The World Lost it’s Brightest Crusader of Disability Rights

Remembering Javed Abidi (1965-2018)

Javed Abidi, Global Chair of Disabled Peoples’ International (DPI) and Director of the National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People (NCPEDP), India passed away on Sunday, 4th March, 2018. He was just 53 years of age.

Abidi was a pioneer in many ways and was known for his innate ability to speak truth to power. He forever questioned the status quo and encouraged others to do the same. It were these characteristics, along with his sharp acumen, clarity of thought and ability to mobilise communities, that led him to create Disabled Rights Group (DRG), India’s first platform for cross-disability advocacy in 1993 and fight for India’s first ever law on disability.

He was instrumental in setting up of the National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People (NCPEDP) in 1996 and had been its Director since 1997. He was also the Convenor of the National Disability Network founded in 1999 and the National Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (NCRPD), a think tank of leaders and experts from the disability sector working on mainstreaming disability issues and developing advocacy campaigns.

Javed Abidi, Global Chair of Disabled Peoples’ International (DPI) and Director of the National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People (NCPEDP), India passed away on Sunday, 4th March, 2018. He was just 53 years of age.

Javed Abidi’s Writings

• Why Policymakers Should Address The Unique Issues Faced By The Disabled In The Global South
• A healthcare sector that is disability-challenged
• Digital push must be disability-inclusive
• Spare a thought for disabled, pass the bill
• Show me the money!
• Universal Design: The basis of empowerment of people with disabilities
• Free but not independent
• Disability and the Demographic Dividend: Why skilling persons with disabilities is good for India’s GDP?
• Reforms and the disabled
• Ensuring RPWD 2016 reaches every corner of India. This was Javed Abidi’s mission

Orbituaries

• Javed Abidi: ‘Nothing about Us without Us’
• Javed Abidi’s Brand of Activism Will Continue to Power Generations of Disability Rights Champions
• 5th March, 2018 – the flashback to how the dialogue on Web Accessibility started in India with none other than Javed Abidi at the forefront of it!
• Before and after Javed Abidi
• The Javed Abidi I Knew
• Javed Abidi obituary: ‘Be ready to fight your own battle’
• The Magic that was Javed Abidi
• Activist Javed Abidi dies at 53: what he meant for 8 Cr Indians with disabilities
• The Man Whose Tireless Advocacy Changed The Lives of Millions of Disabled Indians