At the age of three I started studying music. In 1970, I entered a musical school. In 1981, I finished Tchaikovsky Musical School with a gold medal and entered Yerevan Komitas State Conservatory. My career as a violinist was quite promising so much that my professors believed that I would become a famous violinist.

In 1987, I was preparing for my first overseas concert tour in Australia. However, on February 7, while on vacation in Moscow, due to an unknown disease within seconds I turned from a healthy 22-year-old man into a disabled person.

“Life is over”, this was my first impression when I became a paraplegic. I had to interrupt my studies at the Conservatory and spend years in rehabilitation centers. Subsequently I realized that my disability must not prevent me from participating fully in public life. I resumed my studies at the Conservatory and became one of the co-founders of the Paros Chamber Choir in 1992. That same year, I met Rasmila who then worked as a nurse at the Rehabilitation Center and two years later we were married.

In 1994, I graduated from the Conservatory with excellent marks and earned an honored diploma. Naturally I looked for a job relevant to my profession. Very soon I understood that it was impossible in my country because of the total lack of existing facilities for wheelchair users. In addition to this, the Armenian community is altogether unaware of disability-related issues, nor is it apt to consider a disabled person as an ordinary community member who is entitled to the same rights as other people. Realizing all this, I came to a conclusion that the situation must be changed. Joining a NGO, I became engaged in promotion of human rights for persons with disabilities. I authored nine proposals on these issues, and the projects were approved and funded by various international donor organizations. I was the director of seven of these projects and helped implement the others. These projects were aimed at the promotion of equal opportunities for disabled and non-disabled residents of Armenia.

During these years, I participated in various roundtables, workshops and public awareness campaigns devoted to the rights of disabled persons. In 2002, I initiated the establishment of the Unison NGO for Support of People with Special Needs, an organization which in a very short period became one of the leading Armenian disability-related NGOs. On December 9, 2005, organizers of the All-Armenian Festival of Disabled People awarded me a certificate acknowledging Unison as the best Armenian NGO dealing with disability issues.

Currently Unison is implementing a project called “Civil Society: Right for All”. This project is aimed at the elaboration and lobbying of a draft law on accessibility for people with limited mobility. On December 3, 2005, I submitted the draft law to the Chairman of the National Assembly, who very positively assessed the document prepared by us and instructed the relevant Parliamentary Commission to review the draft and put it on the agenda of the National Assembly in due course.

In 2003, I was one of the initiators in the establishment of the Disability Council at the Chairman of the National Assembly of Armenia and since then I have been the coordinator of the Department of Limited Mobility Issues.

Since 2003, I have authored numerous publications on disabilities and have been Editor-in-Chief of two periodicals.

In 2004, I became a finalist of Muskie Graduate Fellowship Program and was awarded a grant to pursue my master's degree in Public Administration / Non-Profit Management at a U.S.-based university. However, considering all the pros and cons, I came to a conclusion that my two-year absence from Armenia may negatively effect the activities of Paros and Unison. Finally, I decided to cancel my participation in the Program.

Since 2000, when I organized the first overseas tour of Paros to Great Britain, I have been Musical Director of the choir.