Introduction

Wikipedia Edit-a-thons

Wikipedia Edit-a-thons

Edit-A-Thon, February 2019

We launched our wikipedia Edit-A-Thon in February 2019 in Mumbai in partnership with Point of View, Mumbai. The participants of the Edit-a-thon were four people with disabilities and four non disabled people.

Through our partnership we were able to diversify the editors on Wikipedia while emphasising our motto of disabled people as content creators as well as subjects on the internet.

As part of our efforts to claim digital spaces, we began creating a page of disabled feminist and activist Anita Ghai. The creation of the page of a disabled feminist and activist like Anita Ghai increases the visibility of the work of disabled Indian women to an international audience.

Edit-A-Thon, August 2019

Our second edition of the Edit-A-Thon was conducted on the 25th of August, 2019 at ADAPT, Bandra. Participants included both disabled and non-disabled persons. We created page of deaf woman chess player from Punjab called Malika Handa.

Following the Edit-A-Thon, the participants had some very important conversations around disability, identity and language. We spoke about how a publicly contributed and publicly present platform such as wikipedia  could play a significant role in creating space for people in the margins and what it means to be digitally present for someone in the margins.

Edit-a-thon, May 2020

Our third edition of the Edit-A-Thon was conducted on May 24, 2020 in a virtual workshop.  Participants were our I Can Lead fellows and team members of Point of View. We co-created a page on Sudha Patel — India's youngest elected blind, female, Sarpanch who has done remarkable work for gender and disability justice. 

Edit-a-thon, November 2020

On the Wikipedia page on violence against people with disabilities, there was no mention of the violence faced by women with disabilities. Same for the violence against women page on Wikipedia. This is resonant of the experiences of women with disabilities - they fall through the cracks in both movements. Through our Edit-a-thon on November 25th with 8 disabled people, we edited the Wikipedia page on Violence Against People With Disabilities to spotlight the violence faced by disabled women.

participants sitting around a table and working on laptops. wikipedia page being projected on the screen

participants sitting around tables and working on laptops. wiki page is projected on the screen

Three women seated next to each other staring into their computers.