Indian society is suited to meet the needs of certain kinds of bodies over others that are deemed disabled. This is made clear in multiple ways: right from how buildings are designed to the types of appearances that are idealised. However, there are important ways in which people with disabilities have contested attempts to sideline their rights.

This week we’ll speak to Renu Addlakha about women with visual disabilities, and the women’s movement. We’ll also discuss how medical and legal systems inform our understanding of disability. Dr Addlakha is with the Centre for Women’s Development Studies or CWDS in New Delhi. She’s published several articles in EPW about the topics that we will be discussing today and here are two that we recommend: "Women with Visual Disabilities and the Women’s Movement" (http://bit.ly/women-disability) and "Disability Law in India: Paradigm Shift or Evolving Discourse?" (http://bit.ly/law-disability).

Audio courtesy: The last ones by Jahzzar [CC BY-SA 3.0].