Full Name: Valerie Ann Taylor

Affiliation: Centre for the Rehabilitation of the Paralysed (CRP)

Current Position: Founder and Co-ordinator

Date of Birth: February 8, 1944

Place of Birth: England

Home District: Kent

Nationality: British and Bangladeshi

Profile:

Valerie A Taylor (born 8 February 1944) is a British-born Bangladeshi physiotherapist and philanthropist. She was awarded Independence Day Award in 2004 for her social work by the Government of Bangladesh. In 1998 she was granted Bangladeshi citizenship by the Prime Minister of Bangladesh. She is often called the Mother Theresa of Bangladesh.

In 1969, Taylor came to Bangladesh, under contract for 15 months, with the Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO) to work as a physiotherapist in the Christian Hospital, Chandraghona in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. She established the Centre for the Rehabilitation of the Paralysed (CRP) in 1979. At the start of her career, she was running CRP with four patients in an abandoned warehouse of the Shaheed Suhrawardy Hospital. She started without even a wheelchair, seeing the helplessness of the sick. Later CRP has grown to include a 100-bed hospital she established now treats 400 patients a year. Over the years, up to 80,000 people received some treatment. Many built a new life after being rejected by their families and society.

In the beginning she was interested in caring for the paralysed when she saw the negligence with which patients with spinal injuries were treated. In 1971, during the Liberation War, she was evacuated. At that time, she saw many injured people who needed treatment.

In 1973 Taylor travelled home to England to raise funds. After two years, she was back in Bangladesh. In 1979, she opened the CRP with four patients in an abandoned warehouse of the Shaheed Suhrawardy Hospital.

The hospital aims at helping patients to get back into society, one that is not always welcoming. As a foreigner, Taylor too has experienced some discrimination, with some people attacking her.

In 1995, she was appointed to the Order of the British Empire (OBE) by Queen Elizabeth. Three years later, she became a citizen of Bangladesh. In 2004 she received the Bangladesh Independence Day Award, the highest state honour.

Above and beyond such titles, she has received warm words from people her organisation treated. Like the young Muslim, thousands of disabled people now lead a dignified life. In fact, the CRP not only treats medical conditions, but also trains people for work to become self-sufficient.

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