Deepa Malik is an athlete and adventure sportsperson. Earlier this year, she became the first Indian woman to win a medal at the Paralympics, in Rio. Malik won the silver in the shot put event. In 1999, Malik was paralysed below the chest following an accident, and has since been using a wheelchair. She has previously won various medals, awards and accolades for sports such as swimming, javelin and discus throw, and has set records with her motor sports and swimming feats. In 2012, she received the Arjuna award, a prize given by the sports ministry for outstanding achievements in sports at the national level.
On 26 September 2016, Basit Malik, an intern at The Caravan, interviewed Deepa Malik at her Gurgaon residence, and their conversation later continued over phone and email. They discussed her experience at Rio, how she obtained funding for her sporting career, the discrimination often faced by sportspersons with disabilities, and the lack of sensitisation to the issue in Indian society. The athlete spoke about a recent incident concerning lack of access for wheelchairs at airports, her campaign to get more persons with disabilities opportunities to be able to drive, and how, with her sporting achievements, she aims to challenge the stereotypes surrounding disability.
Basit Malik: What is the one question from the media that you don't like?
Deepa Malik: That how I am feeling after winning the medal.
BM:You don’t like that question?
DM: Because everybody knows what the feeling would be like. All your life you strive for that medal, that is a dream come true and that is the biggest gift you can give back to your country. So, it’s a very obvious thing that how somebody must be feeling.
BM: Does it feel better than winning a medal?
DM: Definitely, yes! Because my medals or my journey or my winning records or doing crazy stuff has all been aimed at only one thing, trying to change the stereotype theory that the physically challenged people are dependent, or not happy, or not worth investing in.
BM: In an earlier interview, you said disability brought “your life into focus.” What do you mean by that?
DM: What was missing was a feeling of giving back, or adding value to society, by my being in it. It was a very individual journey; it was a very regular journey.
BM: What do you mean by regular journey?
DM: Regular journey as in you are a person, you get married, you have a household, you work for your home, you work for your children and you work hard though, as a house-wife.
That was me initially; I had a very limited contribution, or a give-back factor in my life. Mainly because what I was doing was for myself—it was limited to my family, my children and my husband. There was nothing really larger than life that I was doing.
BM: Do you think your economic situation affected how you experienced your disability? Take a differently abled person who was not from the economic background that you are. Do you think you were able to do things such a person would not be able to do?
DM: No, but you'll be surprised that whatever I did, I have not used family money at all.
BM: What have you used?
DM: I raised [the money]. I took loans for my restaurant business and I returned it in due course, and what I earned through my restaurant is what I used for my initial sports participation. When the journey got little more serious and more expensive I did various activities such as biking, for which again, I raised corporate funds. I did one thing and created a base for the other thing. As far as my [sports car] rallies are concerned it’s again either with the help of friends, or getting some concession or raising funds through some corporate or the other. It was a lot of struggle. When it came to sports, to sustain myself, I started motivational speaking to raise funds. Then, I stood up and I fought for the policies.
BM: Which policies?
DM: The sports policies.
BM: What were the sports policies?
DM: The at-par treatment of physically challenged people in terms of job opportunities, cash awards, and the other perks that the government has to offer. I was member of the five-year planning commission.
BM: What was the five-year planning commission for?
DM: [It was] the working group as designated by the HRD [Human Resource Development] division of sports or upgradation of policies, from 2012 to 2017.
BM: What were some of the changes the commission introduced?
DM: We were included in the job opportunities. What we deserve is what a regular, able-bodied sports person deserves. So I also battled for my government job, because I hail from Haryana, and Haryana had declared government jobs in lieu of the medals.
BM: Which medals are you referring to?
DM: Any medals. We have very clear system of registered games. For example, the Asian games, the Commonwealth games, the Olympics, the World Championship, and the Asian Championship—these are the five things that make you eligible for any points or any consideration for a job. So gradually, the cash started coming in with the medals I was winning. The house that you are sitting in, any part, any particle of this house has been bought through my earnings, and I’m very proud of the fact that I haven’t used a single rupee from the family earnings. So it would be wrong to say that I was able to do what I did because of my financial background.
BM: In an interview, you said that being a woman and also being differently abled is double the challenge.
DM: It is double the challenge because when a woman wants to stand up and say she wants to be a biker and wants to create a record, that itself has its own challenges. People hardly have faith that a woman can do that. All the things I have undertaken are pretty challenging. I wanted to swim across the Yamuna—a flowing river and against the current.
As luck would have it, it rained that day and water was double in volume and twice the speed and there was a lot of mud in it, because it was one of the first rains. So, it is a challenge firstly, that you are a woman, and secondly a differently abled woman in a society which is not sensitised, which is not that accepting. If it were accepting, then my country would have been accessible. Any new building or any corner of any place would be accessible.
BM: Are you fighting for that? How?
DM: I am. In the capacity of an advocator. Wherever I go, I try to bring up these issues. Like I’m talking to you and I hope and I sincerely request that you must highlight these points, because I’m repeatedly thinking about it in whatever capacity wherever I am. I try to sensitise people and create ramps [in buildings, for access via wheelchair].
BM: Your daughter told me about someone you sponsored and tried to help get into the 2014 Para-Asian Games.
DM: So we had a visually impaired child qualify, it’s very hard to get classified. And to get classified you need to be classified by the international Paralympic committee.
BM: Classified in what terms?
DM: In terms of your disability— you have to get authenticated for the category of disability. [You] are given a license to play [in the games], but only when you are classified. You could have any amount of talent, but if you do not have a medical license and a disability as designated and checked by the international Paralympic committee, you cannot participate. You have to be clear about your class, and only then you can look at the minimum qualification standards.
So [for the visually impaired child], we contributed towards his international participation in the beginning and [towards] some kind of funding for him to train. We supported his coach.
BM: How do you obtain funds for these initiatives?
DM: Either we crowd-fund or host my motivational sessions. People come and donate to the foundation [Wheeling Happiness, an organisation headed by Malik that works to provide resources and aid to differently abled persons]. Sometimes, I give my earnings.
BM: After the win, have you heard from the state governments, such as that of Maharashtra?
DM: I heard they’re going to give something like the Maharashtra Krida Puraskar [an award given by the state government to recognise sporting achievement]. Various state governments have honored the able-bodied Rio medalists and I shall accept their invitations only if they are respecting my Rio Paralympics medal and hard work at par with the Rio Olympic medals.
BM: In your career, you’ve often shifted from one sport to another. How do you look at these transitions?
DM: Biking definitely is my first love and honestly, I started training and swimming in quest of being a biker again. That will always be my first love. I was in love with wheels and I felt that driving gives me that freedom—that feeling of being able to control my movement. It increases my reach and then I slowly felt that probably driving is definitely a solution to battle the public transport challenges.
BM: You have already fought to be able to drive your car.
DM: Yes. I could drive with a certain gadget in my car. I was able to drive and I went for a registration of my vehicle and my license because I was driving very comfortably. But they did not have a method of registering my car, or giving me a license. It was a vicious circle— first I had to register my car and then on the car number, they have to give me the license. So the process was a little complicated because The Motor Vehicle Act [covers] cars manufactured to suit the disability of a person. But no car was being manufactured for us, and when you customise it, it becomes a modified car.
They say now you get ARAI [Automotive Research Association of India] certification for this car. When I go to ARAI, they say we don’t test a car or a customisation, [they said] we test a prototype, and the cost of a prototype testing is Rs 10 lakh and [will take] 6 months.
BM: Did you do that?
DM: I said, if I buy a car worth [Rs] 4 lakh then I have to give it to you for testing for [Rs] 10 lakh. So that was my protest.
BM: How did you resolve it?
DM: I wrote to the state government, and they passed on my [issue] to the central government and the transport ministry. And then [there was] the whole process of filing and this and that, but at the end of the day it was accepted and I got a license. I realised that a lot of people are taking shortcuts for registering their vehicles or were not registering their vehicles and had Invalid Carriages [the term used officially to refer to cars being used by persons with disabilities], or were just getting a false license made. But if you do that you get into issues of insurance and legal hassles. For example, if you have an accident, then insurance people can easily get away with saying, you were invalid, how are you traveling, or you put this gadget in your car, how are you using it? I wanted to clarify these loopholes. Finally, when I got it, I had to then do something to make sure that people heard about it. I went ahead and I did rallies so that when people hear of me driving, more and more people would come forward and ask for their right.
BM: Have you helped other people with this?
DM: There are 40–50 of them, and seven or eight in Delhi.
BM: How did you help them?
DM: By guiding them on how to drive or by counselling them, by letting them come and have an experience on my car. Also to tell them where to get the gadget and how to fit it, how to get it registered and where to get it registered—that kind of guidance. The biggest loophole here is that first you have to have a vehicle, and then you get the license. But somebody, who suddenly got paralysed, or somebody got disability, and was not born disabled, like I was—how does that person build the confidence to drive again? I never knew I could swim in this new body. I had to first try it out. Similarly, I have lot of issues: I have issues with my neck not rotating at times, and initially I used to have challenges of mirror imaging. When I look into the mirror, I see the reverse image of it. So, I wasn’t sure I would be able to drive. So, does that mean that I first buy a car for Rs 5 lakh, try it and if I am not able to do it, then what? We do need learning centers, somewhere people with new disabilities can come and at least try, learn, and then invest. For example, everybody has financial challenges, and it becomes an issue for a person who is not that well-off.
There was this girl by the name of Usha, here, in Delhi. She was in a contractual job with an organisation, and she was dependent on a driver to get to the job. Sometimes, she was earning around Rs 25,000 [a month], but she was not getting a driver below Rs 12, 000 or 14,000 per month, and in that also driver would vanish once in awhile, or would not come for two days. In those two days, she did not have any way to reach the office. Because of this lack of punctuality, and lack of confidence of employers in her, she was not getting a permanent job.
I asked her, she said, “Deepa ma’am, mera yeh problem hai. Aap gadhi kaise chalate ho?” [Deepa ma’am, this is my issue. How do you drive a car?] I said, you come home, I will teach you. So, she came home, she took driving lessons from me, she gained that confidence, and then we helped her get her vehicle registered.
BM: Is it difficult for a differently abled person to get a license?
DM: Not anymore—at least not in Delhi registrations. My experience has either been in Maharashtra or Delhi. In Delhi, they have sorted it out—the only thing is that there is lack of knowledge even with the dealers, because the rules say that the vehicle gets registered and then gets out of the showroom. We try to tell them, on temporary registrations [that] please don't get [them] because our car will first get registered as an “invalid carriage,” where we get exemption of registration tax. The showroom people don't even know about it. That is why they insist you first get registered and then you want to do what you want to do with it—nobody even understands that there is something called Invalid Car registration, and invalid car registration has a different line only, the alphabet is different it is 1D—[the license plate number] DL1D means physically challenged vehicles. There are certain perks given by the government, but awareness is not there.
BM: Did you see any difference between the crowds at the Olympics versus the Paralympics? Were there less people watching the latter?
DM: Initially, yes, but it eventually catches on, and we saw a lot of crowd, at least the opening and the closing were jam-packed. [According to the] local news and the feedback of the volunteers was that there were more people watching Paralympics, and the crowd cheering was much more than the crowd cheering [for Olympians], and that a point came where the crowd was not cheering for a country, it was cheering for the way an athlete was performing. For example, there were the loudest cheers for Mariyappan [Thangavelu, who won the gold at in the men’s high jump at the 2016 Paralympics], there were huge cheers for me when I was throwing.
BM: How did that feel? Was it better than the feeling of winning a medal?DM: That makes you feel, actually, like an international sports star. Medal is special, no doubt, but definitely this makes it a wholesome experience. This whole journey of winning this Paralympic medal this time has had a very complete feeling to it, right from being funded as an athlete.
BM: Who funded you?
DM: Target Olympic Podium. [A central government scheme that aimed to identify and support potential medal winners for the 2016 and 2020 games.]
BM: Is there disproportion between Olympians and Paralympians with respect to the funding they receive from TOP?
DM: That is basically by virtue of your world ranking. That is how we get shortlisted.
[There is no discrimination] right from the funding to wearing an identical outfit, because our kit and the kit of the able-bodied was identical.
BM: In Rio?
DM: Yes.
BM: It was not like that earlier?
DM: Not unless we were in the Commonwealth Games.
BM: These were the same in commonwealth games?
DM: It was the same because it was an integrated sport. We were a part of the same opening ceremony. We played in the same arena. But then just three or four categories play. It is not a full-fledged Para participation. It is just a symbolic participation for encouraging Para sports.
BM: Why didn’t you participate in the previous Paralympics?
DM: That time it would have just been a representation—I was nowhere close to a medal, let me be very honest. But, I missed it because of lack of participation on the women front.
BM: What do you mean by that?
DM: Our selection is even more difficult than the abled bodied. [Among] able-bodied [athletes], those who qualify, go. In our case, you can qualify, train for the whole year, and then there is a quota allocation that comes to the country. Qouta allocation is mostly for three people, [and if] there were enough women qualifying to receive a quota for women. I individually cannot do anything unless there are [at least] three females who are qualifying.
[This year] three had qualified from India, and then seat came. And then you had to be the best among the three within the home ground—then you can think of Paralympics. So, I had to beat the other two girls, who were twenty years younger, this time around.
BM: The sports minister Vijay Goel recently announced that medal-winning Paralympic athletes will be eligible for the Khel Ratna, which they were not before, unlike Olympic medal-winners. Why was this issue not raised before?
DM: I think that is where I blame and thank media (laughs). Probably you guys were not talking about it so aggressively earlier, now you are with us, and talking about it. So, a wave of awareness has been spread.
BM:It was recently reported that you faced some trouble during a flight, and that the staff of an airline was rude to you, or that it was difficult for wheelchairs to access the plane. Could you talk about this issue in general?
DM: I think general can be summarised as lack of sensitisation, and [lack of] acceptance of mobility of people with disabilities.
BM: Is there an issue with airports when it comes to the differently abled?
DM: I don't think we can pin point just the airports, like [a few days ago] that incident happened—his prosthetics were removed [On Sunday, the para-athlete Aditya Mehta was forced to remove his prosthetic leg at the Bengaluru Airport]. So, it is general awareness.
He is a national cyclist, he wears an artificial leg, they asked him to remove his leg and it was all packed—and it is very difficult. Even CISF [Central Industrial Security Force] and security forces are not [made to do so]. It is time we upgrade our knowledge, and it is time we upgrade our security system also. When we travel abroad, we don’t have to get off our wheelchairs or get out of our prosthetics, they have devised different methods to do the security check. I say security is mandatory; it is compulsory. So, I guess we will have to start upgrading our mind first.
The interview has been edited and condensed.