When you hear the word 'disabled,' people immediately think about people who can't walk or talk or do everything that people take for granted. Now, I take nothing for granted. But I find the real disability is people who can't find joy in life and are bitter." -Teri Garr
Paralysed waist down since 2006, Virali Modi – motivational speaker and disability right activist from India – is determined to make society listen to the voice of the disabled.
Today we listen to her voice:
My name is Virali Modi, I'm 27 years old. I was born in Mumbai and when I was 2 months old, I shifted to The United States of America. I was raised in a small town called Pottsville, Pennsylvania.I was an excellent student, I always got straight A's in school. I was a competitive swimmer, excellent at writing from a young age, I played basketball, soccer, and tennis in school. I was also in the choir and I played the guitar, flute, and piano. My parents and I always had a good relationship from the start, they're really open-minded as compared to most of Indian-Gujarati parents. I was really into music from the start. I had two career options in mind from the start, I wanted to be a heart surgeon and an actress.. I'd like to say that I was always an activist from the start, not just now
And then…
Due to an undiagnosed case of Malaria, Virali slipped into a 23-day coma. When she came out of it she was paralysed waist down. She retells her traumatic experience.
I think the biggest difficulty I faced was being accepted by my peers and my extended family. They thought I was burden on them and they said it to my face. That hurt me tremendously. I became depressed and I tried committing suicide twice for that reason. My parents were the biggest supporters and they helped me out of my depression. My mom told me that I need to understand that if I don't love and respect myself, I can't expect other people to do the same. She told me that I needed to learn to love myself, and the day that I do that,
I think the second biggest difficulty was learning to adapt and changing my daily activities to better suit my physical condition. Now that I have learned tricks and hacks, life has become so much easier and I want to say that I've become independent as much as possible.
Firstly, I'd like to say that people need to stop categorizing those with disabilities. Stop calling us disabled, differently-abled, handicapped, and other terms. We're normal people that's about it. Our parents have given us a name and I think people need to overlook the disability and start calling us by the names which our parents have allotted us.
Secondly and most importantly, just treat us like you'd like to be treated. If you like being treated with respect, then treat us the same. Don't be scared to approach us and talk to us, we're normal people, and We are normal. Everyone has a disability, yours may be invisible, but just because mine is visible, does not mean that you can stereotype me. It's as simple as that. Just get to know us, and I promise you'll understand how similar we are.
I shifted to Mumbai in 2008 after my disability. I think the biggest challenge that I overcame was the stigma in India regarding disability. Disability is still viewed as taboo in India. The infrastructure is not wheelchair friendly, and finding hacks around it, was probably the biggest adjustment. The mentality is still poor, albeit a little better now than compared to 2008, The mentality and the accessibility was the biggest thing that I had to adjust to. Since I've refused to adjust to the mentality, I'm on a mission to spread awareness about disability. I want people to know that it's not as bad as it seems.
I've won over 10 awards for my activism. I was named as one of the most influential and inspirational women of 2017 by BBC 100 Women. I was Miss Wheelchair India runner up in 2014. Besides all of that, I think my biggest achievement has been my campaign called #MyTrainToo which I started in 2017 for accessible Indian Railways.Virali's change.org petition to make railway stations and trains more disabled-friendly received 231,414 supporters before it closed.
I always give the advice that my mom gave me when I became disabled. "Love yourself, respect yourself, because you are the most important person in this world. Everyone else comes second. If you don't respect and love yourself, don't expect other people to do the same.Currently, I work for a corporate called Enable Travel . We are India's Premier Accessible Holiday Specialist. We curate accessible tours and travels for people with disabilities and senior citizens. I'm their Youth Expert. Along with that, in association with Enable Travel, we have a campaign called #RampMyRestaurant . We're asking restaurants PAN India to ramp up because it's mandatory by the government as well.
I'm a motivational speaker, a writer, a disability rights activist, a model, and an aspiring actress. I'm trying to break into Bollywood as the first disabled actress. It's not going as smoothly as I want, but I'm still trying and I won't give up until I break the barrier.
My name is Virali Modi, I'm 27 years old. I was born in Mumbai and when I was 2 months old, I shifted to The United States of America. I was raised in a small town called Pottsville, Pennsylvania.I was an excellent student, I always got straight A's in school. I was a competitive swimmer, excellent at writing from a young age, I played basketball, soccer, and tennis in school. I was also in the choir and I played the guitar, flute, and piano. My parents and I always had a good relationship from the start, they're really open-minded as compared to most of Indian-Gujarati parents. I was really into music from the start. I had two career options in mind from the start, I wanted to be a heart surgeon and an actress.. I'd like to say that I was always an activist from the start, not just now
And then…
Due to an undiagnosed case of Malaria, Virali slipped into a 23-day coma. When she came out of it she was paralysed waist down. She retells her traumatic experience.
I think the biggest difficulty I faced was being accepted by my peers and my extended family. They thought I was burden on them and they said it to my face. That hurt me tremendously. I became depressed and I tried committing suicide twice for that reason. My parents were the biggest supporters and they helped me out of my depression. My mom told me that I need to understand that if I don't love and respect myself, I can't expect other people to do the same. She told me that I needed to learn to love myself, and the day that I do that,
I think the second biggest difficulty was learning to adapt and changing my daily activities to better suit my physical condition. Now that I have learned tricks and hacks, life has become so much easier and I want to say that I've become independent as much as possible.
Firstly, I'd like to say that people need to stop categorizing those with disabilities. Stop calling us disabled, differently-abled, handicapped, and other terms. We're normal people that's about it. Our parents have given us a name and I think people need to overlook the disability and start calling us by the names which our parents have allotted us.
Secondly and most importantly, just treat us like you'd like to be treated. If you like being treated with respect, then treat us the same. Don't be scared to approach us and talk to us, we're normal people, and We are normal. Everyone has a disability, yours may be invisible, but just because mine is visible, does not mean that you can stereotype me. It's as simple as that. Just get to know us, and I promise you'll understand how similar we are.
I shifted to Mumbai in 2008 after my disability. I think the biggest challenge that I overcame was the stigma in India regarding disability. Disability is still viewed as taboo in India. The infrastructure is not wheelchair friendly, and finding hacks around it, was probably the biggest adjustment. The mentality is still poor, albeit a little better now than compared to 2008, The mentality and the accessibility was the biggest thing that I had to adjust to. Since I've refused to adjust to the mentality, I'm on a mission to spread awareness about disability. I want people to know that it's not as bad as it seems.
I've won over 10 awards for my activism. I was named as one of the most influential and inspirational women of 2017 by BBC 100 Women. I was Miss Wheelchair India runner up in 2014. Besides all of that, I think my biggest achievement has been my campaign called #MyTrainToo which I started in 2017 for accessible Indian Railways.Virali's change.org petition to make railway stations and trains more disabled-friendly received 231,414 supporters before it closed.
I always give the advice that my mom gave me when I became disabled. "Love yourself, respect yourself, because you are the most important person in this world. Everyone else comes second. If you don't respect and love yourself, don't expect other people to do the same.Currently, I work for a corporate called Enable Travel . We are India's Premier Accessible Holiday Specialist. We curate accessible tours and travels for people with disabilities and senior citizens. I'm their Youth Expert. Along with that, in association with Enable Travel, we have a campaign called #RampMyRestaurant . We're asking restaurants PAN India to ramp up because it's mandatory by the government as well.
I'm a motivational speaker, a writer, a disability rights activist, a model, and an aspiring actress. I'm trying to break into Bollywood as the first disabled actress. It's not going as smoothly as I want, but I'm still trying and I won't give up until I break the barrier.