This differently-abled Amritsar professor facilitates ability on wheels

A differently-abled IIM assistant professor from Amritsar is on a mission to transform the lives of the people of her kind by making their daily commute easy and safe.

Dr. Anita Sharma, 36, runs a driving school in Amritsar for differently-abled women of the city.

Known by the name "On my own", the driving school is a medium to attain freedom and independence, according to Anita. Despite suffering from 64 percent disability, Anita is striving hard for women empowerment.

After much contemplation, she retrofitted the car with a lever attached near the steering. This lever controls the movement of brakes and accelerator. Henceforth, the driver gets control of the vehicle right in their hands.

Ajay, one of her trainees who is affected by polio in his right leg, said that he had successfully learned to drive and would soon purchase a car for himself.

Talking about her services, Anita said that so far three people have successfully learned to drive. Anita further said she charges fees for teaching driving as she doesn't want people with disabilities to feel that being differently -abled is a curse

Moreover, all the remuneration that she generates from the driving class goes into the welfare of the differently-abled people itself.

Apart from helping the differently-abled, she also pays special attention to train the elderly women as most of the driving schools' trainers get irritated while training them.

When asked about how she came up with the idea, Anita said that it was during her four years of Ph.D. at IIM Indore when she realised that a lot can be achieved by bringing a monumental change in the mobility-related problems of differently-abled people.