00:00We all have names, so why label us or why stereotype us into that category as disabled
00:29or Divyang or specially abled or whatever terminology you want to use, why not just
00:34call her by her names, like Hi, my name is Virali Moody, I use a wheelchair, who even
00:40cares, does it matter?
00:42I remember this so vividly, there was a ramp there, I got to the ramp, first of all, it
00:59was crowded with people, it was submerged in urine stains and betel leaf stains and
01:07people were just sitting there and standing there and the ramp had holes in it, they were
01:12just staring at me as if I'm this weird person or this person that's just escaped from the
01:17circus or something.
01:26I was made to sit on the lap of the guy that was holding my legs, which was weird and I
01:34mean I didn't say anything, I said okay, whatever gets the job done, now this guy, the one that
01:38was holding me from my shoulders, he lifts me up again but he wraps his arms around my
01:44breasts and he starts groping me in the public and there was pin drop silence in that compartment
01:54and in that coach, there were people there, they were watching him do this, he didn't
01:59he kept groping me, he kept groping my breasts, molesting me, no one said anything and I was
02:06scared to say anything because I thought if I did, he would drop me on the floor.
02:20I got a message from the district regional manager of Kerala, the Kerala Railways, he
02:27got in touch with me and with him, right now we've made over 6 stations disabled friendly,
02:33we haven't renovated these stations, all we've done is implemented portable ramps and small
02:39aisle size wheelchairs that fit into the compartment of the train.
02:45We did that individually without the government support.
02:58I came out of the coma on my birthday at the exact same time that I was born but I was
03:05paralysed from the neck down afterwards.
03:08I battled depression, I battled, I tried committing suicide twice, not because I wasn't accepting
03:16of myself but because other people weren't accepting of me.
03:27We need to cast people with disabilities, actresses, models, everything, we need disabled
03:39people, we need them to work.
03:42It's been difficult because not a lot of people want models or actresses with disabilities
03:47even if the role calls for it.
03:49I think it's because of the ease of having an able-bodied actor so they don't really
03:55have to provide a lot of help and a lot of support.
03:59There is no disability because everyone has a disability in some way or the other.
04:05So let's stop stereotyping people, let's stop labelling people and let's start treating
04:11them with a bit of dignity and integrity.
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