There are a few instances that Nu (they/them) remembers distinctly from their childhood: being the only student with a visible disability in the entire class, experiencing fear and shame while getting up from the seat to utter “present!” every morning, and a perpetual sense of “otherness” induced—knowingly and unknowingly—by their able-bodied counterparts. “I have felt disempowered. I have never felt truly welcomed…,” shares Nu. The many instances of bullying and the numerous attempts of “trying to achieve able-bodiedness” left the 24-year-old grappling with a question: How do you navigate able-bodied mandates of communication, freedom, independence, and productivity as a person with a disability… How do they fall in love in an able-bodied world?
The answer came when they launched Revival Disability India (Revival), a platform that seeks to archive stories of persons with disabilities in an attempt to support them while also creating evidence that persons with disabilities exist. “It started as a platform to empower myself and then I actively started talking to other disabled people,” shares Nu who graduated from Lady Shri Ram College, Lajpat Nagar. The conversations put to rest apprehensions the Gurugram-resident had felt, for instance, their anger towards the world. “It normalised the feeling of frustration, and made me realise that marginalised anger is important.”
Empower and educate
The social model of disability tells us that it is an inaccessible environment and society that makes it difficult for an individual to function to their full capacity. This is, however, overlooked individuals with a disability are made to feel ashamed. However, Nu and their team believe that disability is a part of their identity, an identity that they seek to explore and celebrate through the platform. The attempt is also on dismantling the many myths that plague the existence of people with disabilities such as sexuality. “As a disabled person, who is policed their entire life, you are taught your body is undesirable. Disabled bodies are sexual and political—my limp, my crutch, my scars are political.”
If you scroll through their Instagram page (@revivaldisabilityindia), you will notice several graphics, write-ups, and reels wherein persons with disabilities tell their stories and throw light on several day-to-day issues. Revival organises and participates in various events—they recently exhibited at the Queer Made Weekend organised by Tinder India and Gaysi Family. Revival also hosts a number of physical and virtual workshops for the community as well.
In our telephonic conversation, Nu touches on many other issues—finding friends through the community, planning solo trips as a queer individual, navigating dating applications, and more. One thing that specifically resonated with us is how rest, an activity deemed unimportant by the adherents of hustle culture, is compulsory for a person with a disability. Nu, who established this platform as a digital media project from her room, concludes, “I started a movement from my bed.”