#DisabilityDiaries 001

I met Shobha at the food court of the Mumbai domestic airport today. Shobha is deaf and mute. She is a housekeeping staff and cleans tables. Shobha walked up to me as I was having a meal. With a big smile, she gestured to me that she couldn’t hear or speak. She asked me about my hand, and said how nice it was that I could use a computer and that I was flying today. She said our disabilities were a divine providence. Normally, when a stranger approaches me and wants to know about my disability, I respond either politely or curtly or rebuff the person depending on how I am feeling then. But today was a first. It was for the first time in my life that a person of disability had come up to me and expressed solidarity with me. The very first time in my life! All my life, I have beaten myself into normalcy. And never once have I expressed or shared disability talks with another person of disability. We (people with disability that I know of) often live in silos, believing that we are normal, and that disability is not a part of our identities.
Today I felt liberated by Shobha’s expression of camaraderie! I shall remain ever grateful to her for touching my life. This feeling of liberation makes me want to show up on the journey of my life in my entirety. Full time. Owning my identity. Not resisting.