India's First Dwarf to Get Driving License

Hyderabad: Gattipally Shivalal may only be three feet tall, but he has made history in the dwarf community by being the country's first dwarf to obtain a driver's licence.

The 42-year-old, who works for a private firm in the city, realised he needed to be self-sufficient because travelling was becoming increasingly difficult for him due to his height.

"Back then, as I couldn’t drive, I had to be dependent on public transport and cabs. But a few cab drivers and some random people on the road would make comments on me. So, I decided to learn to drive a car, whatsoever," Shivalal, a Kukatpally resident, explains.

When he came upon a video of a dwarf man driving a car in the United States, his curiosity about driving grew even stronger. Shivalal travelled all the way to the United States to learn the mechanics. He found a man who custom designs cars in Hyderabad after realising that driving a car was not hard for him.

"I customised my car where the pedals were heightened than usual and were within the reach of my legs. However, even when I had a car, it became very tough for me to learn to drive as over 120 driving schools in the city refused to teach me, citing various reasons," he said, adding that it was only with the help of his friend Ismail that he was able to turn the seemingly impossible into a world record-breaking effort.

Shivalal now has the Telugu Book of Records, the Limca Book of Records, and the Guinness World Record for holding a driving licence in the dwarf category, according to him.

Shivalal, who is teaching his wife to drive, is planning to start a special driving school in the city to assist many dwarfs in becoming self-sufficient. "For the same, I would like to request the state government to lend some support so that many like me can learn to drive and become independent," he says. The Telangana government has authorised his zero-gear automated car.