From wheelchair to spotlight: Priya Sharma brings nine women on stage
Jaipur: Priya Sharma watched backstage as nine women in wheelchairs waited for their cue. For some, it was the first time travelling alone. For others, the first time on stage without fear. When their names were announced, they rolled out and danced for an audience of over 350 people.
The event was called Astitva 2025. “Astitva” means existence or identity in Hindi.
Priya, from Chhindwara, Madhya Pradesh, knows that shift firsthand. In September 2018, a road accident left her with a spinal cord injury and a wheelchair. She had completed an MCom and PGDCA, and worked in BPO, education and recruitment before the accident. The question “what does life look like now?” stayed with her. Small tasks felt impossible. Silence and self-doubt became part of daily life.
The change came at her sister’s sangeet in 2019. Family insisted she join. Sitting in her wheelchair, she danced. “It was the first time I felt joy after the accident,” Priya said. She wasn’t a professional dancer, but she understood dance as recognition of self.
In 2024, she started Dance With Wheels. It began with 3-4 women on video calls from different states. They talked, shared struggles, and tried basic hand movements together. There was no funding, just a WhatsApp group and weekly sessions Priya often paid for herself. Today, DWW connects over 45 women and girls with disabilities across 16 states. Sessions run on Google Meet and Zoom, covering dance training, fitness, mentoring and story-sharing.
For Astitva 2025, nine DWW members practised for months online. Trainers taught choreography through Google Meet and adapted routines for different mobility levels. In Jaipur, they held their first in-person rehearsals together. Many were on a train for the first time.
On stage that night, one participant told Priya, “Didi, today I forgot I have a disability.”Priya is also a para-athlete representing Rajasthan. She won gold in javelin throw and silver in shot put at the 15th Madhya Pradesh State Para Athletics Championship in 2025. She mentors people with spinal cord injuries at The Ganga Foundation.“Earlier, we would say I am someone with a disability,” Priya said. “Now we say we’re dancers.”
