Making the Indian Railways more disabled-friendly Virali Modi, 27, Disability rights activist IMG-20181226-WA0007 In 2008, Virali Modi, who uses a wheelchair, was molested by two porters at a Mumbai railway station as they carried her onto the train. "When we got inside the compartment, the man holding my upper body wrapped his arms around my chest and started touching and groping me," recalls Modi, adding that there was "pin drop silence" from fellow commuters, who witnessed the abuse. "I didn't say anything because I was scared they would drop me on the floor," she adds. Modi, who lives between Mumbai and Kansas City, was so worried about being "slut shamed" that she endured the same abuse on two other occasions without raising her voice. However, these incidents impressed on her the need for railway stations to be made more accessible. So, in 2017, she started #MyTrainToo, an online petition, which has garnered over 2,33,000 signatures to date. Her campaign caught the attention of a railway official in Kerala, who embraced the cause. Currently, six stations in Kerala have been fitted with portable ramps and narrow, aisle-size wheelchairs. Modi, 27, became paralysed in 2006 in the US after numerous lumbar punctures were performed in an effort to diagnose what she believes was a bout of malaria. After waking up from a 23-day coma to find herself paralysed from the neck down, Modi spiralled into depression, even attempting suicide twice, because she was shunned by friends and family. "My distant relatives discouraged their children from hanging out with me by saying, 'Don't hang out with Virali or you will also become disabled,'" she recalls. "So, I have faced that 'contagious wali' mindset." Modi, who was runner up in a Ms. Wheelchair pageant, would like to pursue a career as a model and actress but has found it difficult to break into the field because of her disability. So for now, she is focusing on the campaign #RampMyRestaurant, which aims to make eateries more accessible. "I hope to create more awareness and acceptance," says Modi. "I want visibility for those with disabilities in mainstream media, social and corporate spaces." - Nergish Sunavala
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