Ability in Disability, with a focus on young women

[Meera Shenoy]

Kindly see and share this link with friends and forums to give the message that there is Ability in Disability. Remember every one of you matter !!!  Thanks 

This is the talk I gave recently at TEDxBerkeley

[Jolanda]

Hi Meera,

I am an international trainer/and advisor. Background in micro economics and communication. Nowadays my focus lies in valuing diversity in organisations and institutions . I am passionated about finding the answer to what to do and how to do. So I get thrilled if I observe that my contribution really increase practical capacity of professionals and organisations in development interventions. We started recently a partnership with Light for the World and are offering short training in Disability Mainstreaming in projects. See also www.mdf.nl. In Asia we have 3 offices; Sri Lanka, Indonesia and Vietnam. We also have offices in africa, Latin america and europe. So we support a large group of trainers to < walk the talk> and ensure learning of people to contribute to a better world and to have FUN to learn to do better.

[Meera Shenoy]

Thanks Jolanda, Karen,Kristy and Michele for your comments. It is wonderful that located in different parts of the world, we feel connected through a cause and a blog ...After reading the comments, I wondered about your backgrounds. For example,Kristy where do you teach. And thanks Michele, would love to explore Paris with you someday!!!

[Jolanda]

Meera,

 wonderful to hear what you achieved. I agree that this is also part of thinking and observing gender differences and breaking our own stereotypes and ways of learning and decision making. We ( MDF together with Light for the World) offer in Holland, Tanzania, Vietnam and Sri Lanka, short courses given by trainers living with a disability to development managers on Mainstreaming Disability in Development Projects and Programmes. Just to tell you, I join your fight to acheive a better Tomorrow.

[K.T.P]

Meera, thank you so much for sharing with us the wonderful change that you are enabling in the lives of people who too often get overlooked. I agree with Michele Tarsilla that global achievements are sometimes exaggerated, and from my experience, particularly in the domains of Gender and sub-focal areas of social protection strategies. As an evaluation professional, your video opened my eyes to a vulnerable group and their achievements in a way that the literature could never. Hats off to you! You are giving a truly human face to development!!

[Kristy Kelly]

Thank you for sharing this - am sending it out to my students and colleagues! You provide an excellent and accessible for how intersectionality matters in our work on gender and disability in local and global contexts. 

[Michele Tarsilla]

Dear Meera,

What an impactful video! It clearly shows that you really care about your cause. Often worried about running after contracts and RFPs I wish all evaluators had one cause, too, and pursued it, without compromising their understandable financial needs. The fact that this is a Gender and Evaluation online community says that all of us at least have nominally identified an area within the broader evaluation space where we would like to get better at and promote some change more effectively in (not an easy job, I know).

When you work on equity, it is like playing with a Russian puppet (there are so many layers and different levels of gravity of inequities). I hope that from now onward, all of us (it seems you have been on that path for quite some time) will go even further beyond the "gender" label, which is still perceived by many outside of our circle, as "parity" and "equality" and, which sometimes - when accomplished (see parity enrollment ratio in education) - does not have too much meaning de facto. See, for instance, the current Education MDG. After reading a tweet from The Economist yesterday which seemed to celebrate some of the MDG achievements,  I responded to it saying that there is not much to celebrate given the following: inclusion of children with disabilities in schools is still very limited, the quality of teaching (when teachers even bother showing up at schools in many different communities) is quite low; and opportunities for further school after the primary level are simply not affordable for a lot of households (especially when the ones going to school are the girls within the household).

On a more humorous note, I am Italian working for UNESCO in Paris and I understand that, due to your work commitments in India, you could not enjoy Venice as much as you have liked (while your husband was working there at the UNESCO Office). Therefore, please by all means come to Paris. I will be glad to show you around and treat you for a good coffee by the Eiffel Tower, discussing on how evaluation could promote further the gender/inclusion cause that drives your beautiful work.

Best, Michele

(Twitter: MiEval_TuEval)