An accident can be seen as a sign of a pause in one’s dreams, or a deviation into a completely different path. It all depends on how you look at it. An unfortunate accident on my way to a basketball game turned my life upside down. A game I loved so much was put on hiatus because I was injured in an accident. For a long time, I too thought my life was stuck because of an accident, but a small shift in perspective made all the necessary changes. Today, I, Shagun Pathak, continue to carry this message with confidence throughout my life.
An accident that cost me my desires
As a district-level basketball player, my goals were clear and I thought I was building the future of track and field. So when the accident left me disabled, I was devastated. Because the basketball court is no longer the same for me. After spending weeks in bed with my mobility impairment, I was slowly starting to give up hope, but my parents never gave up. I thought. However, it too faced a dead end when doctors from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) said there was not much they could do and that they had to continue living with this condition.
When I got home, I saw that my brother had gone to school and had classes, and I was in bed all day, unable to move around. The accident was one of the worst stages of my life. At that point, I asked myself, “Are you really happy?” The answer was clearly “no”. I didn’t want to stay in that situation anymore.
My family and I moved to Delhi about 8 years ago, but due to my disability I had a hard time finding a job. I was turned away by some companies and didn’t even have access to many institutions. Without any assistive technology at the time, I had to rely heavily on people to help me. It wasn’t an easy journey, but there was no way I wanted to stay in that stage of my life.
dribbling past struggles
From being unable to find the right facility at work to finally landing my dream job at a banking company, I tell people my story and help at least one person who is struggling just like me. I became a disability rights activist, a motivational speaker and an open mic artist. I am moving around with a walker and have plans to try for the Paralympics.
I also came across a space called Atypical Advantage, which promotes livelihood opportunities for people with disabilities. Through them, I was able to realize my vision of ensuring that all persons with disabilities (PWD) are aware of their rights and find a place where they can be independent. I have worked with a local restaurant in Noida to create an accessible space for wheelchair users and have spread my message on multiple forums such as Max Life Insurance, C-Quel, FAT Documentary, Sardari TV24/7 and Barclays. rice field.
Everyone should be able to live their life to the fullest. As a motivational speaker, I believe my role is to provide them with real, practical tools and strategies that can help them build positive habits and turn their lives around. not. The hard part is believing in yourself. If you can do that, absolutely anything is possible. I hope that telling my story will inspire at least one of her people to come out of their shell and build a life from scratch.
If you too have an inspiring story to share with the world, send your story to mystory@thelogicalindian.com.
