Kamal Ghorui
It is not easy being Karan Shah, but it is certainly worth being him. He seems to live by the famous quote, “He who laughs at himself never runs out of things to laugh at.”Karan Sunil Shah is in his early twenties and has an infectious sense of humour. He lives with Type III Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA), a genetic condition that affects the motor nerves responsible for voluntary muscle movement. His elder brother, who also had SMA, passed away due to cardiac arrest at the age of 14. One can only imagine the trauma Karan and his parents endured. Yet, Karan chose laughter over despair.Karan shares moments of humour and resilience in his instagram posts. Hi Instagram page rollyrollyshah describes him as Comedian, Canine & Feline Behaviourist and a Bharat Prerna Awardee. He once said that when he visited his therapist to sort through his emotions, the therapist advised him to deal with problems step by step-and laughed. As a child, Karan wanted to be a fashion model. Today, when his wheelchair is pushed up a ramp, he laughs and says, “God gave me a permanent ramp.”Recently, one of Karan’s videos went viral, drawing attention to a harsh reality—how poorly people with disabilities are treated in many parts of the country. One day, while returning from work, Karan found that the lift at the Worli metro station was not working. Unfortunately, Worli is one of the few metro stations equipped with a functioning lift, according to Karan and on that fateful day, it was out of order. There was no way for him to access the metro without a wheelchair-accessible lift.
When he tried to seek help from the authorities, he was met with apathy. Karan waited for 45 minutes, repeatedly calling the emergency helpline. When someone finally responded, he was shockingly asked to “go on foot.” On foot? How does one expect a man in a wheelchair to travel from Worli to Dadar? He turned his camera towards the traffic, showing the busy roads—dangerous even for pedestrians, let alone someone navigating them in a wheelchair.“That night, I wasn’t scared because I’m disabled. I was scared because the system failed me at every step. Lifts, helplines, roads, washrooms-everything made me feel disabled. Living in the current century shouldn’t feel this unsafe. Accessibility is not luxury infrastructure. It’s basic human dignity,” he said.With no other option, Karan wheeled himself from Worli to Dadar on a dangerous road filled with traffic. Along the way, he desperately needed to use a washroom, but not a single one was wheelchair-friendly.“While growing up, I enrolled in Shiamak Davar’s dance classes for children with special needs and cancer. Once, Shiamak came home to meet me and told me I needed an angel in my life. Soon after, he gifted me a female Labrador puppy named Angel. Being a dog lover, I was thrilled,” Karan said in .Determined to train Angel himself, Karan not just managed to train her but also went on to became a certified dog behaviourist. .
