New Delhi | September 22, 2025 — Rising Flame, in collaboration with the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (Government of India), the Office of the State Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities, Goa, the UN in India, and UN Women, organised Spotlight, a media sensitisation workshop on inclusive and intersectional disability reporting.
Held on Monday at the We the Peoples Hall, United Nations House, New Delhi, the workshop brought together over 50 journalists, editors, and media professionals to examine how disability is represented in Indian newsrooms and narratives.
Framing Stories with Dignity
The first session, Disability-Inclusive and Intersectional Media Representation and Reporting, was led by Rising Flame. The session explored how language and framing affect societal attitudes towards persons with disabilities.
Nidhi Goyal, Founder and Executive Director of Rising Flame, co-facilitated the session, urging the media to move beyond portraying disabled individuals as either heroes or objects of pity. She emphasised the need for “nuanced, human-centred stories” and reporting that upholds accuracy, dignity, and a rights-based lens.
Panel on Gender and Disability in the Media
The second session, Senior Journalists Share Experiences on Reporting Gender and Disability, was moderated by Sudeshna Mukherjee, Head of Communications, UN Women India. Panellists included:
- Uzmi Athar, Chief Correspondent, PTI
- Parvinder Singh, Head of Communications, World Food Programme, India
- Pooja Pande, Writer and former Co-CEO, Chambal Media
- Bhanupriya Rao, Founder, BehanBox
The discussion highlighted that disability should not be treated as a niche beat, but as central to broader issues like health, infrastructure, and governance.
Uzmi Athar noted the need to integrate disability perspectives into mainstream reporting, citing examples like disaster coverage and electoral participation. She said, “When we talk about someone ‘braving’ challenges to vote, we should ask why the barriers exist in the first place.”
Pooja Pande added, “We must move away from binaries of pity or inspiration. Let’s focus on humanity – tell stories of disabled entrepreneurs just as we do with any other.”
Press Interaction: Disability at the Core of Development
In the concluding press interaction, key dignitaries called on the media to become partners in driving inclusion:
- Mr. Shombi Sharp, UN Resident Coordinator in India, stressed the role of media in transforming narratives from charity to rights, and from margins to mainstream. He linked the discussion to the upcoming International Purple Fest, Goa, calling it an opportunity to shape inclusive journalism.
- Shri Taha Haaziq, Secretary, Office of the State Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities, Goa, highlighted how the Purple Fest celebrates creativity, inclusion, and joy through initiatives like Purple Think Tank and Purple Experience Zones.
- Shri Subhash Phal Desai, Minister for Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, Government of Goa, called the Purple Fest a movement to promote visibility, dignity, and pride for persons with disabilities. “We urge the media to join this global movement and embrace diversity,” he said.
