Enabling people with disabilities to live a life full of adventures, stories and thrills to make them spread their wings like a butterfly

There are people who are deprived of living a normal life due to a physical constraint, people who are in common parlance called ‘physically challenged’. Because of these physical limitations, they are shy to face other people and hesitate to pursue their dreams and instead prefer to be in their cocoons. To solve this challenge, I want to create an atmosphere where people can come out of these confining boundaries and live a life full of stories, adventure and thrills.

Post an accident involving a physical damage - from a scar to an amputation, the victim of the accident loses confidence because our physical body is something we are so used to and any change in the same is sure to bother a person. In such a situation, the person needs to be pushed forward and motivated to break the shackles and move out of the confining boundaries of their limitations to fulfill their dreams or just follow their passion which they would not have thought twice to pursue if they were not bound in that cramped periphery. And even if people want to pursue their dreams, people around them don’t let them pursue it due to one of the below reasons:

1) Lack of awareness about the possibilities regardless of physical limitations

2) Out of concern

3) The surroundings are not conducive enough for them to help them follow their passion

The hypothesis on which I have based my solution is that internal motivation is just not enough to stimulate a spark in people with disabilities to move out of the insulated atmosphere, external motivation like peer to peer interaction, suitable infrastructure or maybe just the right idea also plays an important role in helping people pursue their dreams. Recently, one of my seniors from undergrad college had to undergo amputation post a road accident in ISB, Mohali when a motorcyclist ran over him while he was cycling after a hectic day in college. He had the courage to get back again behind the wheels of a bicycle after such a life changing incident and was even quite excited to do so. But what he lacked was the technique to ride a bicycle with a prosthesis as his prosthesis won’t stay on the paddle of the cycle. Once he got in contact with me, going by my experience, I could guide him, and he started riding a bicycle as swiftly and fluently as he used to ride it earlier stretching his arms against the breeze and feeling each bit of the air blowing against him.

Fig. Before a social group

What if there exists a social group or a platform that connects people with disabilities across the country or even the world where people with different experiences, education background and disabilities of different sorts can come together, form a peer group, share their experiences helping other people through their journeys. Also, if people are good in number, certain workshops designed specifically towards the need of people with disabilities can be organized like adaptive yoga and theater workshops for people with disabilities. And such a group is not just limited to people with disabilities but also their family members and friends to create a more inclusive environment for everyone with an attitude of empathy and a better understanding towards disability. To start off, we can have a Whatsapp group for amputees in Bangalore and slowly scale it up to people with other kind of disabilities also across the country and world. To run a prototype for this, I created a group 'One Step At A Time' to connect amputees across Bangalore. In the last 7 days, 120 amputees and their immediate family and friends have joined this group.  

Fig. Prototype of Whatsapp group and sign-up page

Fig. After a Social Group

Initially, there is no investment involved in creating a whatsapp group for people to interact. If things go well over the time, and the group members are motivated to indulge in different activities like swimming, dancing, yoga etc. that can help them get into a normal life, I will go on to initiate such activities that can help build confidence. For this purpose, we need to get in contact with the established bodies who have the basic infrastructure and can lend it for a few hours. For example, IIMB campus has a lovely sports complex with all the basic amenities to organize a day here for people with disabilities and our own students can volunteer to organize such a day filled with various activities. Recently, a wheelchair cricket match was organized in the cricket ground at IIMB in association with Vikasana, the social impact club of IIMB. Many such activities can be organized if a good number of people are together and share a common aspiration. People will be able to sign-up to these activities through a google form which displays various workshop options along with their venue and the number of seats still vacant. As the group grows in size, we can introduce an app solution which allows chats, signing up for events and FAQs to handle general queries of day to day life.

A very good metric to gauge if people like the idea and are excited to be a part of it is to see the number of messages every member is pouring in every week and how fast the people are growing to be friends and acquaintances with each other. How many people sign-up and more importantly how many people turn up regularly for the workshops will be another metric to gauge if the hypothesis stands true or not. Camaraderie is very essential for a successful running of such a group and members should be aligned towards a common goal. Occasional meet-ups can also be arranged where people can get to know each other in person, get a better understanding of each-other’s struggle to know that they are not alone, and learn from their experiences. This can help people not only in the personal sphere but also in the professional sphere. Once the model is successful with amputees, I wish to extend it to other types of disabilities after gaining the requisite background knowledge by interacting with people who have overcome those disabilities.

The ultimate aim is to form a group that works towards transforming lives of people with disabilities and attitudes towards disability in India that will result in true social inclusion of people with disabilities in the society and enable them to live to their best potential.