Chennai: Donning a black and white dress and moving across in a wheelchair, Pavithra Jayshankar, a resident of Chitlapakkam and a polio survivor took everyone by surprise by being part of the Guinness World Record Attempt of doing ramp walk for 48 hours. The multi-faceted person runs her own YouTube channel called justbelieve, where she up loads videos about adaptive clothing and her lifestyle.
In an interview with Tambaram Talk in view of International Women’s Day, the model recalls how she felt nervous like anybody else, while doing the ramp walk for designer Shalini, who introduced her to adaptive clothing. I have always had passion for modelling. We did a show at The Confluence, ECR on 23 December, 2018. It was a surreal moment for me and I enjoyed doing it, she adds.
While talking about adaptive clothing, she says, it is all about making us feel more comfortable in an attire. My designer makes saree in the form of a gown. It is easier for us to wear that way. Many people don’t know about this, so I use my YouTube channel to spread awareness about it. Her YouTube video contents also deals with retrofitting car according to each others needs and driving a car irrespective of their physical challenges.
Pavithra briefs how adaptive cooking has made her day-to-day activities even simpler. She has uploaded videos of her cooking on the floor to let others know about easy cooking methods. Speaking about her struggles, the post polio survivor says, It was really horrible. I had to face a lot from my childhood but I didn’t realise much about my physical challenge until I became a mother. Being a differently abled person, bringing up a child and also focusing on your career is the real challenge.
She mentions about how the city’s accessibility is giving a hard time for her even though her family is supportive in all of her ventures. We have a wheelchair but we don’t have proper ramp or platforms for us to move around. Many theatres and shopping malls don’t have a disabled-friendly restroom,she claims.
Other than modelling, she also tries to do her bit for the welfare of differently abled. She and other members from the
Tamilnadu District Network, a social activist group have petitioned and made officials to place temporary wooden ramps at the Elliott’s Beach, Besant Nagar for specially abled people to reach the beach.
The fashion model hopes that other specially abled people, especially women get inspired by her videos and start to push themselves to do what they are passionate about.