E164 | Dignity by Design | Change Makers – Soumita Basu

Change rarely waits for permission, and Soumita Basu didn’t either. After losing most of her mobility, she refused to hand over her identity to illness and instead asked one practical question each day: What can I still do? That mindset led her to keep dancing while seated, confront the hidden labor of caregiving, and build an adaptive clothing company that designs for real bodies, real pain points, and real life in India’s climate and culture.

We trace her path from a gradual loss of movement to a surprising recovery the medical system didn’t expect, and we challenge the idea that “strength” means silence. Somita shares how a near-death night reframed her priorities, why asking for help is a design skill, and how inclusion starts with rethinking defaults: street lighting that keeps women safe, bus systems usable without literacy, and restrooms that respect different needs. When clothing becomes easier to put on—especially when the range of motion is limited—dignity increases, pain decreases, and caregivers regain time and energy. That’s design as care, not charity.

Entrepreneurship with a disability forced new processes. Standard advice assumed step-free access, endless stamina, and quick sourcing runs—none of which applied. Somita responded by reinventing workflows, co-creating with users to refine closures and cuts, and starting small when funding was tight after medical expenses. Along the way, she tested yoga, meditation, Ayurveda, pranic healing, and conventional medicine, not as dogma but as experiments measured by function and relief. The takeaway is clear: uncertainty isn’t an ending; it’s an invitation to iterate responsibly.

You’ll walk away with grounded prompts you can use today: end the day asking if you’d accept it as your last, do what you can with what you have where you are, and measure your 100 percent against today’s reality. If you’re a manufacturer or distributor who believes clothing should serve everybody, reach out—we’re building this together. Subscribe, share this with someone who needs adaptive design, and leave a review with one mindset you’re ready to redesign.