My Car Is My Safe Space

Shivangi Agarwal is an artist, activist, consultant and advocate for inclusion. In a conversation with us, she spoke about how learning to drive changed the way she moves through the world.

Watch the full conversation above.

Who is Shivangi?

Shivangi wears many hats. She makes art, works as a consultant, and speaks up for the rights of persons with disabilities and the LGBTQIA+ community. She lives with a congenital disability and now works in Bengaluru. Much of her work is about removing barriers for others. Driving was about removing one of her own.

Looking for someone who could teach her

Learning to drive sounds simple until you need an adapted car and a trainer who understands disability. Shivangi describes how hard it was to find a driving school in India that could teach her. Most were not set up for drivers with disabilities, and information was scattered. Her search eventually led her to DOMO, and she travelled from Delhi to Jaipur to train.

The hurdles nobody warns you about

Learning to drive was only one part of it. Shivangi also had to get a medical fitness certificate, apply for her driving licence, deal with the Regional Transport Office and then buy a car. Each step came with its own forms, queues and questions, and very little of it was designed with disabled drivers in mind. She talks openly about how tiring this can be, and why people need clear guidance through it.

Buying a car of her own

For Shivangi, buying her own car was a turning point. It was no longer about borrowing someone’s time or someone’s vehicle. The car was hers, chosen for her needs, and it marked the moment her independence became real.

“My car is my safe space.”

What freedom feels like

Shivangi speaks about the feeling of taking the wheel and deciding for herself where to go. For a person who is both disabled and queer, public spaces do not always feel welcoming. Her car gives her a place that is fully her own, where she sets the route, the pace and the music. That is what she means when she calls it her safe space.

Moments from the lessons

She also looks back at her favourite moments from training: the small wins, the first time a manoeuvre felt easy, and the days when the car stopped feeling strange and started feeling like hers.

The trainer who made the difference

Shivangi trained with Dr. Anita Sharma, DOMO’s founder, who is herself a person with a disability and drives a hand-controlled car. Shivangi talks about how that shared experience shaped her learning. She describes being taught with patience, being trusted to try, and slowly building the confidence to drive on her own.

Pride, on and off the road

We recorded this conversation during Pride Month. Shivangi speaks about her life as an LGBTQIA+ person and a disabled driver, and about why both identities deserve to be seen and respected. Her message is simple: inclusion should cover every part of who a person is.

What we take away

Shivangi’s story shows that independence is rarely about one big moment. It is built from many smaller ones: finding the right teacher, getting through the paperwork, choosing the right car and then driving it, day after day. Each of those steps was harder than it needed to be. That is the gap we work to close, so the next person who wants to drive does not have to search as long as she did.