The Indian Disability Studies Collective (IDSC) is the academic unit of the Shivam Sati Foundation. As a whole, the Foundation conducts various events to educate and sensitise different stakeholders within the education system regarding disabilities and disabled persons. Within this broader agenda, the IDSC engages with questions and issues of disability at an academic level.
The journey began in the summer of 2019 at a meeting held at Kirori Mal College, University of Delhi, where academics and enthusiasts reflected on the underrepresentation of Indian perspectives within disability studies, a field largely shaped by Western frameworks. From these discussions emerged a shared conviction that India needed stronger and more sustained spaces for disability studies rooted in its own histories, languages, social structures, and lived realities.
Emerging from this shared vision, the Collective, consisting of members from across India and beyond, seeks to foster an academic culture dedicated to studying the socio-cultural and literary dimensions of disability as a mode of existence. To this end, the IDSC organises an annual international interdisciplinary conference that brings together academic minds from across the globe to initiate discussions on pressing issues in disability studies.
As part of its expanding range of activities, the IDSC is now launching a newsletter. The newsletter aims to create a platform for dialogue, dissemination, and engagement by featuring emerging scholarship, critical reflections, creative interventions, and updates related to disability studies. In the near future, the Collective also envisions launching a book series on Critical Disability Studies, an academic journal, and a Young Scholars’ Forum to encourage and nurture new and emerging voices in the field.
