Shani is an award-winning international event manager, global voyager, disability role model and campaigner.
Shani was born with a rare genetic condition called Osteogenesis Imperfecta (OI), more commonly known as Brittle Bones, affecting one in every 15,000 people in the UK. This condition is characterised by bones that break easily, often from little or no apparent cause. Though fragile bones are the hallmark of OI, other medical problems also stem from this condition, the most obvious being a short stature and Shani is 3’10”.
Shani attended a special needs primary school as no mainstream school in the 1980’s could deal with such a unpredictable condition. Over her childhood she spend many summers in hospital with broken leg after broken leg, After learning to walk again for the sixth time, Shani undertook pioneering treatment to strengthen her bone density and multiple surgeries in her teenage years.
In 2011, Miss Dhanda graduated from the University of Wolverhampton with a degree in Event and Venue Management, her dissertation around barriers to accessible leisure was published by an American charity. Upon graduation she was the first student in her class to be offered an event management job, with a Royal Institute as well as winning an award from her University.
Having organised and hosted many events through her career, Shani is also an accomplished speaker delivering talks at hospitals to medical
professionals, conferences, universities and schools as part of her efforts to challenge perceptions and change attitudes around disability, especially in Asian communities. With mainstream media throwing out images of
unattainable perfection, lacking any social and cultural relevance to ethnic minority communities, raising awareness around disability and diversity is Shani’s passion.