Kiran’s ordeal highlights, once again, how much of the country’s approach toward people with disabilities is rooted in deep ableism and apathy. The colorful sugarcoating of inclusivity and equality is, unfortunately, limited to tokenism. Kiran’s story hits hard personally because I had to go through a similar nightmare during my master’s. Pursuing a Master’s in Communication and Media Practice at the University of Hyderabad had been a dream for me. However, due to the lack of empathy or even basic understanding of my disability, I had my audio and video production professor say, “If someone comes for a check and sees a visually impaired guy doing my course, I will be cross-questioned. And what should I answer?” I was constantly bothered throughout my course period by being shuffled from one course to another, having my abilities questioned, and not having my assignments graded on merit with reasons such as, “How will I believe that you did this on your own?” One of my friends had to give a half-hour-long explanation about why he wanted to write his exam on a laptop when he had “scribes readily available.” And he is from one of the biggest universities in the country. These are just three among hundreds of such stories, I’m sure. Maybe Kiran’s experience is a wake-up call for all of us. It is reminding us that there is still a long way to go and a lot to do. To start with, it is all of our responsibility to take this story to as many of the right people as possible. I earnestly urge NGOs and individuals to break the narratives of charity and inspiration and begin discourses around rights-based approaches, actionable aspects of inclusion, and the real-life meaning of accessibility. Providing scholarships, free training programs, and job melas that only hire blind and visually impaired people for BPO jobs have definitely brought the community a long way. It’s now time to up the game and stand for our rightful place in every corner of society. I’m a media student and an active professional in the media industry. I’m sharing this story with all of my media friends, NGOs, and publications. I will also create as much noise around this as possible. One of our members, Mr. Ashutosh, has already tweeted to the relevant people about this. What are you doing? Because, small or big, it is time to do something to educate our society. Cheers, Uma Shankar
On Mon, Jan 27, 2025 at 11:26 PM Ashutosh Singhal < ashutoshsinghal...@gmail.com> wrote: > Sir, I am telling from my experience that Delhi University has very major > accessibility issues for Students with Disabilities. Delhi University main > Equal Opportunity Cell is only a beautiful building which exists to show > Persons without Disabilities that we are doing something good for Students > with Disabilities. DU EOC is one of the most insensitive places of Delhi > University. I am not elubrating my statement as I had shared many > applications in this group which I wrote to Delhi University Vice > Chancellor sir, Head of the Department and other relevant authorities. > > On Mon, 27 Jan 2025 at 11:05, <george.abrah...@gmail.com> wrote: > >> Hi Folks, >> LSR had given admission to Kiran knowing she was blind. Kiran qualified >> for the course through CUET. She has probably paid her fees. I believe >> that the college has a responsibility to ensure that the classes are >> accessible and the professors are welcoming and supportive. What do the >> experts on the group feel. Kanchan , what are your thoughts? >> >> George >> >> >> >> -----Original Message----- >> From: accessindia@accessindia.org.in <accessindia@accessindia.org.in> On >> Behalf Of Radio Udaan >> Sent: 25 January 2025 19:31 >> To: disability-studies-india <disability-studies-in...@googlegroups.com> >> Cc: accessindia <accessindia@accessindia.org.in>; musicmovie < >> musicmo...@googlegroups.com> >> Subject: [AI] Visually Impaired Psychology Student Kiran Kharb Faces >> Harassment at Lady Shri Ram College >> >> Visually Impaired Psychology Student Kiran Kharb Faces Harassment at Lady >> Shri Ram College https://youtu.be/A0Q43DUzrhA >> >> -- >> Disclaimer: >> 1. Contents of the mails, factual, or otherwise, reflect the thinking of >> the person sending the mail and AI in no way relates itself to its veracity; >> >> 2. AI cannot be held liable for any commission/omission based on the >> mails sent through this mailing list.. >> >> >> Search for old postings at: >> http://www.mail-archive.com/accessindia@accessindia.org.in/ >> --- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "AccessIndia" group. >> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >> email to accessindia+unsubscr...@accessindia.org.in. >> To view this discussion visit >> https://groups.google.com/a/accessindia.org.in/d/msgid/accessindia/7CC988C6-A258-4FE6-B554-A1728407A9DF%40gmail.com >> . >> >> -- >> Disclaimer: >> 1. Contents of the mails, factual, or otherwise, reflect the thinking of >> the person sending the mail and AI in no way relates itself to its veracity; >> >> 2. 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AI cannot be held liable for any commission/omission based on the mails > sent through this mailing list.. > > > Search for old postings at: > http://www.mail-archive.com/accessindia@accessindia.org.in/ > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "AccessIndia" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to accessindia+unsubscr...@accessindia.org.in. > To view this discussion visit > https://groups.google.com/a/accessindia.org.in/d/msgid/accessindia/CAFL6VgK%2BxQ%3D8Vkp6gmigvi8b%3DhOB8g4oeqih7HMO%3Dz6vkdPczQ%40mail.gmail.com > <https://groups.google.com/a/accessindia.org.in/d/msgid/accessindia/CAFL6VgK%2BxQ%3D8Vkp6gmigvi8b%3DhOB8g4oeqih7HMO%3Dz6vkdPczQ%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > -- Disclaimer: 1. Contents of the mails, factual, or otherwise, reflect the thinking of the person sending the mail and AI in no way relates itself to its veracity; 2. AI cannot be held liable for any commission/omission based on the mails sent through this mailing list.. Search for old postings at: http://www.mail-archive.com/accessindia@accessindia.org.in/ --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "AccessIndia" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to accessindia+unsubscr...@accessindia.org.in. To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/a/accessindia.org.in/d/msgid/accessindia/CACpHEFJoNm3h08eCywerKgzE1Om%2BeJDnS0db29Vc9SgkK9R%3DFQ%40mail.gmail.com.
