“Hi! I’m Ankita. I’ve been on the wheelchair for 12 years. I was at my cousin’s wedding function in 2009, where I went to a stall, when a branch of a tree fell on me. Well, at least that’s what my family told me, because I don’t remember any of it clearly. Because of that, I had multiple injuries; one on my head, one on my backbone, and I suffered a left leg fracture too. I was operated in the head in the emergency ward, because there was a blood clot which needed to be removed as fast as possible. So, after a day or two they did two more full body scans, where they found out that I had an injury. After that, my family took me to Noida to one of the best doctors in the country and there, they operated me for around 8 to 9 hours. But eventually, they did it wrong. So, they again took me in emergency and corrected it.
I came home after that and since that incident, it's been 12 years today, till this time. My life changed when I decided to participate in Miss India Wheelchair which was held in 2017. I went there with my mother and there were four rounds there. I participated in them; I saw the other girls and they did an amazing job! But I was equally motivated and tried my very best, which is how I got the runners-up position. And well, after that, people from all sorts of companies and random cities and random
publishing houses started calling me for motivational talks basically. When I got the platform, I realized that now I have the attention and that I have the chance to do something. I decided to talk about the problems faced by people on wheelchairs, basically because I faced it a lot of times. I wanted to bring to light about how people look at people on wheelchairs, and share my experience. We have been discriminated a lot, just because we are on a wheelchair.
I had my chance and I wanted to make the most out of it. Today I am a motivational speaker. I talk about my experience about all these things and my main aim is to bring a change in the mindset of the people. I want to tell people that we don't want your sympathy and it does not really matter to us about how you call us because your thoughts don't define us as people. I want you to know that it won't make a change if you call us disabled or it won't make a change if you called us differently abled. We
should be known by our name, not by any sort of tags. Currently I'm also working in a multinational company, but apart from that I do visit social events where I'm invited. I talk about it and I'm trying to bring a change in the society. I know how it feels, but I’m blessed to have such a huge amount of support from friends and family alike, and I’m also financially independent. I can go out, and talk to people, and initiate to bring about a change. But what about the people who live in rural areas who can't afford such things? For them, we don't have many facilities in the country, such as accommodation, ramps and basic accessibility. Many things need to change in the country and I'm trying to bring about that change.
I just want to make people understand that it doesn’t matter how you look, or how people judge you, you need to be confident in your own skin. Whatever you are, wherever you are, just know that you are beautiful. Nobody has the right to judge you. Unless and until you know what you’re here for, it doesn’t matter what other say about you. There will always be one person who will not support you, so you have to decide for yourself, where do you want to go, what do you want to do. Just be passionate about what you want to
achieve. Just don’t die before that, as in, don’t make your passion and willpower die before that, because without them, there is really no point in doing things. Just live your life, it’s anyways damn too short to waste it on people who judge you.
- Thank You !