Signs of Change

A decade back,many top designers refused to participate in Italy’s first haute couture fashion show for the disabled. In 2008,BBC Three launched ‘Britian’s Missing Top Model’ a reality show featuring eight disabled models vying for work in mainstream fashion. The prize was a photo shoot in the British Edition of fashion magazine Marie Claire. The only ‘woe’ that the mentor of the show,Jonathan Phang,openly talked about was the industry’s lopsided perception about disabled models.

It is at the receiving end of similar attitudes that Kotecha finds himself today. He doesn’t know the sound of music nor can he hear the audience applauding. At his training session at the Tiara Pageant and Model Training Studio in Pune,he walks the ramp by counting the number of steps. He takes a sharp turn and walks back,his steps perfectly in sync with the music. “A model needn’t even know how to speak when he approaches a designer. But he should be a good communicator,” comments designer Hemant Sagar.

Six months back when Kotecha enrolled to train under Ritika Ramtri at The Tiara,his family was jubilant. “Not many were willing to teach him. They were full of sympathy,but no one really believed in his capability,except Ramtri,” says his mother Malti. But the training has done Kotecha a world of good; he has developed a new confidence that is easy to notice.

Today,as Kotecha prepares for the auditions for the Gladrags Hunt scheduled later this month,the lingering question is how will the industry react to a model who is disabled. Model coordinator Shakun Sethi says,“Why would someone with a disability not be given a chance? If he is good at his work,there should no reason why he can’t succeed in the industry. But,it’s a harsh truth that not many like him have succeeded so far.” Sethi gives the example of models he has trained – two girls from Chandigarh who were speech and hearing impaired; a young man who had an amputated leg; and one Iranian model who,after an accident,got a rod placed in his face. “They walked the ramp,but quietly faded away. It’s a tough journey,but not an impossible one,” he says. Designer Anita Dongre,in her career of more than 15 years,has never come across such a case,but she feels that such individuals must be given special preference. “Every field is taking special measures to accommodate them,so why not fashion? I would love to work with this model. It will only take a little extra patience.”

Ask Kotecha about his preparations and you see a determined mind at work. “I am focusing on building my body right now. I also need to work on my ramp walk and general knowledge,” he explains in sign language.

Kotecha was not born with the impairment. When he was five months old,he suffered from Meningitis. He became hearing impaired because his nerves were affected. “It took us a long time to come to terms with this. His resilience gave us inspiration,” his mother adds. Kotecha smiles and gestures to his mother to not get emotional. For,he knows that the world he has entered has no room for emotions. “Disabled or not,a model should be able to understand the complexities of what happens backstage. I would love to work with someone who can fulfill this criterion,” says Sagar.