- Source: Dilorom Yuldosheva
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. She told her husband that he should marry again but he told her that she should never raise that matter again.
Within two years of the accident she had created a sewing business which employed forty other women. 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.
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. 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.
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. The President's daughter and assistant Saida Mirziyoyeva was tasked with making a film about Yuldosheva, and at least four more, in 2025. The President announced wide-ranging targets to improve the support for those with disabilities. Yuldosheva thanked the President for his help and for continuing to deliver peace.