Divya Sharma: The Karate Kid

Brut India

Never mind her visual impairment. All that stands between 27-year-old Divya Sharma and a black belt is a karate coach.

Transcript

00:00It should be a speed, so in that, both the legs have to move from the back, lift them up and kick them down, roll them down.

00:09You have to bring your legs all the way from both sides of their shoulders and push them back.

00:14You have to bring your legs all the way from both sides of their shoulders and push them back.

00:29People can see who is coming from how far and who is going to attack them.

00:34But we can only defend ourselves when someone touches us.

00:37We can only defend ourselves when someone grabs us.

00:39There is no such thing as a lack of strength.

00:46In Karate, there are blocks.

00:49You have to bring the block up and the weapon will stop.

00:56After that, you can kick them.

00:59This will ruin their balance and you will get time to run.

01:10I underwent around six surgeries by the age of six.

01:15They could save just 20% vision in my left eye.

01:19I have no vision left in my right eye.

01:32My sister and I were twins.

01:34We are twins, so we are in the same class.

01:38By the age of eight, I used to go to school in which my mother was a teacher.

01:43Since my sister Kavya was with me, she used to assist me throughout.

01:48It was a normal school.

01:50I believe that it helped me nurture my personality as a whole.

01:56Till the age of eight, I was giving all the exams verbally.

02:00Teachers used to ask me all the chapters and all the exams verbally.

02:03I used to pass and get graded to the next class.

02:08By the age of eight, they told me that they didn't know how to deal with such students.

02:14So, they told me to leave.

02:15By the age of eight, I was not aware of anything.

02:19The facilities were not good.

02:21Since I live in a small city, there has never been much information about disability and accessibility.

02:29So, it came as a shock to me.

02:31I was thinking, my sister, my brother and my friends are going to school.

02:35Why can't I?

03:00If I won't do anything for me, then nobody is going to do anything for me.

03:09Since my childhood, my mobility has not been good.

03:15I used to roam around with my sister and my parents.

03:19Being a visually impaired family, people are also more protective about you.

03:23Being a woman, it gets even more difficult sometimes.

03:26Nobody can be with me always.

03:29So, I have to ensure that if anybody comes to me, if I'm stuck in any unfortunate situation, I can cope up with this.

03:37So, karate has been a need, a necessity and a passion.

03:57So, after that, I have been working on my strength skills at home.

04:01Every day, I do workout.

04:26I don't feel shy in spreading the word because sometimes people don't talk about their disabilities.

04:50They hush us that this is not right.

04:53People think that we can just do knitting or music and all.

04:58That is not the truth.

05:00We can be in any line.

05:01When I got 80% marks in 10th, my neighbor told me that,

05:05Thank God, she at least passed.

05:09So, this is the mentality of the society.

05:12I'm working on the mindsets now.

05:23Those techniques further are something that my coach will teach whenever I get my next coach.

05:33But till then, I can practice what I have learned so far.

05:37And I can just work on my strength because strength is something that will always be needed.

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