Arnold Schwarzenegger, an Austrian-born American Athlete/Bodybuilder is one of the most influential people in my life. His journey through life deeply shaped my understanding of what it means to have a vision. This was at a time when i was coming to terms with the reality of my fading eyes and increased dependence on others to get around with my academics.

Although, as a kid, I just admired his physique, gradually, the more I listened to his own life experiences, the more I took great heart from them.

Arnold states that the most important thing is to first visualize success.

Picture yourself on a podium, a stage or a board room which you have dreamed of reaching and fix a dead line. Visualize the process of how and where you can consciously implement the learnings of an endeavor you have been undertaking by noting the smallest of Victories, successes and failures of your process and repeat them as tools in other endeavors.

Arnold was the first to explicitly talk about the power of visualizing your end goals—the fact that what you ever wished for is in front of you in the flesh. Then, step by step, reverse engineer the process, break down the components and tackle them part by part bit by bit and with great intensity and frequency.

He used the principles of his learnings from bodybuilding into his successful ventures as an Entrepreneur, a Movie Star, a Politician and as a Life Coach inspiring millions of people like me.
His charisma deeply impacted my own fitness journey and helped me set small goals in achieving major success in not only getting in shape, but also in Academics, communication skills as well as helping others too .

For a visually Impaired person [V.I.P] - (Previous blog - V.I.P.) it is hard to imagine a journey of fitness and wellness of health as most of the V.I.P’s rely on the assistance of others to commute and perform various physical activities. These challenges compound greatly into leading them into various health problems later in life such as chronic diseases such as high blood pressure and diabetes due to over weight gain and low mobility. The World Health Organization states that India is home to close to 15 million citizens who are visually challenged and to make it worse India is also the Diabetes capital of the world.

Let's get FIT!

With these concerns in mind, it is time to explore the opportunities of encouraging more PWD’s into sports and other fitness activities However from my own experiences, I can attest that these challenges can be gradually overcome. The opportunities are surely present, but awareness and accessibility need a lot of initiative.

Take the case of superstars such as Devanshi Satija who became India’s youngest para swimmer and won a medal at the 2018 Asian Para Games at Jakarta

Her journey of swimming had been a long and arduous one of over 12 years, with numerous obstacles hindering her way, but today, through her sheer perseverance, she has made our nation proud. Thus, we ought to endeavor to excurvate many more superstars like her by nudging interest and investments from the private sectors and NGO’s to organize and fund programmes to further the cause of sports for the PWDs in every district of the nation. One such event was the Wheelchair Basketball Premier League (WBPL) at Mastan YMCA’s basketball court in Nagpada and YMCA International House in Mumbai Central, helmed by the non-profit organization Project Mumbai which showcased the talent of wheelchair basketball players of the city of Mumbai.

J7 Gyms for PwDs

We must encourage the creation of specially dedicated gyms for the differently abled persons to promote the virtue of equity as demonstrated by Former professional athlete, Javeno Mclean from Manchester in the UK.
Mclean has opened a specially designed gym “J7 '' , a center for the persons suffering from dementia and disabilities. Access to this gym is exclusively for PwDs and has no gym fees. A gesture like this has enabled the PWD’s to find a niche to express and optimize their limited physical capacities, helping them work on their fitness and health goals.

Initiations to work on this aspect of invigorating awareness and encouraging the well-being of the health of the PWD’s can go a long way in

1. Working on the personal health of the PWD’s mental, physical, and emotional.
2. A progressive reduction in the overburdened health infrastructure of India.
3. Discover talents like Devanshi Satija and more to bring more laurels and pride to our country.
4. Break open a new sector of sports that presents business opportunities to investors and helps generate jobs, which can further increase the horizons for the PwDs.

I’d like to conclude this blog by rephrasing what Mr. Schwarzenegger''s repeatedly affirmed: “No one is self-made or independent.". We always require and utilize the help of others in one way or another! That is the fact of life, and it is no shame to ask for help, especially when that help assists you in reaching “Your Vision: Your Goal.”

Author of this article:

Joshua Lobo is a research scholar in the domain of Political science with a Masters Degree from Delhi University. He aspires to be a research enterpreneur in the field of Public Policy, comparative politics and constitutionalism. He is a Person with low vision Disability (90% blindness RodCone distrophe) and is currently an Intern.

He writes about finding inclusive and enabling policy solutions for the marginalized sections of society.