Being a physically disabled woman is not a choice, it’s a challenge which all women like me have to overcome. So, with this I want to share my story, and the challenges I faced and how I have overcome them.

Hello! My name is Rosalinee Chaudhury, born on 26th September 1995 at Bolangir district of Odisha. Normally, a child takes 10 months to walk but I started walking at the age of 1 year by taking support of a chair and when I took my first step, my father noticed that I was walking with my body bent. He immediately took me to the hospital and there doctor declared, “She is having bone cancer”. The treatment started for bone cancer but no improvement in my body was noticed. Then, my father took me to another doctor, where the doctor said “She is having Cerebral Palsy, not bone cancer”. My parents started the required orthopaedic treatment and I slowly started to recover and only leg remained bent.
As I grew up, people would pour their comments and queries on my parent,“how would you manage with her? She is disabled. She is a burden on you. How is she is going to study? “

In spite of all those comments, my father enrolled me in a play school and I started to learn many things. My parents tell me that at the age of 5 years, I would keenly dance on Hrithik Roshan’s song. My disability did not stop my mother from enrolling me in a dance school where I learned Sambulpuri dance. Gradually I started developing further interest in dance.

While studying at Mother’s Public School in Bhubaneswar, I took my first step towards success. I was nominated along with nine other participants for an award by the Chief Minister of Odisha. I got award from Governor of Odisha Shri MurlidharChandrakanta Bandare and from Chief Minister of Odisha Shri Naveen Pattanaik in the field of dance. After getting the award, I was interviewed by different media channels, newspapers, and documentary films on me were also made. Since then, I never looked back. However, due to pressure of studies I couldn’t practice dance the way I wanted. But having supportive and amazing cousins and friends during my whole career, helped me start my own YouTube channel.

I want to tell the people who questioned my capability, “Today I am a postgraduate student with a job at Inter finet Technology under Tata steel mining Ltd, along with that, I am an entrepreneur and YouTuber.” The only and probably the biggest barrier however, I still face is the “mind-set of society about me and other women with disabilities.”The stereo typical thought, “You are a woman with disability and a Government job under the disability quota would be ideal for you”, bothers me a lot. I believe the ideology of society towards women with disability is very narrow. It is limited to having a government job, have a life partner, and keep earningto be loved or be respected by in-laws or husband. My question is, “Why can’t I pursue what I wish! Why women with disabilities like me, don’t have much choices in currier?” Women with disabilities are successful without having a government job as well. One of the examples is, SudhaChandharn, an actress and a Bharatanatayam dancer. I believe for a woman with disability to be successful in life and to achieve her dreams, she needs to ignore all these society’s notions and continue towards working her goals. However, we also need a support structure that we severely lack to help us meet our dreams.Though I have a good job, my passion still lies in dancing which I want to take up as a currier as well. My next dream is to get an award from President of India.