india athlete deepa malik the first indian female athlete to win a paralympic medal spoke to timesofindiacom about various things including her journey so far her lesser known achievements what she is focusing on next and more in a special two part interviewalso read deepa malik interview part ipart 2 of the interview your most famous achievement of course was winning the 2016 rio paralympics silver medal in shot put that however is only one part of your resume or dossier you are also a swimmer a biker you like adventure sports you have also taken part in the raid de himalaya first person man or woman with disability in the world to do the highest motorable road car rally most people do not know that i have three consecutive asian medals with new asian records in javelin every time i have picked up a medal at the asian games its with a new record i have also just finished my scuba diving certification would it be fair then to say that what excites you the most is that there is no limit to what an individual can do if he or she is determined to do itabsolutely you know i hate this formation of opinion we as a society as part of human nature we become so accustomed to justifying our incapacity by judging others and making opinions to look for an excuse oh she could do it because they dont say she could do it despite apart from being an active sportsperson you are also involved with multiple other initiatives sports initiatives physical education initiatives tell us a little about those and what you are currently working oni am very fortunate that i could influence the policies for disability sports as a member of the 5 year planning commission as appointed by the hrd division of the sports ministry that is something i am doing i am doing a lot of women initiatives definitely inclusive education is something i am really looking at and we promote that i do a lot of stress management sessions in schools and colleges the fit india movement has been formally officially been launched now but the day i set out on my journey of ability beyond disability it was the fit deepa movement in any case and that is promoting the same thing fitness is actually what should be my identity and not being crippled in a wheelchair i do a lot of team leadership and leadership talks with various corporates also majorly i am proud of the work we are doing through our foundation called wheeling happiness in that we are trying to do outreach programmes of disability awareness calling it disability awareness workshops that we are doing we get the social welfare officers the red cross officers the local panchayat heads and various people with disabilities to come together through this we also organise a medical camp where we identify beneficiaries we are very happy that certain