GUJARAT: SOME lives begin with struggle. Some lives become a struggle. And some lives, like Dhwani Patel’s, turn struggle into strength quietly, relentlessly, and with unbreakable courage.
Born in Ahmedabad in 1990, Dhwani Pravinbhai Patel entered the world in a precarious state. She is 100 per cent deaf and mute. Fate tested her even before she could take her first breath properly.
The New Indian Express reports that Just three days after her birth, severe jaundice spread into her blood, forcing doctors to perform two emergency blood transfusions. The warning was stark: if blood failed to reach certain parts of her body, those parts would stop responding. That fear soon became real. Her eardrums weakened, her balance failed, and the world around her fell silent.
What medicine could not promise, her parents delivered through determination. Her father, an electrician, and her mother, a devoted homemaker, refused to surrender to despair.
Physiotherapy sessions helped her learn to sit and walk. Speech therapy helped her find ways to express herself. Endless home exercises strengthened her body. Above all, her parents held an unshakable belief that Dhwani deserved a normal place in a normal world.
Dhwani was educated in a mainstream school, where she studied up to Class 10. She later enrolled for a Diploma in Computer Studies at Gulls Polytechnic. But society, she says, was not ready to walk alongside her. Laughter replaced friendship. Mockery replaced encouragement. Isolation replaced hope. The pressure eventually forced her to step away from formal education, though not from learning itself.
Her turning point came in the form of a small private computer class near her home. There, acceptance replaced judgment, and confidence slowly replaced fear. Dhwani immersed herself in computers, learning Paint, WordPad, Notepad, MS Office, DTP, and typing. In her free time, she began helping the instructor. Her dedication spoke louder than words. By 2015, she was no longer a student; she became an assistant.
Today, Dhwani manages bank-related work, administrative responsibilities and job assignments, while continuing to grow professionally. Alongside this, her creativity found new wings.
From photo frames and gift packaging to paper quilling and Aarti decorations, she crafts beauty with her hands and sells hope through her work. Even when life still throws cruelty her way, when people mock her in public and anger weighs heavily, she chooses purpose over pain.
“Sometimes life feels like a burden,” Dhwani says. “But every time I feel broken, I remind myself how far I have come. I was born into silence, but my life has meaning. I may not speak, but my work speaks for me. I may not hear applause, but my heart hears purpose.”
In 2015, her determination and social spirit earned her the Guardian Angel Award from the Vishal Win Foundation. Three years later, she broke barriers on the cultural stage by winning First Prize in the Best Garba competition, competing alongside Divyang and non-Divyang participants and proving that talent transcends physical limitations.
Her contribution during the pandemic was formally acknowledged in 2021 with the Corona Appreciation Award from the Akhil Hindustani Disabled Organisation.
In the same year, her creative excellence earned her national recognition when she received the Diya International Winner Award from Matrubharti and the Rotary Club.
Most recently, in 2025, her artistic expression earned her a Participation Certificate at a State-level Painting Competition organised by the Rotary Club, while her consistent creative skills also won her First Prize in Aarti Decoration.
Parallel to these honours, she completed her SSC examination from the Gujarat Board in 2011, followed by professional training in DTP, CCC and Tally ERP-9, securing A and A+ grades. She strengthened her credentials by completing Computer Accounts with Tally under the Government of India’s MSME programme. In 2018, she expanded her skill set by completing a Beauty Parlour course.
Beyond recognition, Dhwani’s life is defined by service. From orphanages and old-age homes to disability awareness rallies, Diwali exhibitions, Raksha Bandhan celebrations, disaster tributes, women’s empowerment bike rallies, Para Kabaddi events, and tree-planting drives, she volunteers wherever humanity calls.
Her dream remains clear and unwavering. “I want to grow in computers. I want to serve society, especially people like me,” she says. “I want to work for the disabled, serve food when needed, support old age homes, and stand beside those who feel invisible. My inspiration is Amita Madam, who serves tirelessly. I want to become like her — self-reliant, useful, and free.”
Dhwani Patel does not ask for sympathy. She does not wait for acceptance; she creates space.
This story is reported by Dilip Singh Kshatriya of The New Indian Express.