A NI TikToker and disability-rights activist has achieved amazing success over the past year while inspiring the younger generation.
India Sasha, 22, has a rare congenital hand defect called Symbrachydactyly and began to take the internet by storm back in 2020 to help change the way the world sees disabilities. She now has over 490K followers on TikTok along with a massive 26.8M likes on her videos.
India, who has just finished her business degree, said when she was younger, she never saw anyone on the red carpet with a limb disability like her - but she has now becoming 'that girl'.
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The Belfast woman hopes to inspire the younger generation and make a positive difference.
She told Be : "I'm continuing on after my degree just doing what I'm doing - which is quite a vast array of many things - all with the collective goal of trying to achieve something in changing the world for the better for people who are born with disabilities and in particular visible disabilities. Young girls very much especially, sort of like myself, the way I was growing up.
"Whenever I was in primary school, that's when things started to become obvious to me that I was different. As I got older and with social media, it became all the more obvious that I was different and I don't think there was any foundation to equip me to be able to cope with that on my own, with not having anyone there I could look to, who I wanted to be like, to show me I could be that.
"Social media - I never really posted my hand, I hid it, I didn't want to be seen as being disabled, I thought it made me unattractive, it made me look weak. Those are things I didn't want to be seen as... I wanted to look good, feel good and feel capable and that's not really how I felt until my later teens."
India took to the red carpet for the World Premiere of 'Anatomy of a Scandal' back in April in London, with the cast also in attendance including Sienna Miller and Rupert Friend.
"It was insane... It was significant for me to make sure that there was some kind of person out there that could inspire others to know that they are capable of getting to the places they want to.
"For me, I wanted to be somebody who was seen as being pretty and going to these fun things, being powerful and being significant, and I just didn't, I felt insignificant.
"So being on the red carpet and getting my photo taken and having my place somewhere... I almost felt that I was out of place still, even then."
She added: "I had never seen anybody that was on the red carpet or in movies in a positive light at the least, or in magazines, that had a disability but was portrayed as somebody who was a normal girl... That was a really big thing to be able to see somebody like me on the red carpet and to get there myself was just crazy.
"My mum spoke to me after that event and said, 'Honey, do you remember saying to me whenever you were younger... you would cry and would say how upset you were that there was never anybody that you wanted to be out there, and you've now become that'.
"I couldn't believe that people wanted to take my photo."
The 22-year-old said if her younger self could see where she is now, "she'd probably burst out into happy tears".
India has recently appeared on ITV's physical game show The Void, and online show The Aphetor Games, which was filmed in Greece.
"[In The Void] I competed in physical challenges to try and win a prize and I actually ended up being the only female to survive to the final round.
"It was crazy... I was very nervous at the fact that a lot [of the rounds] were physical and required some form of holding on to stuff and a lot of conversations were had with the producers to try and calm my nerves as I didn't want to seem incapable. I wanted to give it my best go," she explained.
"The first stage of feeling was of complete nervousness... like even today I still don't completely believe in myself as I think everybody else should. I am always nervous about what I'm going to be able to do and if my disability will hold me back.
"But when I actually give it a go and don't give into the nerves and turn it down because of being afraid of my ability, then I usually surprise myself and come out of it almost inspired by what the human body is capable of doing - even if you doubt it," India added.
The Belfast woman says her goal is to inspire as many people as possible - rather than being a role model.
India told Be: "I think everybody has faults... I can't be the perfect role model for anybody as I have my own faults. I'd love to inspire people in the things that I do do well and continue to try to inspire as many people as possible."
The 22-year-old explained that her confidence has grown massively from starting TikTok.
India said: "From starting TikTok you realise things constantly. Life is constantly a learning curve. Through doing TikTok, I learnt that there isn't as many bad people out there than I thought there would be.
"I feel more capable than I have ever felt. Not just with my physical ability but with what I can achieve in my life and my career, and what I can do for the world in general."
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