Neha Verma is a queer South Asian writer and creative whose research explores abolitionist healing possibilities for queer and racialized survivors of gender and sexual violence.

We talk about challenging the dominant “healing narrative”, the tidy, linear story that moves from innocence to harm, to full recovery — and how this script, reinforced by the criminal legal system and respectability politics, can erase the messy, complex, and ongoing realities of survivorship.

Neha shares the idea of the “tolerable survivor,” how racialized and queer survivors navigate healing in systems not built for them, and what it means to imagine worthy survivor futures.

Referenced in this episode:
📘 Tanya Tagaq – Split Tooth
📘 Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha – Dirty River

Support & Resources:
Wilfrid Laurier University Gendered Violence Prevention & Support – students.wlu.ca 📧 [email protected]
Ontario Coalition of Rape Crisis Centres – https://www.ocrcc.ca
ShelterSafe Canada – https://www.sheltersafe.ca
Sexual Assault Support Centre of Waterloo Region – 24-Hour Crisis Line: 519-741-8633

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