Partners

Rising Flame

Rising flame is committed to building an inclusive world where people with disabilities thrive with dignity and live free from discrimination, abuse, and violence, with equal opportunities and access. Within 5 years of its establishment, they have been able to mark its footprints nationally and internationally through its work and have been appreciated with a National Award by the government of India. Committed to the principle “Nothing About Us Without Us”, Rising Flame has created programmes, published research, and made interventions to advance equality and justice, spotlight and address the systemic exclusion of women with disabilities, the invisibility, isolation and discrimination faced by disabled people.

Rising Flame works to extend the rights of people with disabilities through knowledge sharing and leadership programmes for young women with disabilities, women with disabilities activists working at the grassroots, and scholarship and mentoring support for youth with disabilities achieve their dreams. Aside from this, they use arts, technology and social media platforms to extend their outreach and bring the perspectives and voices of people with disabilities particularly women and youth to the forefront through cultural, social, political and policy interventions. Through their research, training, programmes, projects and interventions they have influenced individuals with and without disabilities across 14 states in India, and across 10 countries in the world from grassroots civil society organisations to international bodies like the United Nations, to promote and protect the rights of women and persons with disabilities.

Projects with MHI:

MHI is partnering with Rising Flame to execute two projects. The work under this project aims to influence the ecosystem by working with mental health practitioners and building knowledge around mental health of persons across disabilities. They will be developing self-learning manuals for mental health therapists and practitioners that centre the narratives of persons with disabilities. Through the lens of the discourses around ableism, these self-learning manuals seek to unpack ableism, visibilise its effects on people’s lives and mental health. The manuals will draw attention to intersectional marginalisation, unpack and examine the influence of ableism in disabled people’s relationships and unpack the often normalised and invisibilised experiences of violence faced by disabled people. This will strengthen the knowledge and approaches of mental health practitioners towards enhancing mental health support and services for people with disabilities.

The other project is a multi-format, digital journal which will host a range of pieces including personal narratives, academic articles, and art pieces. The pieces authored and created by persons with disabilities will address stigma, discrimination, violence and abuse and its impact on the mental health of disabled persons. Thus, filling the gaps in understanding around mental health impacts and experiences of persons across disabilities.