Nidhi Goyal

Nidhi Goyal (born 21 September 1985) is an Indian disability and gender rights activist who has been appointed to the UN Women Executive Director's advisory group.[1][2] Goyal is the founder and director of Mumbai-based NGO Rising Flame[3][4] and works in the areas of sexuality, gender, health and rights for women and girls with disabilities.[5] She is also the first blind female stand-up comedian in India.[6][7][5]

Early life

Goyal was born and brought up in Mumbai.[6] At the age of 15, she was diagnosed with an incurable, irreversible eye disorder called retinitis pigmentosa as a consequence of which she lost her eye-sight a year later.[8]

Goyal was involved in performing arts in college. She began a career in mass media before transitioning to rights-based work for people with disabilities.[9]

Activism

Goyal advocates for issues around sexuality and sexual and reproductive health and rights for women and girls with disabilities.[3][10][11][12][13] Nidhi has been appointed to the UN Women Executive Director's advisory group,[1][2] sits on the advisory board of Voice, a grant making facility by the Dutch Ministry,[14] and is currently the president of Association for Women's Rights in Development (AWID).[15] She is a member of the core group on persons with disabilities and elderly persons by the National Human Rights Commission in India.[16]

Goyal was the director of the sexuality and disability program at the Mumbai-based feminist non-profit Point of View.[12][17] The organisation launched a website resource for girls and women with disabilities.[17][10] The site is accessible to the visually impaired.[17]

Goyal is the founder and director of Rising Flame, a Mumbai-based organization founded in 2017 which is focused on building leadership and advocacy skills among people, particularly women and youth with disabilities.[18][19] Rising Flame has been involved in the #MeToo movement and the campaign 'My Tale Too', which aims to rewrite the narratives of popular movies or novels with disabled people in the lead.[3]

Comedy

Goyal is India's first female visually impaired stand-up comedian.[8] She was encouraged to try comedy by close friend and fellow activist and filmmaker, Pramada Menon.[9][6] She wrote her first set in six months.[8] Goyal was also featured in the first episode of stand-up comedian Aditi Mittal's webseries Bad Girls.[20][21] In her comedy, Goyal talks about sex, relationships and love within the disabled community.[8] She performs about incidents from her own life and uses comedy as a tool for activism to talk about the stigma around disability and sexuality. So far, she has performed in various mainstream clubs, at conferences and for corporations.[9]

Awards

Goyal was given the Neelam Kanga Award by National Association for the Blind, India, in January 2016[22] and the Superwoman of the Year award by ABP News in March 2018.[23]

Research and publications

Goyal co-authored a report for the international human rights research and advocacy organization, Human Rights Watch, titled "Invisible victims of sexual violence: Access to justice for women and girls with disabilities in India".[24][25] The report looks at the challenges that women and girls with disabilities who have survived sexual violence face when accessing legal aid and justice.[24]

Book chapters

Articles

References
  1. "UN Women Executive Director establishes her new Civil Society Advisory Group". UN Women. Retrieved 2019-07-05.
  2. "Author Page". openDemocracy. Retrieved 2019-07-05.
  3. "Blind comedian Nidhi Goyal talks about her journey". femina.in. Retrieved 2019-07-05.
  4. "Nidhi Goyal: Changing Norms One Joke At A Time". Women's Web: For Women Who Do. 2017-12-06. Retrieved 2019-07-05.
  5. "Meet Nidhi Goyal, India's first blind stand up comedienne". Hindustan Times. 2017-04-01. Retrieved 2019-07-05.
  6. Aranha, Jovita (25 September 2017). "Change Through Humour! Meet Nidhi Goyal, India's First-Ever Disabled Woman Comedian". The Better India. Retrieved 27 August 2018.
  7. Sengupta, Saurya (21 July 2018). "India's stand-up comics are pulling no punches". The Hindu. Retrieved 27 August 2018.
  8. Tuli, Aanchal (2 April 2017). "Meet Nidhi Goyal, India's first blind stand up comedienne". Hindustan Times. Retrieved 27 August 2018.
  9. Shah, Sonal. "You Need To Be Strong Enough To Point To That Elephant In The Room: Nidhi Goyal, Disability And Gender Rights Activist And Comedian". United Nations. Retrieved 27 August 2018.
  10. "Interview: Nidhi Goyal • In Plainspeak". In Plainspeak. 2015-06-01. Retrieved 2019-07-05.
  11. "In the words of Nidhi Goyal: "These spaces belong to everyone"". UN Women. 13 June 2018. Retrieved 27 August 2018.
  12. Nair, Supriya (2012-06-08). "Willing and able". Mint. Retrieved 2019-07-05.
  13. "Feminist Spaces Remain Notoriously Clueless About Disabled Women's Needs: Nidhi Goyal". 2017-12-19. Retrieved 2019-07-05.
  14. "Advisory Board |". voice.global. Retrieved 2019-07-05.
  15. "Our Board of Directors". AWID. Retrieved 2019-07-05.
  16. "Team – Rising Flame". Retrieved 2019-07-05.
  17. Jain, Mayank. "Asking questions about sex that disabled women are often afraid to pose". Scroll.in. Retrieved 2019-07-05.
  18. "Rising Flame – Lead. Grow. Change". Retrieved 2019-07-05.
  19. Editor (2019-05-21). "Nominations Open: "i can lead" National leadership program for women with disabilities by Rising Flame". enabled.in. Retrieved 2019-07-05.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
  20. Behrawala, Krutika (20 July 2016). "Stand-Up Comedy Show Aims To Bust Myths About Sex And Disability". Mid Day. Retrieved 27 August 2018.
  21. Sharma, Deeksha (17 February 2017). "Visually-Impaired Comedian Nidhi Goyal Slays It On 'Bad Girls'". The Quint. Retrieved 27 August 2018.
  22. Annual Report, National Association for the Blind, Indiahttps://www.giveindia.org/images/documents/14_ar_15_16.pdf
  23. Bureau, ABP News (2018-03-08). "These 3 Amazing Ladies Have Won Our Superwomen Contest! Read Their Inspiring Stories". www.abplive.in. Retrieved 2019-07-05.
  24. "Tough for disabled sexual violence victims to get legal aid: Human Rights Watch report". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 2019-07-05.
  25. "Invisible Victims of Sexual Violence | Access to Justice for Women and Girls with Disabilities in India". Human Rights Watch. 2018-04-03. Retrieved 2019-07-05.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.