Diversity and Disability

  • Diversity and Disability
    Diversity and Disability
    75 member(s)

    Celebrate Life; Celebrate Diversity

    We welcome you to the community page "Celebrating Disability", an online discussion forum where we introduce, discuss, debate as well as campaign and advocate various concepts, perspectives, paradigm shift, models and legal provisions that concern and impact persons with disabilities. The title Celebrating Disability emerges from one of the ideologies of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) to celebrate human diversity and that Disability is a part of human diversity. 

    This online community page aims at demystifying the stigma associated with disability and reinforces the paradigm shift experienced by persons with disabilities from the charity and medical model to the social and developmental model, a holistic development of the society where persons with disabilities are an integral and contributing part and not apart. It will also focus on discussions and debates with regard to legal frameworks that impact persons with disabilities rightfully as well as adversely. The context and connect of UNCRPD with most terminologies & concepts to be discussed in the forum goes without saying. The perspectives of different professionals and their work with persons with disabilities are to be dealt as well. Any requirement for a larger campaign or advocacy may also be analysed in due course of a discussion. 

    This community page "Diversity and Disability" will provide motivational stories and achievements by persons with disabilities on an equal  basis with others, articles by expert persons with disabilities as well as professionals without disabilities on their work and perspective, the gaps in the legal framework and way forward to harmonise the same, strategies/models to implement UNCRPD at every level and a lot more, by way of public discussions, debates and other creative methodology on each article/story. In addition a webinar will be organised every quarterly to discuss the topic of the term. The topics may widely range from different provisions of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and its connect with UNCRPD & vice versa, evolving concepts on disability, innovations pertaining to products, designs, services, infrastructure, information, communication and technology etc. 

    Supported by Vidya Sagar, Chennai

     

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  • ‘Life is an unending advocacy for me’
    Sharmishthaa Atreja, Assistant Professor at the Department of Philosphy, Delhi University, has lost her vision through a degenerative eye disease known as Retinitis Pigmentosa. She shares her story of coming to terms with gradually losing her vision and how she copes with an active professional life now. The beginning Can one imagine what it is 'to go blind'? How is it possible for a 5-year-old to understand what is blindness when she is enjoying pink, yellow dog-flowers in her garden, plucking…
  • Property Rights of Persons with Disabilities
    Amba Salelkar, a Chennai-based legal expert and disability rights activist, urges that the Government take steps to amend the laws relating to property rights, and introduce safeguards to ensure that persons with disabilities are not discriminated. Persons with disabilities who are most likely to have problems when it comes to property are those who face greater restrictions in participation on account of impairments that affect their ability to understand, judge and communicate decisions…
  • Photography Lessons for Kids to Fight Cancer
    Rajen Nair, a freelance photojournalist and writer, teaches skills of photography to children with cancer to bring hope, optimism and laughter in their lives. How long have you been a photographer? I became a photographer by default in the year 2004, after I lost my hearing in the right ear and later developed tinnitus due to botched ear surgery. I had no option but to wind up my business. To earn a living, I studied journalism, as writing was my passion, and learnt photography later to…
  • Bhavna is person with cerebral palsy in a red and white dress on a wheelchair
    I follow my heart
    Bhavna Botta, a young serial entrepreneur with cerebral palsy, had her dream project, Saahaagika, an exclusive boutique for ahimsa silk, washed away in the recent rains and floods in Chennai. Broken but not beaten, she looks for strength, motivation and new avenues to start afresh. Could you tell us a bit about your journey and how you became an entrepreneur? I finished my high school from Vidya Sagar and went on to do higher secondary from Lady Andal Matriculation School, Chennai and then…
  • Accessibility For All at Vaccess Expo
    By  Lakshmi Gopalakrishnan, a Special Educator and Rehabilitation Specialist Vaccess, a two day Expo, represents Vidya Sagar, a Chennai centre for the disabled, and its constant and persistent efforts towards Accessibility for people with disabilities. As the founder Poonam Natarajan put it so crisply, “In the past, this was understood only as the need for physical access. It meant building ramps, railings and pathways for people with visual impairments, special features in toilets,…
  • Primer on Disability Terminology
    Are you confused about all the labels used for persons with disabilities? Manisha Shastri explains why Person comes first, the origins of the word "handicapped" and what's wrong with other labels. And when in doubt, ASK  So, let me try and break this down for those who don’t understand why the term ‘persons with disability’ is politically correct and accepted, while all other terms are fairly offensive and exclusionary in nature. While addressing a person with disability, you use the term…
  • Women’s movements should take into account the concerns and issues of women with disabilities
    Dipti Bhatia is the deputy director of Vidya Sagar, a Chennai based organization working with persons with multiple disabilities. Undeterred by her own congenital visual impairment, she strongly advocates inclusion and empowerment of women with disability.   Have you observed any gender difference as far as policies and practices are concerned in Special Needs Schools like Vidya Sagar? There is no gender discrimination from the school as far as policies and practices are concerned.…
  • Multiple Sclerosis Does Not Stop Her From Fighting For Others’ Rights
    Imagine participating in a meeting while lying in bed. This is reality for 35-year-old Smitha Sadasivan, who has Multiple Sclerosis, an autoimmune condition. Her reality has been exhaustion, physical pain, vision problems and many other issues. But this M.Phil holder, who works for an NGO and is a disability rights activist, refuses to give up. Her story.  You were diagnosed with Mutiple Sclerosis (MS) in 1999. What is your present condition – has the disease progressed? Are there some…
  • Digital Tools Enabled Me to Be Independent
    Alok Kaushik, now 40, talks about his transition from the life of a sighted person to a blind person. “Start living in the solution domain rather than the problem domain,” he says, sharing the solutions that help him maintain his independence. Please tell us a bit about your condition. I have Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP), which is a disease of the retina that causes the photo-receptor cells in the retina, i.e. rods and cones, to degenerate in a progressive manner, leading…
Support and Occupational Therapist in Patiala
Received a request for an OT in Patiala for a 2 year old child with Cerebral Palsy. Any suggestions, recommendations would be welcome Family currently going to PGI Chandigarh for doctor visits thanks 
Evolving personalities by Persons with Disabilities
People tend to develop their personalities from the different things that they get to know and do in their lives, which may also have an impact from time to time. People develop their personalities at all ages and it is a constant shift for every…
Please support VaccesS, a 2 Day Expo at Vidya Sagar, Chennai
Vidya Sagar (Formerly, The Spastics Society of India), a 30 year old non-profit organisation working with  persons  with disabilities , is conducting a 2 Day Expo titled "VaccesS" @ Vidya Sagar, #1, Ranjith Road, Kotturpuram, Chennai - 600…
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