When she started her career in design in 2002, designer Nivedita Saboo employed a handful of girls with speech and hearing impairment to do beadwork. "They don't get work as household help. Seventeen years hence, they are still with us," says Saboo. And though they don't require aid while picking out their clothes or wearing them, there are numerous other conditions and symptoms that make a differently-abled wearer uncomfortable. Or just look awkward.

Uzair Parvez Khan