Disability and Gender Rights Workshop
Date: 29th June , 2018 – 1st Jul , 2018
Sruti Disability Rights Center, in association with CREA is back with their third edition of the annual three-day non-residential Disability and Gender Rights Workshop.
It has been more than a year since the Rights to Persons with Disability Bill (RPD) was passed by the Indian Parliament in December, 2016.
- What impact has the law had in the way disability rights is being imagined in India?
- How far has the State implemented the law?
- How are the disability movements demanding their rights and how do such struggles communicate with other social movements in India?
- How are these questions complicated when we put gender at the centre in thinking about disability rights?
Not just the RPD, it has been a year since the Mental Health Care Bill was also passed by the Parliament. However, what are the conversations around access to mental health in India? The government of India recently reported in the parliament that between 2014 and 2016, 26500 students have committed suicide in India.
Even though the government gave a region wise break-up of the number of suicides, there was no data on the break-up of this alarming figure on the basis of gender and caste. Another notable event this year was when the Supreme Court of India permitted passive euthanasia by allowing individuals in a permanently vegetative state to execute a living will and refuse treatment.
While this judgment has been widely held as affirming the constitutional right to a life of dignity, disability rights activists have pointed out how this judgment gets complicated when we think of those individuals who do not have legal capacity.
In a country where disability is often perceived as a burden, how will the state guarantee that a disabled individual is not being coerced into writing a will?
These are only some of the questions that we will explore in the workshop. Questions of sexual violence, pleasure, intimacy, abortion of disabled foetuses, the connections between nationalism and disability, circulation of disability in popular media will also be discussed across the 3 days of the workshop. Activists, academics, artists will join us for lectures, conversations and activities. This workshop is for anyone who is interested in issues of disability, gender and social justice. Here we would like to issue a note of concern. All the issues we are going to explore in the workshop are inter-connected and hence please participate in this workshop only if you can commit to attending ALL three days and ALL the sessions.
The medium of communication will be Bangla and English. We will provide lunch and tea/coffee for all three days and some study materials. There is no fee for this workshop. While we cannot promise travel and lodging assistance to outstation participants, we will try to work with you to make your stay comfortable.
Write to us introducing yourself and why you are interested in this workshop in 300 words at disabilityandgender@gmail.com by 20th May 2018.
Also, mention in your application if you have any dietary restrictions, if you have any access requirements and if you need child care. We will notify the outcome of your application by 1st June.
The workshop will be held from 29th June to 1st July, 2018 in Kolkata at a venue which will be fully accessible.
-Shampa Sengupta