In a 'Tilé and Olly Meets' first, we speak with a law student, who happens to be Indian, who happens to have cerebral palsy and who happens to be and do so many other things, some of which he shares about in this fun conversation.
“There’s a difference in seeing a person in action, than seeing a person on a pamphlet” is just one of the many lessons, law student, Kunal Nimkar shares with us in this episode. Kunal Nimkar is a fifth year law and business student at QUT.
Being born with Cerebral Palsy and being a wheelchair user from a young age, Kunal felt like he was always stuck between two worlds. Even though he does everything a normal person does, it has felt like there is a pane of glass between him and my peers. A pane of glass that he feels he is yet to break through.
Growing up, Kunal tells us that he was always told that people with disabilities needed to be “inspirational” and “amazing”, something that he still does not necessarily agree with. He tells us that as a child, he just wanted to be “normal”, with a respectable 9 to 5 and a family of his own. While this dream of his is still largely the same as he grows older, he has also realised that he wants to be an example to others with a disability, that a “normal” life is still achievable despite the adversities that we may face.
Beyond my academic endeavours, he trains in swimming and in the gym daily, in order to minimise the effects of his Cerebral Palsy as he ages. Digressions in this episode include reference to the Diverse Abilities Network, being made to play dodgeball in primary school and Scottish Fold cats.
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