Disability, Equity, Justice Working Group organised our fourth policy consultation on ‘Education and Disability’ in Mumbai + virtual mode with Xavier's College, XRCVC, Mariwala Health Initiative and Rising Flame. The consultation was organised on May 23 from 2 pm IST to 5 pm IST. We had a total of 30 in person participants and 122 virtual participants who were disabled as well as non disabled.
The consultation had Udaaharan (Best Practices) presentations from Dr Rajendra Shinde Principal, St.Xavier’s College, Mumbai and Vidhya Y, Founder, Vision Empower, Bangalore. They shared through their best practices how to address the need for inclusive pedagogy, teacher sensitisation and training, and providing many more opportunities for children with disabilities. The panel consisted of inclusive education experts and disability rights activists such as: Katherine Holland (Katie), Executive Director, Perkins International Programmes, Rakshita Shekhar, Educator and Consultant, Prof. Sandhya Limaye, Centre for Disability Studies and Action, TISS, Kate Currawala, President, Maharashtra Dyslexia Association and Candice Dsouza, Practising therapist and educator. The panellists spoke about pre-existing ideas around disabled students, the importance of every child having access to learning, the stigmas around cognitive or intellectual disabilities, the parameters for facilitating inclusion in classrooms and about the impact of bullying on those with disabilities.
You can read the excerpts from our event: Best Practices and Panel.