Meet the physically-challenged models making waves in Kerala

How Paathu Fathima and Remya Ganesh, physically challenged models from Kerala, became poster girls for many this International Day of Disabled Persons
Paathu Fathima
Paathu Fathima

When inspiration is in short supply, we need strong women like Paathu Fathima and Remya Ganesh to infuse us with the never-give-up spirit. The International Day of Disabled Persons on December 3 brought back the focus on these spirited women from Kerala. Fathima, an amputee, and wheelchair-bound Remya have been making headlines with their modelling projects and fashion shows of late on social media. 

The prosthetic leg attached to her right knee causes pain every night, but the 20-year-old Fathima loves to stun everyone with her ramp walk at several prolific fashion shows in Kerala and beyond. The title winner of the Asia Fashion Award 2021, organised by IFW (International Fashion Week) Goa, recently created a buzz after her inspiring photoshoot as an angel in the backdrop of a beach. The pictures shot by photographer Athira Joy had made Fathima conquer the hearts of many and become a symbol of motivation for people like her. Fathima is excited to complete more than 20 photoshoots since her modelling debut in 2019. The village girl from Kollam district says her life is an inspiration for many girls. “Not just disabled women, but those who have faced body-shaming for their complexion, body shape or have been discriminated based on their caste have told me that I inspire them,” she claims. Fathima says the abuses and taunts she received as a child from friends and extended family steeled her resolve to stand up on her feet, literally.


The poor growth of her right leg made Fathima suffer both mentally and physically in her life. However, her family, including her mother, grandmother and sister, encouraged her to get a prosthetic leg in place of the infected leg when she was 17. Three months after the surgery, Fathima was able to get her mojo back and started exploring her acting skills through TikTok videos and through social media reels. “I am most comfortable wearing shorts, but those around me said mean things for dressing that way. They felt that putting on makeup and dressing up flamboyantly would get me the wrong kind of attention.

Remya Ganesh
However, I was determined to come out of my shell and signed up for a fashion show organised by a college in Kollam in 2019. The students were so supportive that they made me the showstopper of the event. This helped me meet Anshad Aziz of Emirates Modeling Company who gave me wings to fly in modelling.”  Fathima visited a beach for the first time in her life after getting the prosthetic leg. “After seeing my photoshoots on beaches, many disabled people confessed that they also were longing to visit a beach. I can totally understand that desire. With the remuneration I receive from modelling projects, I wish to start a NGO that fulfills dreams like these,” adds Fathima, who wishes to be an actor.

Meanwhile, in Kozhikode, the 32-year-old wheelchair-bound Remya Ganesh inspires us in her own style. She became ‘Kerala’s first wheelchair model’ after taking part in the three-day carnival named ‘Curious’ hosted by the Institute of Palliative Medicine Kozhikode in 2019. And then there was no looking back—she is now busy from posing for Malayalam magazine as the cover girl to modelling for fashion boutiques. “I wanted to break the stereotypes about beauty. I want to show that it is possible for people like us to do modelling also and break the body figure concepts of it.”

Remya was nine-months-old when she fell sick with a high fever as a side effect of the polio vaccination. The fever slowly affected her body, especially her legs making it difficult to walk. Her childhood was confined to the four walls of her house and on the four wheels. When she was 14, her family enrolled her into Nadakkavu Government Girls Higher Secondary School, Kozhikode. Her father’s death the same year affected her deeply and she failed the SSLC examination. But life changed when her mother enrolled her in a three-month computer and personality development course organised by Dr Reddy’s Foundation in Nadakkavu. 

“The mentors in the foundation, including Sukhadev, Sandeep KM, Narayanan, Jaffy and Rajesh, helped me understand my goals in life. I started my affair with books and writing poems. I scored good grades in the SSLC examination and was the first person in Kerala to achieve it through Saksharatha Mission,” adds Remya who is currently pursuing her Bachelor’s Degree in Malayalam at Malabar Christian College, Kozhikode.

What’s her goal? “To make the world aware of multi-talented disabled individuals. Also, it is my dream to help the children with intellectual impairment,” concludes the girl whose motto is ‘to be confident in the fight to achieve dreams’. And ability isn’t in short supply.

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