there is no health care for their daughters Asmat and Humaira, born with multiple disabilities.
"I feeling very disturbed. I'm just thinking about them. How I will take care of them... They can't move, they are confined to bed," said Nazir Ahmad.
His wife says life has very difficult for them. "We are not able to do any work because we are always busy with these children... there are difficulties of livelihood," said Ms Ahmad.
Such stories are common in Kupwara. Of the 8.7 lakh people who live here, 32,000, or nearly 4 per cent, suffer from some disability. The national average is 2.21 per cent. A major cause of disability is land mine blasts near the Line of Control.
26-year-old Manzoor Ahmad lost his leg in an explosion when he was just 10. There are over two hundred victims of land mine explosions in the Tangdar sector alone.
"Many people suffer like me. I'm not alone who has suffered because of land mine. People have lost legs, arms, eyesight," Mansoor Ahmad said.
But in the face of such odds, there are stories of hope, like 24-year-old Hafeeza, with a Masters of Arts degree in Urdu. She walks miles on crutches with a message: disability is not the inability to achieve your goals.
"I have gone through lot of hardships but I face and handle them. I can't think that I am disabled, I'm a person with special needs," she said.
Even with such a high percentage of people with special needs, there is still no serious intervention from the government to deal with the problem. In fact, the number of people with disabilities is growing alarmingly every year.