Mumbai event aims to encourage meaningful conversations with differently-abled

Nipun Malhotra (left) with a beneficiary of his initiative that connects those who need wheelchairs to donors who can financially pitch in

For a Delhi School of Economics postgraduate student, who had graduated from the prestigious St Stephen's College and topped the country in business studies in the 12th standard, landing a job in a placement interview should have been a cakewalk. "But the interviewers were not looking at Nipun Malhotra; for them, I was a person in a wheelchair," says the 30-year-old, citing one of the many instances of discrimination that led him to start the Nipman Foundation in New Delhi that works in health and advocacy for persons with disabilities.

This Friday, Malhotra will be in Mumbai to join three other panellists at a discussion titled, Freedom to be Flawed: Awkward Conversations Around Disability, which aims to untangle disability from the notion of inability, and also veer away from extreme positions that either put people with disabilities on a pedestal or make disability invisible.

Nidhi Goyal

Since 2012, Malhotra has identified several areas to make the lives of people with disabilities more independent and comfortable. He has worked with a restaurant search app to add wheelchair access filters to their listings and is now working with the CISF to help make air travel more dignified. When the new GST laws taxed wheelchairs, Braille tools and hearing aids at 18 percent, he campaigned to make them tax-free. "Taxing me for my wheelchair is like taxing the able-bodied, for walking," he elaborates. The tax rate now stands at 5 per cent. Another area of Malhotra's work includes coming up with a socially sensitive disability questionnaire with Niti Aayog, because in a country like India where disability is a taboo, people often shy away from sharing details of a family member.

Policy changes and advocacy apart, what could society do to be more sensitive? "We must strive to be more accepting in general - of people of opposite gender, sexuality, caste and religion. We need to accept people for what they can do and not [reject them] for what they can't," Malhotra signs off.

On May 4, 5.30 pm at Godrej India Culture Lab, Vikhroli. CALL 25188010

The Other panelists

Kartiki Patel
A spinal cord injury left Patel wheelchair-bound in 2008, but the sports enthusiast didn't stop playing basketball and badminton. She was selected captain for the Indian women's basketball team for the Asian Paralympics Games qualifiers.

Divyanshu Ganatra
Losing his eyesight when he was 19 was only a glitch for Ganatra, who became India's first blind solo pilot, and first blind tandem cyclist to complete the 500km ride from Manali to Khardung La. He promotes inclusivity through adventure sports.

Virali Modi
Actor, model and disability rights activist Virali Modi has helmed two campaigns for accessible railways and restaurants in India. She was also crowned the first runner-up in the 2014 Miss Wheelchair India pageant.

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