Publications

From The Shadows To The Centre

Dark purple background with small orange diamond shaped design all over. On the top, white text in bold says ‘From Shadows to the Centre.’ A woman with dark, shoulder length hair looking outside an orange framed window. The sky outside is dark with a half moon, shining from behind clouds, illuminating the woman’s face. On the top left is the Rising Flame logo.

From the Shadows to the Centre is a Rising Flame campaign which was run as part of 16 Days global campaign to End Gender Based Violence in 2020. Our campaign features 7 personal essays of women with disabilities, speaking up about the sexual harassment they have faced and saying #MeToo. 

Read their stories as a collection here.

Dil Vil Pyaar Vyaar

Yellow background with Rising Flame logo on the bottom left corner. In the centre, pink-coloured text with white shadow in big, bold letters says, ‘Dil Vil Pyaar Vyaar’. Below in black: ‘Personal essays. All about love.’ The words ‘personal’ and ‘love’ are highlighted in pink. Next to the text are three cut-outs of photos of a pink flower. On the left bottom is the Rising Flame logo.

Dil Vil Pyaar Vyaar is a Rising Flame campaign organised around valentine's day in 2020 and 2021. It is a series of essays on love, intimacy, relationships and disability in collaboration with mainstream spaces. Personal stories about dating, crushes, rejection, heartbreak, expectations from partners or of partners and building own worlds of romance and pleasures. Dil Vil Pyaar Vyaar is an effort to amplify voices of disabled women; narratives on love that seldom are seen in mainstream discussions on romance. 

To download the book with these stories, click here.

Holding Space: Part 1

On a beige background is the cover page of the manual. Right on top is the RF logo. Next to it: Holding Space: Deconstructing disability experiences and navigating ableism in therapeutic conversations. Below an illustration of multiple people in a gardenwalkway setting. The person on the bottom left is wearing a hijab and using a rollator walker as they move closer to join the group. On the bottom right corner are two people mid laughter. They are both standing. The person on the right has curly hair which is tied in a bun on the top of their head. They are wearing a kurta and leggings with a dupatta. They are leaning against a pillar with one of their hands resting on it. They are wearing compression gloves and have kinesio taped their arm. The person on the left has short cropped hair and is wearing a patterned shirt with pants, with their hands behind them. They have a nasogastric tube connected through their nostrils. Behind them, a person is walking down the slope while holding a light brown dog with a leash. They have short cropped curly hair and are wearing a white tee shirt with an open purple flannel shirt and red pants. There are flowers growing behind them. There are stars of different sizes in the background, sparkling.

Holding Space is the first in a series that we will be working on to expand the understanding of mental health practitioners on disability experiences and ableism’s demands on disabled people’s lives, and its effects on their mental health. The manual highlights the need for mental health professionals to specifically learn about this and bring these learnings and 'unlearnings' into their mental health practice supporting disabled people.

Read here.

Disability, Equity, Justice White Paper, Civil 20 India, 2023

On a white background on top are the logos of Rising Flame, G20 and C20. Rising Flame logo is a phoenix in red and orange taking flight with the words Rising Flame below it. Next to it is the G20 logo which consists of "G" and "2" in bold white font, with a green and orange gradient background. The 'O' is styled like a globe with its upper half being blue and lower half being covered by a lotus which has a same gradient as the 'G' and '2.' Below this the word 'Bharat' is written in Hindi with '2023 India' beside it in English. Next to it is the C20 logo which features the word "Civil20" in bold capital letters in black, surrounded by a circular emblem like a light in blue. The emblem consists of a circle divided into four quadrants by intersecting lines, forming a stylised compass with arrow points directed outwards. The quadrants are coloured in blue, yellow, red, and green. Has the words "You are the light" at the bottom. Below that in the centre in large caps lock text is: "Disability, Equity, Justice White Paper. Civil 20 India. July 2023." Below that there is a meshed wavvy design in red and orange colours overlapping over each other framing the bottom of the page.

To capture the full data from the consultations with and participation of over 2,500 persons with and without disabilities, nonprofit organisations, Organisations of Persons with Disabilities, disability rights experts, officers from multilaterals and disability rights allies from across 35 countries, we drafted the white paper as an extension of the policy brief. It comprises of voices that were captured through in person and virtual consultations/ round tables and conference but also through online direct channels opened up for receiving recommendations and suggestions.

Read here.

Purple People

On a purple background, there is an illustration of an earth in the centre with five illustrations around it. There are tiny black birds and white clouds in the background around the globe. In the middle of the globe is the text: “Purple People”. There are a few grass patterns around the illustrations. The illustrations around the globe are: 1) an illustration of two people sitting together. They are looking at each other. One of them is wearing rainbow socks and the other one is wearing an asexuality badge. 2) an illustration of man holding a woman and carrying a child. There are two elderly people standing behind them. The words “In this together” are written in front of them. 3) an illustration of a man holding a cane and wearing black glasses, is speaking on the mic. Next to him is a woman holding crutches and has her fist raised. 4) an illustration of a woman embracing a child. There are pink hearts around them. 5) an illustration of one woman seated in a wheelchair.

Rising Flame conceptualised and curated the first-ever, unique gender track at the international Purple Fest called Purple People, from January 11 to 13, 2024 at Kala Academy Goa to spotlight the challenges faced by women, gender-marginalised persons and all people with disabilities, and their specific life experiences. Under Purple People, we organised panels, masterclasses, and a reading session covering work and leadership, accessibility, mobility, technology, sexuality, disabled parenting, climate change, consent, and more. This booklet aims to capture the diverse conversations that took place then and bring it all together. These illustrations and pieces will challenge stigma to show women and persons with disabilities as full human beings with lives and careers, with ambition and love, as parents and caregivers. Read here.

And They Lived...Ever After

On a beige background there are several illustrations of moon, sun, clouds, birds in black, red and orange colours. On top are the two logos of Rising Flame and HarperCollins Publishers. The title of the book is in the centre "And They Lived... Ever After". In the centre is a window with a woman seated on her wheelchair looking out the window and her long braid is seen. On a red banner right below the window is the text in white: “Disabled Women Retell Fairy Tales.” At the bottom are swans and ducks in a pond with lilies and leaves, a small house and snake slithering away.

Meet a deaf Snow White, a wheelchair-using Rapunzel, a neurodivergent Ugly Duckling. In a world where fairy tales usually demonise characters who live with disability, these and other fairy-tale characters challenge our understanding of the people around us. The authors of this collection seek to retell classic stories by weaving in their own everyday experiences-the struggles, joys and frustrations that may not be known to the non-disabled. 

And They Lived ... Ever After grew out of a programme organised by Rising Flame, an award-winning non-profit that seeks to build an inclusive world in which diverse bodies, minds and voices thrive with dignity and live free of discrimination, abuse and violence. This book is every bit as enchanting as it is important. Read here.

Holding Space: Part 2

At the right hand top is the Rising Flame logo and Mariwala Health Initiative logo. Below it is the text: “Holding Space: Understanding invisible disabilities and intersectionality – Part 2.” There are illustrations of several people coming together on a beige background. On the left is an illustration of a person wearing headphones and their hair in a ponytail. They have their arms wrapped around a path blooming across their body. At the bottom of the path are some strawberries growing and there's a hand near it holding the sun for them to grow. Slightly above are some mushrooms growing, and two hands forming a canopy to create a dark area for them to thrive, and ahead are some leaves growing and a hand above them with a watering-can pours water. Next to it is an illustration of a person's path through three different days marked by calendar pages 7, 12 and 25. They have long hair and are wearing spectacles. In the first one they're using a wheelchair, in the second one they're in pain on the floor lying down with kinesio tape on their leg and a heating pad on their back and thigh, and in the third image they're walking with a shopping bag, flowers blooming beside them. Next to it there is a person with short cropped hair, holding a cluster of squiggles/scribbles, looking upset, sitting on a mat. There are little speech bubbles on the scribbles that they are holding close to their chest. At the bottom corner are two flowers blooming.

The experiences of persons with disabilities are not homogenous. Depending on the disability itself, whether the disability is visible or invisible, and depending on the intersections of other marginalisations whether it's caste, religion, gender or sexuality, people experience their disability differently and society perceives them differently. The part 2 of the self learning manual Holding Space focuses on these experience and helps address these challenges and ensures that support is affirmative, sensitive and inclusive.

Read here.

Connections: Unpacking the complexities of disability and relationships in therapeutic conversations

On the top left are Rising Flame and Mariwala Health Initiative logos. On the top right is the title: “Connections: Unpacking the complexities of disability and relationships in therapeutic conversations”. There are a pair of large, open hands, which are holding people interacting with each other. In the palm of the hand, a couple sits together where one person has their arm around the other. There is a flowering plant that goes from one person’s back across the extended arm, to wrap around the other. One of them has a hearing aid in their ear. From the centre a bright orange flower emerges from the hands, and inside the flower sits a person holding a pink watering can, gently pouring water onto the plant below. Below the flower still inside the palm of the hand is a person wearing sunglasses, a red shirt, and blue shorts seated on the edge of a large phone. Outside the hands are two figures: one is a person using crutches wearing a green top and red pants. They are taking a selfie with a smartphone, holding it up. The other is a person in a wheelchair wearing an orange top and brown pants who has one arm lifted as they wave. The background has soft watercolour splotches in yellow, pink and blue. Around the people there are also sparkles in yellow and light pink.

Connections is our third self-learning mental health manual created by Rising Flame with support from Mariwala Health Initiative to respond to these concerns, realities of persons with disabilities and focus on the learning and unlearning needed by mental health workers. The manual published in March 2025 explores disability and relationships through the experiences of persons with disabilities. The manual also offers therapeutic exercises based on narrative practices to help individuals reframe their relationship experiences and overcome limiting beliefs. Ultimately, it advocates for a deeper understanding of diverse needs and the richness disabled individuals bring to all relationships.

Read here.

Insights: A mental health collection

The background is a gradient - from bottom left to top right it goes from orange to light purple to a dark purple. In the center the two colours blend together in layers. On the top right and bottom left are three small wavy lines in navy and yellow (middle line), and 8 small circles under them (yellow circles top right, navy circles bottom left). In the center is the Insights logo. Below that is white text in all caps: A MENTAL HEALTH COLLECTION. Below that is a horizontal dotted line from end to end, and below that is the Rising Flame logo.

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. 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 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.