People with disabilities, chronic illnesses and mental health conditions encounter ableism in almost every facet of our lives — education, work, public spaces, romance, and even in our relationship with ourselves.
This cumulative toll leaves an indelible mark on our mental health. The expectation to ‘overcome challenges’, successfully perform bodily and economic autonomy, attain romantic ‘success’, and check off the numerous milestones of adulthood further fractures our sense of self. A life frequently spent negotiating what most people take for granted — an ease of language and words to describe our experiences, the warmth and familiarity of family and friends, the nuances of love and marriage — often goes undocumented.
Equally underrepresented are the ways disabled people survive and thrive despite our environments. We seek to create language, experiences and relationships that exist both within and outside non-disabled ways of being in the world. Insights is an effort to make room for these realities. This is a collection of personal essays, comics, reported stories or audio piece that sheds light on the mental health experiences of people with disabilities and chronic illnesses in India.
Read the collection here.