On November 6th 2019, Rising Flame hosted an online consultation to discuss issues and concerns of women with disabilities in India 25 years after the Beijing Declaration for Action. The consultation had over twenty participants including activists, lawyers and researchers. The speakers included Subhalakshmi Nandi, executive director, ICRWA; Rajini Menon, regional gender coordinator, Oxfam, Amba Salelkar, Lawyer, Equals CPSJ, Rati Misra, advisor NCPEDP and founder and executive director Nidhi Goyal with important inputs from Vanita Mukherjee, board member DAWN.
The discussion laid the context of the Beijing declaration and its historical relevance in the women’s movement today.
The Key discussions were around rights of women with disabilities in the critical areas of participation and decision making, education and employment, health and violence and access to justice.
The purpose of the consultation was to take the realities in India and input into the regional and global review process of the Beijing + 25 and to ensure that women and girls with disabilities are not left behind.