Dilorom Yuldasheva |
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| Nationality | Uzbekistan |
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| Occupation(s) | seamstress and businessperson |
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| Known for | creating a business after a life changing accident |
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Dilorom Yuldasheva (born ) is an Uzbek woman who overcame disability. She lost her legs in an accident with a combine harvester. She overcame her disability to become a businesswoman employing 40 others. Her example was recognised and she was one of the BBC's 100 Inspiring Women and she was given a national courage award in 2024.
Life
Yuldasheva was married and she worked in the fields in the Denov district of Uzbekistan. She was handfeeding a combine harvester when her long clothes became entangled in the machinery. As a result, she had both her legs amputated and she was immobile as her family could not afford a wheelchair.[1] She told her husband that he should marry again but he told her that she should never raise that matter again.[1]
Within two years of the accident she had created a sewing business which employed forty other women.[2] She wanted women to not have to work in the fields. She organised training and obtained contracts so that they could create uniforms for businesses and schools.[3]
Yuldasheva received visits from people who offered their sympathies and they would take their selfies with her. The visitors brought a chair and a make-up box which they used in the photos. It was a week later that she learned that the chair actually belonged to a local elderly woman. She returned the chair and the make-up box was retrieved. She became resigned to the exploitation but she noted her own disappointment at losing the chair as she had been temporarly mobile.[1] Even with a chair she could not travel far as her family live over a mile from a road and that path needs to be covered before the start of any car journey. The dresses that she makes are delivered by her son on his bicycle.[1]
In 2024 she was recognised as one of the BBC's 100 inspiring women for 2024. As a result, she also received a national "Mardlik" courage award in December 2024, in a meeting chaired by the President.[2] The President's daughter and assistant Saida Mirziyoyeva was tasked with making a film about Yuldosheva, and at least four more, in 2025.[3] The President announced wide-ranging targets to improve the support for those with disabilities.[2] Yuldosheva thanked the President for his help and for continuing to deliver peace.[1]
References
