People with disabilities share their journeys with fitness, exercise and sports

Javed Choudhari shoots hoops at a training camp

Earlier this month on March 12 and 13, the city witnessed India's first Wheelchair Basketball Premier League (WBPL) at Mastan YMCA's basketball court in Nagpada and YMCA International House in Mumbai Central, helmed by the non-profit organisation Project Mumbai. We spoke to Javed Choudhari, whose team Paraplegic Rehabilitation Centre, Pune, won the men's title. Choudhari highlights his journey in taking up a sport as a person with disabilities. Read about his and other personal journeys with fitness, exercise and sports.

He just did it

Javed Choudhari, wheelchair basketball player and para athlete
Choudhari hails from Lonar in Maharashtra, and was tired of hearing the words ‘You can't do it'. While his family focussed on supporting and helping him lead a simple and safe life after a 2015 accident that resulted in the amputation of his leg, Choudhari wanted more. He tells us, "I'm the only one in my family who is educated. Before the accident, my family placed all their hopes in me to move ahead and achieve things for myself and my generation. But after the accident, that hope turned to sympathy and I didn't like that. I don't blame them; they were not aware that an amputee or a person with disability could do the things I'm doing." As he stepped out, he faced the same words. People doubted, advised and questioned the 27-year-old's motivation to take up sports and continue dancing - a talent he honed before and after the accident. "It was frustrating to be held back when I didn't know what I could achieve myself."

Pune Riders (in red) and Project Mumbai Wheelers (in blue) battle it out at Project Mumbai's Wheelchair Basketball Premier League at Mastan Talao basketball court. Pic/Suresh Karkera

This isn't a story on overcoming barriers, but one that tries to question and remove them. "Winning a medal sounds good but people need to look at the struggle and work that goes behind it; it's not to be glossed over as a success story. They should be aware of the difficult journey - from finding the right coach to buying the right equipment. Because this can happen to anyone, and they and their families need to understand that this isn't a curse. A person with disability needs support to do what they want and how they want to do it." For this, the athlete says that it is important for people to see a person with disabilities as a human being and acknowledge their disability. He explains, "The first requires a behavioural change, the second is crucial to realise
equity and ensure access to spaces."

Go with the flow

Devanshi Satija, para swimmer
Satija is the youngest para-swimmer to win a medal at the 2018 Asian Para Games at Jakarta. This, of course, is just one of the many feats Satija has accomplished. She clinched four gold medals at the 2015 National Para-Swimming Championship as well as three gold medals at the 2017 Para Swimming Championships. Satija, who is based in Faridabad, Haryana, has been competing in state and national level competitions for over 12 years. While she admits that she's always been motivated by her sister Divya Satija - an able-bodied swimmer and a national record holder - and her parents and coaches, her self-motivation resonates during our chat with her, as she seamlessly balances out her life between education and sports. Yet at 19, she says she's going with the flow and wherever her career and interests take her, as long as it has something to do with water. "I love how quiet it is when you're in water, and how it feels. You're a different person when you're underwater," she tells us.

Fit for me

Sweta Mantrii, writer, comic and disability inclusion enabler
Mantrii highlights the connection that we often make between fitness and beauty. "Fitness has always been related to body shaming, because that is the usual narrative fed to us." Unsolicited advice in the form of suggestions like "don't add sugar to tea" surfaces under the garb of caring for one's physical health and wellness. But this is uninformed and impractical. Mantrii explains, adding, "It's not easy to find fitness options as a disabled person unless you have the bandwidth physically, mentally, financially, and also adequate support from family and other resources. Secondly, what's worked for one might not work for others." Access to affordable, diet-friendly planned meals, a gym with the right facilities and trainers are not the only barriers; the Pune-based comedian reveals how time-consuming and exhausting it is to navigate spaces structured for the able-bodied, or to reach gyms located above ground floors, and without elevators. "Since it's tough to find a specialised trainer, physiotherapy is my only option."

Unsubscribing to beauty concepts that the world prescribes, and dissociating fitness from losing weight to look good, are steps that the 34-year-old consciously takes. Apart from physiotherapy, she practises meditation and pranayama. "I have also experienced my own unlearning. Fitness is important not because I should fit into people's idea of what good-looking or being fit is, but because that's how I keep the strength alive in my legs."

‘Exercise was a very triggering word for me'

"My dad was in the Indian Navy, and growing up in a ‘forces' household, I was always aware of terms like exercise and fitness. However, as a disabled woman, my body did not fit the traditional understanding of ‘normal', let alone ‘fit'. I remember feeling isolated as a teen when friends spoke about fancy clothes for perfect bodies or getting fit at a gym. Instead, I found that exercise was a very triggering word for me because it was closely linked to memories of seemingly endless, excruciatingly painful hours of physical therapy that I had endured as a child and teenager to even have the limited mobility I do now. I remember doctors telling my parents that it was wise for me to avoid gaining weight because it would mean added pressure on an already weak musculoskeletal system. Although I objectively saw their point, emotionally, I grew to resent even the slightest weight gain and began to monitor food portions.

It was only at the age of 18, when I started using public transport in Mumbai, that I had an epiphany about exercise and fitness. It didn't need to look like the version that able-bodied people go by. I found my own disabled-friendly way to stay active within the limitations of my mobility, such as taking the stairs if banisters are available, walking short distances if roads are not uneven or crowded which is almost as impossible to come by as snow in the city, and even learned to cross the street by myself, but not without a few accidents. I think over the years, although I still struggle to eat without limiting my portions, I have come to a place of some comfort if not complete acceptance of my inability to follow conventional fitness routines."

Candice D'souza, counselling psychologist and teacher