Bodiesminds
Bodiesminds News
On the beauty of disabled friendships: Navigating an ableist world with people who make you feel safe and seen
In a world where stating our needs is seen as special or “too much”, having spaces where we belong as our whole selves is healing.
For deafblind individuals in India, grappling with twin challenges of stereotypes and inaccessibility hinders true progress
For many deafblind people, their paths and lived experiences are steeped in inaccessibility and hurdles — worsening in the times of COVID-19.
With few avenues for support, people with disabilities navigate mental health toll of India's second COVID-19 wave
Disabled people who shared their experiences of COVID-19 spoke of the impact of isolation, the revisiting of the existing stereotypes of disabled people being “weak”, “burdens”, “only receivers of care”.
India's second COVID-19 wave has made healthcare, ableist even pre-pandemic, harder for disabled people to access
As a system, even before the pandemic, disabled people have shared how ableism features in their interactions with the healthcare system. With COVID-19 in the mix and the lack of scientific information on how it would impact people with disabilities, it seems like a steep climb to recovery for many.
Disability and the education system: Despite legislation, individuals face discrimination and trauma, leading to drop outs
Even as recent as 2019, a UNESCO report showed that more than 75 percent of children with disabilities in India are not in schools.
For people with psychosocial disabilities and mental illness, medical gaslighting often mars access to healthcare
Often the long-term harm caused by medical gaslighting leads to trauma that needs medical attention.
From The Witches to Lion King, portraying disabled people as villainous, scary is a media trope with real world consequences
Harmful depictions of people with facial deformities, skin conditions, scars as evil have real life consequences for people with disabilities.
Thoughts on Crip Camp, and how spaces with disabled leadership can make one feel seen and heard
In a world that is overwhelmingly not designed for disabled, sick and chronically ill people, finding a space where you feel seen and heard is difficult and sometimes feels impossible.
In discussing accessibility solely through the disability lens, we limit who benefits from access
What happens when we think of access, not as logistical but an act of making the space open for more people? What would we make possible by opening up how we perceived this act?
16 Days of Activism: Five forms of violence against women with disabilities that must be addressed
One of the biggest concerns when it comes to data on violence against women with disabilities is that we don’t have disaggregated data to assist in showing the heightened violence faced by them.
To challenge ableism that manifests in social justice movements, intersectional understanding of disability is key
Disabled people exist in all our communities; and we must make room for them in conversations and decision-making positions. While ensuring this, it is also important to see if the disability rights movement represents the same diversity.
Amid pain awareness month, reflections on the medicalisation of disability and the constant search for 'cures'
Year after year, we see a lot of money being pumped into the medical system to look for cures for various disabling conditions and lived experiences — much more money than what is being used to build a more accessible world.
Amid reality of medical rationing, ableist bias against disabled people in accessing healthcare must be challenged
It is not a matter of coincidence that during medical emergencies, we see the system saving those who are 'most useful to society' while disabled people are pushed to the periphery.
Understanding and unlearning ableism is an ongoing process and one we must work on day-to-day
"Ableism is violence," as Lydia XZ Brown notes.
The value of 'crip time': Discarding notions of productivity and guilt, to listen to the rhythms of our bodies
Time as a concept is something I felt deeply conflicted about. Was I wasting time by staying in bed for so many hours? Discovering and reading more about ‘crip time’ has helped me navigate this grief a bit better | Srinidhi Raghavan writes in her column, 'Bodies Minds'
In a world that often interprets 'care' as 'burden', interdependence should be valued beyond disabled community
To a large extent we find that non-disabled people view the entirety of the disabled experience through the lens of dependence. But was it possible to see disability beyond this lens of lack?
For the disabled community, strained access to information and help in lockdown severely disrupts life
Being restricted to their homes is nothing new for the disabled community. So in many ways, the lockdown is not new for them. However, for those who do leave their homes, the battle to navigate society is an especially difficult one at present.
World Autism Awareness Day 2020: Why 'acceptance' must be prioritised over initiatives like 'light it up blue'
World over, autistic people have challenged the normative idea of “lighting it up blue” with its harmful connotations, and sought a shift from ‘awareness’ to ‘acceptance’, celebrating April as #AutismAcceptanceMonth.
'Faking well': Notes on navigating spaces, gatekeeping people with disabilities, and asking for help
Disabled people come in all shapes and sizes. Some of our disabilities are visible, some invisible. Some don’t deteriorate. Others fluctuate. Many disabilities — like psycho-social disabilities, chronic pain and fatigue — are increasingly being discussed in India. Still, I’ve learnt that asking for accommodations is among the hardest things to do, writes Srinidhi Raghavan