Disability Matters Online Symposia 2025: Honouring the Legacy of Professor Anita Ghai

Introduction by Dan Goodley and Ankita Mishra

Disability Matters is a major six year pan-national programme of disability, health and science research, funded by a Wellcome Trust Discretionary Award.

A key ambition of Disability Matters is to make disability the driving subject of research. We will be promoting scholarship that demonstrates the contribution of disability studies to a host of fields including medicine, medical humanities, medical sociology, science and technology studies, health sciences, population health as well as other key areas including education, law, business, legal studies, health psychology, social work, etc. Between 2023 and 2029, the programme is running a number of short and accessible Online Symposia.

We were fortunate to partner with India through Anita. She brought Disability Matters to India and India to Disability Matters, for which we are eternally grateful. As we all know, Anita was a foundational figure in Indian Critical Disability Studies, and her work has deeply shaped conversations about gender, identity, inclusion, power, culture, and activism. In Anita’s memory and to honour her legacy, we are organising an online symposium dedicated to centre Indian Disability Studies, its epistemology, theory, activism, and social engagement as it marks a year to Anita’s departure on 11 December. We hope to create a living archive that celebrates and extends the work of Indian Disability Studies, inspired by Anita Ghai’s scholarship, activism, and imagination. 

In Anita’s memory and to honour her legacy, we have organised a series of Disability Dialogues contributions and today’s online symposium dedicated to centre Indian Disability Studies, its epistemology, theory, activism, and social engagement as it marks a year to Anita’s departure on 11 December. You can read the Disability Dialogues contributions  here. 

We express our immense gratitude to the wonderful contributors: 

Dr Shilpaa Anand 

Professor Tanmoy Bhattacharya

Professor Rachana Johri

Professor Nivedita Menon 

Professor Nilika Mehrotra 

Dr Ritika Gulyani

Dr Karuna Rajeev 

Dr Shweta Verma

We hope to have created a living archive that celebrates and extends the work of Indian Disability Studies, inspired by Anita Ghai’s scholarship, activism, and imagination.

I would now like to invite Professor Dan Goodley to share a few words with us about his friendship and connection with Anita. Read his reflections here.

The format of the symposium will be:

• Introduction (5 minutes)

• Three x spoken provocations (10 minutes x 3)

• Q&A (20 minutes)

• Online plenary and open discussion (15 minutes)

• Close (5 minutes)

Total duration: 1 hour 15 minutes

Speakers

Prof. Shubhangi Vaidya is with the School of Interdisciplinary and Trans-disciplinary Studies at the Indira Gandhi National Open University. A sociologist by training, she has research interests in the areas of disability, gender and the family, with a special focus on neurodiversity. She is the author of ' Autism and the Family in Urban India: Looking Back, Looking Forward' ( Springer, 2016) and ' Embodying Motherhood: Perspectives from Contemporary India' co-authored with Anu Aneja ( Sage-Yoda, 2016). She is also engaged in awareness raising and advocacy for persons with disability and their families.

Link to paper

Sandeep R. Singh is an Assistant Professor of Comparative Literature and Translation Studies at Dr. B.R. Ambedkar University Delhi, India where he teaches courses on Disability Studies, World Literature, Literary Comparison, Narratology and Life-Writing at the Undergraduate and Postgraduate level. He is pursuing his PhD titled “Writing Life, Narrating Self: Disability Discourse in the Works of Oliver W. Sacks” at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi and he is due to submit by December 2025. He is also a co-applicant on the Disability Matters Project, a major six-year pan-national programme of disability, health and science research, funded by a Wellcome Trust Discretionary Award (2023 - 2029).

Link to paper

Dr. Sruti Mohapatra is a national icon in the disability rights movement - an author, scholar, international inclusion trainer, and tireless advocate for equity and accessibility. As the founder of Swabhiman, a leading nonprofit working in inclusive education, accessibility, and policy reform, she has conceptualized award-winning programs such as Anjali, Saksham, Prerana, and others that have influenced policy and practice across India. She has played a key role in shaping disability legislation, and serves on key national education and policy bodies. Dr. Mohapatra is a five-time TEDx speaker and recipient of over 77 national and international awards, including the Nari Shakti Puraskar from the President of India. Her journey has inspired two films, one by the Films Division of India and another in Odia language, highlighting her contributions and spirit. 

Link to paper