Dear friends, Please find copied below concept note of a workshop on Disability & Gender Rights to be held in Kolkata in the month of June. All details mentioned in the body text.
With regards Shampa Sengupta Concept Note *3 Day Disability and Gender Rights Workshop * Patriarchy and Ableism are two socially constructed power structures that co-constitute each other and produce effects and affects that are very complex and multilayered. While the latter has got far lesser attention, compared to the former, discussions around both involve viewing them separately. So while gender as a category has got both scholarly and activist attention, the issue of disability is relatively less discussed in the Indian subcontinent. However, most importantly, disability discourses are often not viewed from the lens of gender. Disability is an evolving concept. From the sites of grassroots activism to the UN, it is now acknowledged that neither the medical model nor the social models of disability are water tight compartments. On the other hand, there is a growing body of both academic and activist work that disrupts the binary model of gender. So what happens when we bring these two dynamic concepts in conversation with each other? How does it complicate our understanding of both (dis)ability and gender? The feminist movements have shown how marriage helps perpetuate the heteropatriarchal state and how the extolling of motherhood in popular culture feeds into this perpetuation. However, disability movements have pointed out how disabled women’s bodies are deemed unfit for marriage and reproduction and hence for them marriage and motherhood could be sites of agency and autonomy. So then how do we bring these apparent contradictions in dialogue with each other? What insights can the disability movements offer in sharpening our thinking about gender and how can feminist movements inform our understanding of disability? For example, as much as the women’s movements have engaged with the question of sex selective abortion, it hasn’t dealt with abortion of disabled foetuses. Yet, the latter issue also involves questions on choice, care giving, family and what constitutes a productive life and no doubt these questions are also gendered. This 3 day workshop aims to address these difficult questions through readings, conversations, film screenings, sessions and dialogues with policy makers. We shall be tackling questions of law, social movements, accessibility, abortion, marriage, sexualities, the market and popular media with the central theme of disability and gender running through all of them The WHO states that 15 % of the world’s population is disabled. We argue that just tackling the question of accessibility will not suffice in advocating for the rights of the disabled. There needs to be more critical thinking in how both disability and gender norms operate together to produce complex structural and attitudinal barriers. This 3 day workshop is being organized by Sruti Disability Rights Centre in collaboration with CREA. The languages used in this workshop will be Bengali and English. Academics, researchers, students, activists or anyone interested in the issues of disability and gender can apply for this *non residential* *3 day workshop* to be held from *17th to 19th June, 2016* in Kolkata. Please write a *500 word piece* on why you wish to attend this workshop and mail it to *[email protected] <[email protected]>* by *25th May, 2016* along with your *resume*. We will intimate you about the outcome of your application by *5th June, 2016*. Kindly note that we will be charging a nominal fee of *Rs. 500* for this workshop. Lunches and tea/coffee will be provided along with some reading materials. If any participant(s) need sign language interpretations, we request them to mention that in their application. Register at the dedicated AccessIndia list for discussing accessibility of mobile phones / Tabs on: http://mail.accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/mobile.accessindia_accessindia.org.in Search for old postings at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ To unsubscribe send a message to [email protected] with the subject unsubscribe. To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please visit the list home page at http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in Disclaimer: 1. Contents of the mails, factual, or otherwise, reflect the thinking of the person sending the mail and AI in no way relates itself to its veracity; 2. AI cannot be held liable for any commission/omission based on the mails sent through this mailing list..
