Beautifully-abled await support!

Why is there no acknowledgment to the initiative that has a human touch? It seems to be that deep absorption into modernity and changing lifestyle that has made one’s life busy and we forget to help and encourage our counterparts. 

Vasundara, who herself is a physically challenged woman is seamlessly working hard to reach out and render a platform to many such women to discover and explore their innate abilities. She has been striving hard for years to eliminate the distrust society has on the differently-abled with regards to their ability to work equally with the abled people. 

The urge in her has opened way for many to conquer and achieve their desires. She organised a two-day visually challenge cricket league at Lal Bahadur Stadium along with a beauty contest for the visually challenged in 2014. Now, she is all set to conduct “Miss Ability Beauty Contest - 2018” in Hyderabad, Telangana. The concept behind the contest is to break the stereotype and voice out that physical disability cannot hamper one from being a model. 

She wants to showcase talent of the differently-abled to people, who have been conditioned to think that these women cannot be models. But, it hasn’t been easy for her and has become a herculean task to extract enough funds and sponsorships to launch the contest. 

The far and wide approach of the managers of well-known public figures for branding her humanity-based project gave her dissatisfaction. “I approached many celebrities requesting them to be brand ambassadors for the upcoming contest. Most of their managers showed reluctance after hours of wait,” she shared; on the other hand, the sponsors are only interested in the event if the celebrities are involved. 

To overcome the hurdle, she came up with an idea - to conduct a photo shoot with four differently-abled women interested in modelling. The online display of their pictures has increased the stream of participants but didn’t capture the eye of the sponsors or celebrities.  Speaking about Sudha, one of the participants, Vasundhara related, “Sudha is an actor, who did a small role in the Telugu film, ‘Stalin’. 

She was looked down upon by the filmmakers and was given sympathy evoking characters focusing on her disability. This kind of discrimination has forced her to quit films. Later, she was even rejected as news presenter and for the post of HR Executive in a private sector firm due to her handicap. All her dreams were shattered, and she decided to work for SBI (she cleared the bank exam successfully). 

Speaking on the sidelines, Sudha said, “I have agreed to become a model for the Miss Ability Beauty Contest and endorsed it as it gave me a chance to showcase my attitude. I am expressive, and the shoot gave me opportunity to express my inner beauty as well as my outer beauty with outfit that suits me.”

Vasundara added, “I had an attack of Poliomyelitis at two years of age due to the negligence of the hospital staff. I was given polio vaccination, which was kept open for more than a necessary period of time. My desire to become a successful anchor didn’t take shape. 

I was rejected for not having the looks of a typical TV presenter. Even though my working ability was on par with the other employees, I was constantly discriminated at the various media organisations I had worked with.” This bad experience boosted her to work independently and gave rise to the formation of ‘Weave Media’, especially dedicated to improving skills and job opportunities for the disabled people.

She hopes that with enough publicity for the Miss Ability Beauty Contest across Telangana, there will be sponsorships to successfully lead the event to its end. “I want the sponsors and celebrities along with the common people to understand the proposed concept and pave way to make the event a success,” she reiterated.