Arjita is a recent graduate of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences,
Mumbai and is currently working as a programs officer in Rising
Flame.
On a warm Friday afternoon in Delhi, at Rising Flame‘s
Lead. Grow. Change. event, the house was packed. Taking place at the
Taj Ambassador in Khan Market, the guests weren’t quite sure
of what to expect from the event; an event that centered the voices of women
and youth with disabilities.
The lack of representation of intersectional identities within the women’s
movement has long been subject to criticism. It would be appropriate to say
that women with disabilities have been treated as a welfare concern or
included with a charity lens rather than as social and political beings. For
this very reason,Lead. Grow. Change. was a milestone for women and
youth with disabilities.
Rising Flame, a young Mumbai-based non-profit working for the rights of women
and youth with disabilities, celebrated their two-year anniversary by
creating a space to listen to the voices of the people they’ve been working
with. Six brilliant young women from Rising Flame’s flagship leadership
programme for young women with disabilities shared their stories
alongside panels with prominent disability rights activists discussing
consent, leadership, participation and voice.
The event started with a warm welcome by Rising Flame’s founder and executive
director, Nidhi Goyal followed by a dive into the journey by
Senior Programs Consultant Srinidhi Raghavan. Special
invitees, former chairperson, NCPCR, Stuti Kacker and
Member, National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), addressed
the crowd as well. They spoke of gaps in data, missing voices, the struggles
and the empowerment of women with disabilities.
The event highlighted issues we are still finding space to articulate
within mainstream movements and events; issues of smothering of voices,
care, consent and daily living. The significance of these talks was that
the voices, opinions and assertions came from the community itself in line
with ‘Nothing about us, without us’, an idea that the disability rights
movement centres.
Asharani Devaiah, a woman with low vision, kickstarted the
series of talks. She spoke of her struggles of not fitting in, needing
support but being too afraid to ask for it and finally moving past her own
judgements. Nalini Sagar, also spoke of similar hurdles.
However, in Nalini’s case, it was the excess support that was holding her
back. Srishti Pandey, a wheelchair user, recounted
oscillating between gratitude for her friends for keeping her access needs in
mind and heartbreak at their ableist behaviour. She said, ‘On most days, I
would feel like a burden. My brain would sideline all the favours that I had
done for them and only focus on the favours that I received’. Their talks
focused on an important point that people with disabilities are told to be
grateful for the support and care they receive. Irrespective of their own
choice in the matter.
The panel that followed addressed issues along the same lines. This was
moderated by Nidhi with well known activists: Smita
Sadasivan, Meenu Bhambhani, and Amba
Salelkar joining in. The discussions focused around women with
disabilities and their access to medical health, bank accounts, negotiating
consent, and the language used. Amba pointed out how instead of letting women
with disabilities be part of decision-making, they are often told that they
are incapable of making decisions for themselves or simply don’t have enough
information. The panel led us to question the lack of disabled women’s
perspectives in our everyday lives.
During 16 days of Activism in 2017, Rising Flame made a film
called Ending the Silence featuring stories of violence. This film was
screened at the event to remind us about the continued exclusion of women
with disabilities. The film highlighted the barriers they face while
reporting abuse such as structural and systemic barriers, disbelief.
While the women’s movement focusses on romance and consent, women with
disabilities were mostly absent during the #MeToo movement
in India and across the world. To fill this gap, the panel and talks by our
fellows focused on how we understand consent as women with disabilities.
Kavya Mukhija, Shreelekka Sriram and
Pratishtha Deveshwar explained consent in different ways but
highlighted the idea of how violations occur in the case of women with
disabilities. From simple things like asking their families about what they
would like to eat to much more serious decisions such as assuming control of
their bank accounts.
The panel that followed deconstructed consent further. Nidhi highlighted how
popular culture and media has continually shaped our understanding of
disabled people. Misrepresentation of a community can be problematic since
widely consumed media such as film can leave lasting impressions with people
and could do irreversible damage. Amidst the jokes, some grave issues were
highlighted such as non-disabled people’s tendency to encroach on disabled
peoples’ personal spaces and ask inappropriate questions. Harpreeti
Reddy recalled how people would often touch her to get her
attention. Consent varies based on the disability, the need for support and
the overall agency provided to the disabled person.
The talk and panels of women and youth disabilities at the event were
testaments of violation, exclusion, dependency, and powerlessness that is
experienced by disabled people, particularly women and youth with
disabilities everyday. To be an ally is a process; a process of recognising,
listening, educating, and resisting. The wonderful audience present the
event, enthusiastically participating resonated this. The event was a
beautiful instance of allyship of two movements coming together and of
political and social progress.
For more information visit the Rising Flame website. Or email at
team@risingflame.org
Source: https://newzhook.com/story/lead-grow-change-by-arjita-mital-rising-flame
