An Inspiring Feature : Sapna Shah

MUSCLE ATROPHY is defined as a decrease in the mass of the muscle; it can be a partial or complete wasting away of muscle. When a muscle atrophies, this leads to muscle weakness, since the abil- ity to exert force is related to mass.

Muscular atrophy decreases quality of life as the sufferer becomes unable to perform certain tasks or worsen the risks of accidents while performing those (like walking).
By: Sapna Ratilai Shah

My name is SAPNA RATITLAL SHAH.
I am 26 years old. My brother and sister in law stay in the UK while I stay here in Kenya with my parents. I am a lavyer, psychologist and motivational/Inspirational speaker, I am a fashion designer as I love designing new clothes. This was a talent I realized in Form 4 when I started drawing designs during my free hours in order to relax but only recently did I start getting them stitched. I really love animals and have now started advocating for their rights and the cruelty they face. I adopted an elephant baby at David Sheldrick this year called Chemi Chemi, I love playing with him and visiting him whenever I can. My interests including reading, singing, cooking especially when I know I’m going to entertain guests at home because I love trying out new recipes and I love dancing.

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People usually assume in my condition I would not be able to dance but as soon as I hit the dance floor at any club people come and dance with me and I always end up making new friends. People also assume I would not club in my condition but my parents do not put such restrictions on me as they want me to live normally and do every thing possible that I can. My disability is known as Muscular Atrophy and it was from birth but we came to know about it when I was three months old. My parents took me to India and this is where. my condition was diagnosed. The first few years were very difficult for our family be- cause my brother was young and he did not understand why my mum gave me more. attention than him but as he became older he understood why and even helped me reducing my mum’s responsibilities.

My mum also faced a short period of depression when I was born as this was all a shock to her but she came out of it through her positiveness as she realized she has to give me the best. She gave up her commercial Art career to concentrate on making me an independent. lady and today I am proud to say she achieved her goal.

I have a facebook page called My Inspirational Page where I share my experiences and challenges from time to time as well as writing inspiration al quotes. This page is open to everyone. It has been established to inspire people and to show that situation is worth giving up but trying your best to push forward and get through it. Disability has not left me long sitting depressed at home but has left me challenged to overcome the Impossible. When anyone tells me I don’t think you can do this it ignites a spirit in me to prove them wrong. To show them nothing is impossible.

There are obviously things cannot do for example play sports, go for desert safa ris, go bungee jumping, go for balloon safaris but this does not make me feel bad as I have accepted it. When it comes to sports I love going to cheer people even though I cannot play.

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I also did a model photo shoot last year. People would think in my condition model ling is difficult but my friend Bhavin Shah who took the photos made it look so easy and made it look very natural. Showing my disability did not matter even though i was confined to a wheelchair. The hardships I face are what other people would cake for granted for example I am not able to turn my own pages, I cannot turn sides at night when I am asleep without my dad’s help, I cannot lift my hand up fully and at school the teachers used to wonder why I do not put my hand up to answer questions until I told them. At times I stammer while talking, and I type on the keyboard with a ruler: But despite these challenges I am determined to be the best I can.

My inspiration and role model has always been my brother and now my sister in law. Thay are both very hardworking and look at the bigger picture, that is anything they do must benefit society and I have learnt to be just like them. My biggest support are my family and friends (including u guys:) ) who always make me positive and do nat judge me for who I am but instead appreciate my strengths and help me build further on them.

I handle the stigma by believing in my own inner strength, knowing that as long as I am focused no one can stop me, trying to make people aware that disability is not a disease. It is a condition people face and all they need, to get through it, is support, love and acceptance.

There are people who do not accept my condition and make fun of me but after I educate them on the condition they understand. The society has now become much more aware of disability compared to when I was young and they would just not think of me as ‘normal.’

Kenya is slowly becoming aware of disability but I still face hardships for example at the mall when designated parking’s for disabled are given to people who do not face disabilities and most times disabled parking spaces are too small. The reason for such spaces are to make it easier for the people carrying me and not to inconvenience others. Also the pedestrian walks on Kenyan roads are too small for wheelchairs to go through them.

I believe Kenya still needs a lot of awareness on disability issues and challenges we face that is why I always talk about these issues during public speaking debates. I am a part of the APDK Society for disabled. I am trying my best to help disabled children who are younger than me and going to cross all the paths I have, by making things in the future easier for them. This is by talking about our challenges openly; making structural changes in any place I have passed through whether it is schools, universities, shopping malls, hotels, restaurants.

I am currently in the process of writing a book which I hope will inspire society and change people’s perspectives and attitudes towards life.

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My message to disabled persons is you have something special hidden in you let the world know about it and my message to society is acceptance of different people in society leads a greater building of society with different kinds of talents. People with disability do not need judgement or shunning. They need acceptance and support to become independent and believe they are no different from others.

Another message is, absolutely nothing is impossible, set your heart to do something, focus on it, believe what you are doing is right and in some way it will change the world and then go ahead and do it. Belief in your own self is the most important. There are many times people have not believed in me hut. I have always believed in what I do and I always go ahead and grab the opportunity.

For example, doing two degrees in two different universities at the same time, law at Nairobi University and Psychology at USIU, was a challenge due to commuting and managing time but I took it as a challenge to overcome but in 2006, I completed my psychology degree and became very ill and bed ridden for three months. I said no matter what, I had to pick myself up again because my law degree was my dream and I wanted to complete it so I went back in 2008 as I took two years to recover and in 2009 I completed my degree.

I have currently given bar exams at Kenya School of Law. My aspiration is to help society and to change the world. I dream of a future where I will have done my part for whatever I believe in and stand for especially the freedom of animals because they suffer in silence and I am a voice for them.