Wheel with Amr Keshta
Edited By: Kenzy
Photo Taken By: Rayaheen Sam Qatena
The 24-year-old Amr Keshta, a Management of Information and Communication Technology (MICT) senior, is challenging stereotypes and subtly raising awareness about his disability through entertaining content to his avid followers on TikTok and Instagram.
“I started being active on social media because of my best friend Lily Samy, when we filmed my first TikTok and it went viral,” said Keshta, who calls himself “the wheelchair explorer.”
After that, he collaborated multiple times with the famous TikToker Lilly Samy on her account. With Samy’s 4.7 million followers on TikTok eager to know more about Keshta and see more of him on social media, he decided to join the TikTok world and create content embracing his disability.
Since then, he has garnered 200 thousand followers of his own on the platform and 2.7 million likes. He posts videos of his daily life, sometimes at home, others at AUC and some at the gym or hanging out with his friends, challenging limitations and obstacles. Keshta also likes to film TikToks that include lip syncing and choreographies.
Keshta was diagnosed with dystonia at birth, a movement disorder that causes involuntary muscle contractions, and started physiotherapy at 11 months.
Dystonia can target one or more body parts or even the entire body, if the case is severe, and can make it painful or complicated to complete regular tasks. The person can unintentionally lose muscle control while performing any action such as walking or writing. This condition worsens with stress, anxiety, or fatigue, and becomes more noticeable with age.
“Keshta attended physiotherapy every day for six hours from the time he was 11 months old, until he went to college,” said Gihan Tayel, Keshta’s mother.
Physiotherapy helps dystonia patients improve their symptoms and decrease the number of attacks.
He has been in a wheelchair for most of his life but is currently only using it outside of the house. Keshta has been embracing his journey on the internet from a very young age. In middle school, he and two of his friends created a YouTube channel called “The Comedy Team,” inspired by YouTuber Logan Paul.
“Paul’s YouTube channel inspires me because his feed is diverse and promotes inclusivity. He always features people [in] wheelchairs and makes it interesting and entertaining,” said Keshta.
During his junior year of high school, Keshta shut down his YouTube channel and quit creating content until after Covid-19. On a chance encounter with Samy at a selfie competition at AUC, a lifelong friendship and passion for TikTok began to develop.
Keshta reached 100 thousand followers on TikTok after two months of creating his account and had a high engagement rate on most of his content.
“TikTok introduced me to famous TikTokers, like Mohamed Mekkawy and Mahmoud Dergali, also known as “Dergo,” with millions of followers on social media,” said Keshta.
Keshta does not let dystonia stop him from following his passion.
“He is always pursuing what he enjoys, which is social media, and I believe a lot of ‘abled’ people can feel paralyzed by their presence on social media, but he does not let his disability discourage or embarrass him,” said Abdelrahman Keshta, his brother.
On February 24, Cairo Design Week invited Keshta to talk about inclusivity and raise awareness about his disability in a panel called “Empowering Communities: Making Spaces Accessible to All.” His talk was featured on CairoScene and other event coverage accounts on social media.
After Keshta became famous on TikTok and Instagram, hate comments started to increase.
With comments like “you’re using your disability for fame” being posted on his videos, Keshta decided to take a break from social media and focus on his mental health. He stopped being active from September 2023 until February 2024 and only started posting again in March.
In an exclusive update, Keshta told The Caravan that he will be the host of a talk show in collaboration with AUC titled Zo2 Ma3aya (Wheel with Me), that is also inspired by Logan Paul, and will focus on the diversity and inclusivity of disabled people.
His future plans after graduating from AUC this semester, Spring 2024, are still undecided, but what Keshta is certain of is that he wants to continue to influence people on social media and is hoping to do a TED Talk, as well as host his show.
