Diversability Amplified Podcast: Disability, Advocacy & Climate Justice with Puneet Singh Singhal [S2:E10]
In this episode of Diversability Amplified, Tiffany Yu speaks with disability rights advocate and accessibility professional Puneet Singh Singhal about his journey toward claiming a disability identity and the cultural perspectives shaping disability advocacy in India. They explore the intersection of disability and climate change, the impact of rapid urbanization, and the urgent need for disability justice in climate movements. Puneet shares his insights on inclusive workplace design, the power of community healing, and the role of intention in accessibility. Tune in for a powerful conversation on reimagining inclusion and creating systemic change for minoritized communities worldwide.
Puneet is featured in The Anti-Ableist Manifesto (Hachette Go, 2024).
Puneet Singh Singhal is a Disability Rights advocate and an accessibility professional. He is cofounder of Billion Strong, an organization working towards empowering persons with disabilities globally. He is a person with Dyspraxia, Dyslexia and stuttering. He is working at the intersection of Disability, Climate Change, rampant inhumane urbanization, and Mental Health. Recognized by Forbes for his efforts in workplace inclusion, Puneet was also honored with the Commonwealth Innovation Awards 2023 for his contributions to disability inclusion worldwide. His commitment seeks to empower marginalized communities and create accessible environments for all. Born into poverty and facing domestic violence, his experiences fuel his passion for advocacy.
Show Notes
Puneet’s Disability Advocacy Journey
Cultural Perspectives on Neurodiversity and Disability
Community’s Healing and Inclusive Efforts
Inclusive Design and Accessibility Importance
Disability and Climate Change Intersection
Urbanization and Climate Refugees in India
Mental Health, Intersectionality, and Accessibility
Summary
Quick recap
Tiffany Yu and Puneet Singh Singhal discussed Puneet's journey towards claiming a disability identity, the cultural perspectives on disability, and the importance of accessibility and inclusive design in the workplace. They also explored the intersection of disability and climate change, the impact of rapid urbanization, and the need for disability justice in climate justice movements.
Summary
Puneet's Disability Advocacy Journey
Tiffany Yu and Puneet Singh Singhal had a conversation about Puneet's journey towards claiming a disability identity. Puneet, a disability rights advocate and accessibility professional, shared his experiences of self-diagnosis and formal diagnosis in India, where neurodiversity is often seen as a taboo. He expressed his excitement about the growing conversation around mental health and neurodiversity in India. Tiffany also mentioned that Puneet was featured in her book, The Anti-Ableist Manifesto, and shared a quote from the book that highlighted the challenges of seeking a diagnosis despite being successful.
Cultural Perspectives on Neurodiversity and Disability
Tiffany and Puneet discussed the cultural perspectives on disability, particularly in Asian societies. Puneet highlighted that these societies often view neurodiversity as a burden and are at the beginning stages of acknowledging and understanding these conditions objectively. They also discussed the toxic nature of the term "normal" in relation to disability and the moral model of disability, which views a person as morally responsible for their disability. Puneet shared his personal experiences of bullying and stigma due to his speech difference and dyslexia, dyspraxia, and stammering. The conversation concluded with the idea that new generations of activists and advocates will come up with better models of disability, moving away from the moral model.
Community's Healing and Inclusive Efforts
Puneet shared his positive experiences with the community, highlighting the healing and spiritual aspects. He also discussed the global community's work with Indeed, focusing on making their job platform more accessible and inclusive. Puneet emphasized the importance of intention over resources and how shifting mindset can change the trajectory of accessibility. He concluded that the community's efforts have shown that things can be done differently.
Inclusive Design and Accessibility Importance
Puneet and Tiffany discussed the importance of accessibility and inclusive design in the workplace. They highlighted the need for flexibility in work arrangements, such as working from home, hybrid, or in the office, to accommodate different needs. They also emphasized the importance of simplifying job descriptions and requirements to avoid unintentional exclusion of disabled candidates. Tiffany shared that accessibility is a broad concept and that there is no one-size-fits-all solution. They agreed that understanding and accommodating the diverse needs within the community is crucial for creating an inclusive environment.
Disability and Climate Change Intersection
Tiffany and Puneet discussed the intersection of disability and climate change, with Puneet highlighting the disproportionate impact of climate change on the disability community globally. Puneet also mentioned the need for disability justice in climate justice movements, emphasizing the importance of accessibility in public spaces. The conversation also touched on the lack of representation of disability perspectives in climate justice conversations, with Puneet attributing this to systemic and apparent reasons such as inaccessible public spaces.
Urbanization and Climate Refugees in India
Puneet shared his experiences growing up in a village that has since transformed into a slum due to uncontrolled urbanization and migration. He expressed concern about the rapid urbanization in developing countries like India, which he believes is creating cities that people do not want to live in. He also mentioned his personal experience of having to temporarily relocate due to poor air quality, which he believes is a common issue for many people in his area. Tiffany connected this to the concept of climate refugees, suggesting that unlivable urban environments may force people to displace themselves, often due to socioeconomic factors.
Mental Health, Intersectionality, and Accessibility
Tiffany and Puneet discussed various topics, including mental health advocacy, intersectionality, cultural perspectives on disability, workplace accessibility, climate change, and urbanization. Puneet expressed his desire for disabled people to be considered strong stakeholders in policy-making and for their inputs to be included in policies. He also shared his plans to have recorded conversations in regional languages to facilitate expression among his community.
Transcript
14:03:04 Hi, everyone. You've got Tiffany Yu here and this is this episode of Diversity Amplified.
14:03:10 Where we are chatting with members of the disability community to learn more about their disability pride journey and more about them.
14:03:19 So Puneet Singh Singhal, before I read his bio. I just want to share that Puneet has kind of been in the diversity ecosystem for a little bit.
14:03:32 Not only has he been a recipient of the Awesome Foundation Disability Disability Foundation chapter grant.
14:03:39 He has also been honored as one of our D30 disability impact list honorees.
14:03:46 And so let me go ahead. And he is also featured in the anti-Ableist Manifesto, this book that I wrote, which actually I have the India version that is going, India paperback version that is going to be launching on March 6th so
14:04:01 A lot of exciting things going on. Let me read Puneet's bio.
14:04:06 Panit Sing Singhall is a disability rights advocate and an accessibility professional.
14:04:10 He's a co-founder of Billion Strong, an organization working towards empowering persons with disabilities globally.
14:04:17 He's a person with dyspraxia. And stuttering. And he is working at the intersection of disability, climate change, rampant inhumane urbanization, and mental health.
14:04:28 Recognized by Forbes for his efforts in workplace inclusion. Panit was also honored with a Commonwealth Innovation Awards 2023 for his contributions to disability inclusion worldwide.
14:04:40 His commitment seeks to empower marginalized communities and create accessible environments for all.
14:04:45 Born into poverty and facing domestic violence, his experiences fuel his passion for advocacy.
14:04:52 Hi, Puneet. That was a lot. Welcome, welcome
14:04:55 It's really a lot to listen to your own bio you know i was like I was getting really anxious.
14:05:04 Yeah.
14:05:04 No worries. And tell our audience where you are joining in from. Also tell us what time it is where you are.
14:05:12 Yeah, so I am joining from new delhi india and right now it's 3.30 a.m and i'm i am wearing a black headphones my hairs are black kind of brownish as well and i'm wearing a uh check shirt uh shirt
14:05:29 Kind of dark blue and brownish yeah and i'm a i'm an indian man uh really looking forward to uh to talk to tiffany Tonight, yeah. Thank you.
14:05:39 Awesome. Yeah. And thank you for the reminder. My visual description, I'm a Taiwanese American woman.
14:05:45 With short black hair and I'm wearing a beige colored dress with floral prints on it. And I'm joining you from Los Angeles where it is 2 p.m. In the afternoon And I am sitting next to a copy of my book, The Anti-Ableist Manifesto, that has this yellow to orange gradient cover.
14:06:04 So the first question I always like to ask is around disability origin stories and so I know in your bio you mentioned kind of your diagnoses. I want to better understand. I know you had a little bit of a journey toward getting those diagnoses as well.
14:06:19 Can you share a little bit more about your own journey of of claiming a disability identity.
14:06:29 Thank you, Tiffany. First of all, congratulations for the anti-ablis manifesto. It seems like a personal victory to me as well. I'm so happy. I don't know.
14:06:39 Seriously, it's such a… I would say… acknowledgement of our community uh globally and being a small part of it, I'm really blessed.
14:06:54 And also I've shared some things in the entertainment and bliss manifesto as well which i would uh request everyone to read it.
14:07:03 And something around diagnosis as well, if I remember closely, I don't remember, but I actually shared. I'm looking forward to actually read the book.
14:07:10 But actually i'm really… excited and also no this process of self-diagnosis and then getting a formal diagnosis i think it's a very uh tedious task in countries like Like India, where neurodiversity is still seen as some kind of of taboo.
14:07:32 But I'm very happy to share that things has been changing a lot.
14:07:36 In the last two years you know i can see people talking about mental health i can see people talking about neurodiversity. I'm so very excited to see what's next you know in in this journey of this country towards you know new neuro inclusion, I'm really looking forward to that.
14:07:54 And I just so happened to find the place where Puneet is mentioned in the book. I believe you're mentioned twice, so we'll talk a little bit about both of them, but I thought I would read read the contribution. So it says, Panit Singh Singhal is an accessibility professional in India
14:08:08 Who lives with multiple non-apparent disabilities. In 2021, he decided to seek a formal diagnosis for dyslexia and dyspraxia.
14:08:17 And here is Puneet's quote. During the diagnostic process, the professional, renowned in New Delhi, recognized my achievements and contributions to our society.
14:08:26 Yet his words, you are so successful, why do you even need a diagnosis, left me stunned.
14:08:33 It was a stark reminder of how success is often misinterpreted as a sign of the absence of struggle.
14:08:39 This encounter underlines a profound issue The persistent belief and lack of understanding surrounding non-apparent disabilities.
14:08:47 Unlike physical disabilities, conditions like dyslexia and dyspraxia are invisible to the naked eye.
14:08:52 Often leading to misconceptions and underestimation of the challenges faced. And so given that given that you are joining us from India for I would say probably the majority of our listeners are based in the US.
14:09:10 Can you give us a little bit of insights just as to the cultural perspectives around what disability looks like? And I know you're doing So much work globally around disability inclusion. So you probably get a good sense of some of the differences that are observed globally.
14:09:24 Yeah. I think the most dark and contrasting difference would be how you know asian societies see uh neurodiversity as a whole.
14:09:37 And uh it's um it's kind of seen still seen as as in butter And it's a very overwhelming experience for people who are actually going through it. So I would say it's a very kind of a beginning stage for our society is to actually
14:09:59 Kind of acknowledge these conditions and also to look at these conditions in an objective way instead of you know pathologizing or using some insensitive derogatory terms regarding these conditions.
14:10:15 I also want to mention, I'm looking down because I'm looking for Puneet's other contribution in the book, which is around Which is around kind of the moral model of disability, which I actually think we see a lot in Asian cultures. I'm East Asian.
14:10:29 Paneet is Indian, South Asian. And you've also been a guest on the anti-ableism series. And one of the things you talked about is kind of redefining normal. So I was wondering if you could talk a little bit more about that.
14:10:45 I think it's very… normal to use the word normal in that sense because people actually use normal for non-disabled people for people who are cisgender heterosexual you know right so for lgbtq community and for disability community i think this word
14:11:09 Normal is very toxic you know because it is used against us to somehow give us the you know that that thing that you are not normal So, you know, it's huge. And one of my friend uh shared me that even you know
14:11:28 It's a burden kind of, you know, because somehow people say people say you know in a very religious society people say that i will pray that you become normal.
14:11:40 So if the prayer itself become a kind of a punishment you know so i think and it's presented in every religion. I'm not talking about just one religion so here is something where all the regents meet against disabled people so there is
14:11:56 I would say it's quite common in every region, yeah.
14:12:00 Yeah, and I think something that I am working to unlearn as well.
14:12:07 Talking about the norm or talking about normal because When we describe non-disabled people as normal.
14:12:15 Essentially, we're saying that over a billion people globally who are disabled deviates from some kind of norm. But that's a lot of people.
14:12:24 I love that you specified that. I wanted to share back on the point around kind of cultural differences where Puneet shared a little bit more of his story.
14:12:36 And this is in a chapter in the book talking about the different models of disability.
14:12:40 And one of the models of disability that we actually don't spend as much time talking about, we talk a lot about the medical model and we talk a lot about a desire toward the social model, which is how can we fix and adjust the environment and attitudes around disability and the disability in itself is not the problem that needs to be fixed.
14:12:59 And so the moral model says. The moral model of disability views a person as morally responsible for their disability.
14:13:08 This model is often tied to religious or superstitious beliefs. For example, a person or our ancestors did something immoral in the past that caused our disability.
14:13:18 As a result, the individual is seen as being at fault for our disability and deserving of it.
14:13:23 In the example of a person who cannot use stairs. They may be seen as not trying hard enough or undeserving of entering the building.
14:13:31 Paneet Sing Singhal, a disability inclusion advocate who lives with dyslexia, dyspraxia, and stammering.
14:13:37 Was born and raised in a slum in India and experienced extreme poverty and domestic violence.
14:13:42 Along with becoming a caregiver to his chronically ill mother. He shared that he experienced horrific bullying in school for his speech difference.
14:13:50 Enacting the moral model of disability, he told me, even parents got in on the act, fearing I'd infect their kids with my stammer. And so it was kind of this idea that somewhere in our ancestral lineage, there was this bad luck.
14:14:04 Or some curse on the family that made it so that we now had disabilities that were then would be contagious and rob our bad luck off onto other people.
14:14:18 Now, I'm curious, I know that's something I'm unlearning from my parents generation. I'm curious if you see that changing within our generation now, this movement away from the moral model of disability.
14:14:31 Absolutely. And actually, one step forward i will say that I'm waiting for more activists and more advocates to come and come up with a better model of disability right so you know there will be generations of new activism and new kind of activism will come up
14:14:48 And to talk about generally it's a very common conception you know in uh i would say misconception in South Asian countries.
14:14:57 Plus China as well you know i have few friends in china that have shared similar experiences how their kind of how their parents used to think the same and how their society is quite the same so I think it's a
14:15:12 With a pan kind of Eastern societies were phenomena where you you try to associate no you have to give some reason to your disability you know because you are quote unquote abnormal you know so you have to justify what
14:15:29 What leads to this So, you know, and in in societies where reason plays a central role everything should revolve around religion so it you have to rationalize what you have to you know make sense of all of these things so
14:15:45 It absolutely makes sense people will try to wrap everything around one concept And then they will present you as someone who is not desired
14:15:57 That's so interesting. In many ways, I believe that religion was the first community.
14:16:08 And many of these religions may have viewed disability through the moral model or through some other harmful models that said that we were undeserving or there may have been some bad luck somewhere.
14:16:24 And we were actually having a conversation in diversability a couple of months ago around the role of spirituality in our lives If we found that if we found that whatever religious communities we originally were a part of.
14:16:41 Weren't necessarily serving us. And what I thought was a really fascinating takeaway from that conversation to me is that many of the community members within our disabled community spirituality to them meant being a part of a disability community.
14:17:00 And finding that that broader anchor for or that higher level anchor for advocacy.
14:17:10 So I feel like we spent…
14:17:12 Absolutely. Diversity was something For me, you know, coming and meeting to community members you know to this having discussion and conversations on various topics you know it was healing it was certainly healing and and spirituality for me you know it's
14:17:31 It's pretty… pretty much like you know how you can heal yourself and if if that comes with you know community healing if that comes through you come to know that you are not alone that self is a very very strong message you know that okay we have some I have someone to fall back on so
14:17:50 Yeah, that was really helpful and absolutely agree with you.
14:17:55 Yeah. Talk to me a little bit about some of the work that, talk to me a little bit more about Billion Strong.
14:18:01 Some of the initiatives that the global community is working on together.
14:18:06 Yes. So right now we were working with indeed to make their job platform more accessible and inclusive for ourselves. And in the beginning you know We were also thinking that, okay, what to do with you know with the money part and all of these things. But, you
14:18:28 In the journey we both realized that it's not the money you know it's the intention that will lead us to results.
14:18:35 So for example, we worked on the job description part extensively, how we can make the job description very simple and plain.
14:18:43 For not only for neurodivergent people, also for the people who don't have English as their first language So, you know, if we can tweak these small little things you know and nudge people to become more accessible as an organization no so i think
14:19:00 That played a huge role you know how we can… think of such solutions which doesn't require much of resources, which doesn't require you know that much but intention So it was a huge lesson for me, for the team for Indeed and for ourselves as well that
14:19:19 The mindset that is more important and how you shift that that mindset you know it's it's uh it will be you know changing the whole trajectory of how we see accessibility because generally we see accessibility as you know kind of
14:19:35 Bothering thing you know that okay oh this is we need to do this or we need money or that so there are a lot of excuses a lot of there are some valid reasons as well.
14:19:44 More or less we generally think of this as you know that okay this is little troublesome it will bother us But no, no, this is not the case. We have simply realized that things can be done in a very smooth way as well.
14:20:00 Yeah, and one of the things you're highlighting with that partnership too is I've been thinking a lot about how almost at every single point of the hiring process there could be… unintentional exclusion of disabled people.
14:20:17 Absolutely. Yeah.
14:20:17 So the work that you're doing around job descriptions, simplifying the language, looking over the requirements to make sure that there aren't unnecessary requirements included or phrased in a language that may be unintentionally deterring a qualified disabled candidate from applying.
14:20:37 All the way to all the way
14:20:38 Absolutely. You know, from interview things to how even you know how we see confidence, you know, because especially how neurodivergent doesn't feel fit into all these criteria of you know having an eye contact you know uh and you know we always prefer flexibility
14:21:00 And how, you know, flexibility can be working from home or can be hybrid or can be coming to office in anything So giving that person that choice.
14:21:10 It's not about you know that always all the neurodivergent people will only take one option. No, no, I think it's about the option part.
14:21:19 So I think this openness opens up a lot of doors to accessibility.
14:21:36 Mm-hmm.
14:21:26 Yeah, I had this aha moment as I was doing some promo for the book where I looked at the definition of inclusive design Which says you have multiple design or you have multiple design variations so long as you achieve the desired outcome.
14:21:51 Yeah.
14:21:42 And then I thought about what accessibility and accommodations are is multiple design variations So long as you achieve the desired outcome, which in this case could be how you engage with an office space, right? So you talked about Home, hybrid, office, having the flexibility to provide
14:22:04 Those different design variations enable someone who works in those environments to do their work best.
14:22:11 And Tiffany, so interesting you know that uh because i look up to you as you know as one of my, you know, role model and when you say that you are still learning you know accessibility is such a broad
14:22:26 Think, you know, we cannot even say that we're an expert in this you know it's such a broad concept of you know being accessible. I think I'm always intrigued by this some with some organizations claiming that you know we are 100% accessible. We don't even know what is 100% accessibility
14:22:44 Well, that's also why I use the language inclusive design versus universal design, because one of the things that we are learning is that You can have two people who have access needs that may conflict with each other.
14:22:57 And the example I like to use is someone who experiences migraines with may prefer to work in a low light, very dim light or no light situation.
14:23:09 Versus someone who is hard of hearing or needs to see faces and lips moving.
14:23:28 No.
14:23:15 May prefer to be in a very well-lit situation. Again, it's Again, the dream is universal design, right? But there is uh it's how can we also acknowledge that there's so much diversity within our community And like you said, one size does not fit all.
14:23:40 Some buildings are attempting such and the Ed Roberts building in the San Francisco Bay Area is one example where They've got elevators and then they, I hope you get a chance to see it. And then when you go inside.
14:23:58 There's a big… It's kind of like a cylinder shape where you can essentially access every floor without using the elevator if you didn't want to.
14:24:10 But I also know as we transition out of the work conversation, I also know you're very passionate about the intersection of disability and climate change.
14:24:19 And we don't often see a lot of that conversation happening among the climate change and climate justice movement.
14:24:26 Can you talk a little bit about where your passion around that, like how it intersects and what your passion is and what you're advocating for around that?
14:24:37 Yeah yeah so uh Tiffany, you know, things are are getting very tough especially in in India where you know pollution is all time high And, you know, the heat wave is getting very severe especially in northern part of of India where I live.
14:24:57 The temperature is easily reaching 50 degrees Celsius which is really not livable and especially for people who are neurodivergent people who have these conditions, they require different support different kind of support and they and their bodies react in a very different way
14:25:16 So I realized that, you know, that our disability community is being disproportionately affected by climate change around the world. You know, I've been talking to people in the US, I've been talking to people in the Asia, Africa, everywhere.
14:25:29 Their reactions is different their response is different they maybe the calamity the type of calamity is different But somehow this is a very very common thing that we are being disproportionately affected. And as you say no there is no
14:25:43 Climate justice without disability justice we have to think about about this. And I often quote you about this And through green disability, I'm always trying to bring this angle to the conversation because we are always missing.
14:25:57 And in all these policy all this climate conversations, we are nowhere to be seen.
14:26:04 Why do you think that is? I mean, I have an opinion but i have an opinion You know, like.
14:26:11 Many of us can get on board that disability justice is reproductive justice, disability justice intersects with most other social justice movements.
14:26:20 Yeah.
14:26:22 And… Outside of you, I can probably name on my one name On my one non-injured hand, how many other disability justice advocates are active As part of this conversation around climate justice as well, I'm curious if You can comment on
14:26:42 Why you think there is such underrepresentation of disability perspectives in those spaces.
14:26:53 I guess like in the in the Indian context, I would say you know there are in the conferences you know in all these conversations we don't see apparently disabled people you know be it like you know physical disability or
14:27:08 Other kind of disability we don't see them out of their homes you know out of in the public places we don't see them so So their participation is very low in these conversations, which is kind of uh again because
14:27:25 The world is loud. The outside world is not accessible and in in all these countries like India this is this leads to a lot of uh kind of a vicious cycle where things are not accessible so people are not out and the people are not out so things are not becoming accessible
14:27:45 So for me, you know, I have observed that maybe there are more uh I would say it's a systematic reasons as well but this is the most apparent reason that I have observed through my eyes yeah
14:28:01 And one of the other things you are passionate about, which I actually haven't seen, is something you call rampant inhumane urbanization.
14:28:09 I was wondering if you could talk a little bit more about what that is.
14:28:10 Yeah.
14:28:15 And… And kind of where that fits into the disability conversation.
14:28:20 So definitely when uh I was, you know.
14:28:25 The place that I was born and brought up in this is now this is slum But during my father's time and before that It was a village. Was it totally a very green place but you know due to huge migration from other parts of India for for
14:28:46 The economic opportunities because Delhi there are jobs, there are employment opportunities are here. So a lot of people came and you know that the it was uncontrolled immigration and urbanization at its best It was not planned. The government was not able to you know
14:29:03 Provide people proper housing and know the infrastructure was not ready for that And now this village has turned into a slum.
14:29:10 So this is what i have told because the elder elder you know the people who are in their late 60s 70s they say that it was a beautiful place very green very kind of this thing and now this is turned into a
14:29:23 Into a concrete jungle. This is what I generally meant by rampant inhumane urbanization because this is not how cities should grow You know, we generally talk about how cities should be. I only know one thing that we should not make more cities which we are running from because we all say we want to live in some countryside. We want to go to the mountains we want to go to the beach
14:29:47 Because we are building these kind of cities where no one wants to live and and and we are going to keep on building these new cities especially in countries like you know india which is like hugely It's a developing country. So, you know, it's kind of, again, a cycle which is we are repeating and and disabled people are nowhere to be seen
14:30:06 If, you know, generally people with there are some neighbors of mine with Down syndrome you know so i have never seen her outside of their house because it's so much pollutory you know she she cannot tolerate all these kind of things you know that
14:30:27 The heat and the pollution. So she's always at home So, you know, these we are always at the receiving end you know b or any kind of climate calamity yeah
14:30:46 Yeah. Yes.
14:30:41 Yeah, and in some ways it also kind of ties into this idea of climate refugees to where maybe some of these very urban populated locations become unlivable.
14:30:54 Yeah.
14:30:57 Force people to become displaced. Whether that is… by choice and you have the privilege to do so or perhaps due to other social factors.
14:31:09 And other systems of oppression and socioeconomic factors you end up you end up in a forced displacement or relocating to a place where you are… subject to poor air quality because that's what you can afford, right?
14:31:33 Sure. And actually, you know. We are not like permanent refugees but for some months of the year because of my mom's health because for my own sake as well we go to some places when we we cannot tolerate this much of
14:31:48 Pollution. So we have kind of already become temporarily kind of refugees because we don't have much place to live in the outside city but we take on we believe on rent we somehow manage But this place becomes unlivable.
14:32:02 For few months of the year. So this is how we manage and a lot of people are actually doing this for their health.
14:32:09 Yeah, thanks so much for sharing that. You know, we've talked about a lot of different topics. I guess one other one you are passionate about is mental health.
14:32:20 Do you want to talk a little bit more about kind of some of the advocacy you're doing there?
14:32:25 Actually, stories are very powerful as you know. Tiffany, you know, I have learned through diversity through your own work as well. And I aim to provide platform where through various forms of expression how how can our community express their emotions you know how they can even rant when they want to
14:32:50 So I think this kind of conversations and these kind of activities be it of any kind you know just talking maybe writing maybe You know, speaking to someone. So this kind of kind of small community meetings are now we're trying to
14:33:07 To do some kind of these things as well and also planning to have some conversations like you know some recorded conversations as well you know in regional languages Because most of the people, you know, cannot speak English the language is not English. So we are also planning to have some
14:33:25 Conversions, maybe some recorded conversations in regional languages as well. I think expression is really important.
14:33:32 Yeah.
14:33:35 Potential exclusive news that we have a podcast coming soon from Paneet.
14:33:41 And I…
14:33:41 You do need to have your captions on or English captions yeah
14:33:45 And I guess what i guess What I will say is that We've talked a lot about a lot of different areas. We started talking about intersectionality and cultural perspectives around disability between India and the US.
14:34:03 We talked about disability advocacy in the workplace and what accessibility and inclusion might look like in those spaces, starting from job descriptions.
14:34:15 We moved to talking about climate change and mental health and inhumane urbanization.
14:34:20 I guess I'm curious what your ideal vision for the world is. What is the impact you are hoping to leave on the world?
14:34:30 I think I want disabled people to be considered a very strong stakeholder in various aspects of policymaking.
14:34:40 You know whenever there is some conversion that is going on. We are not only like, you know, we are not even only invited, but we actually listen to and our inputs are actually included in the policies because Many times I have seen that people are invited
14:34:57 But, you know, sometimes the officials say that, you know, that the policy has been drafted already.
14:35:04 So when I say that the policy has been drafted already and you don't want to change according to the feedback, why are you even inviting us?
14:35:10 So I think it doesn't make any sense. And we wanted to be a very serious stakeholder.
14:35:17 Yeah.
14:35:24 I guess as we close, I'm curious what being disabled and proud means to you.
14:35:34 I think the way… The way I operate it's you know the how I manage my daily life the way i i take care of myself the way I try to take time for my own self-care. I think I'm very disabled and proud.
14:35:56 I love that. And are there any projects that you're working on right now that you could use some support on.
14:36:04 I think for green disability i will uh need a lot of support from the from the community and from the community and you know how we can create that that conversation you know that that serious conversations we are where we are coming with a lot of takeaways where we are coming with a lot of recommendations for
14:36:25 Follow the policymakers for the policymakers disability organizations and And somehow very concrete of inputs as well yeah
14:36:36 And if people want to follow up with you and follow you or follow your work, where is the best place to do that?
14:36:42 Tiffany, as you know, I'm super active on LinkedIn. It's the best place to find me and Yeah, yeah.
14:36:50 Yeah, and I will say even for our listeners, you know, I have been thinking back about on my own on my own career journey and almost every single opportunity, professional opportunity that I've had has been through someone in my network other than the initial internship that I applied for in university.
14:37:14 And so, you know, we talk a lot about the power of community on this podcast.
14:37:20 And in addition to that, part of that is staying connected with people and the ways that disabled people are chronically online and connecting and building community That way, even, and meeting each other in person online, even if we haven't yet met in person.
14:37:38 And online is just as valid as in person. So continue to build that community. Check out Puneet on LinkedIn.
14:37:46 And with that, I guess I'll check. Is there anything that I didn't ask of you that you wish I would have asked.
14:37:54 I have…
14:37:53 No, no, thank you so much. Thank you so much. And I actually forgot to tell you that you are looking beautiful in this floral dress and especially with the book in the background it's all looking so good. Thank you so much for this opportunity Tiffany
14:38:08 Of course, this is always a fun time to record these podcasts because you get to watch the sun the sun setting and I'm a big fan of natural light and really appreciate Puneet being flexible at the time.
14:38:20 To do this in the middle of the night. And so with that, this is this episode of Diversibility Amplified.
14:38:26 This will likely be coming out Soon. And so check it out. It may come out even before the book launches as well, if I can get my act together.
14:38:36 But we have some other exciting guests coming up too. So subscribe if you haven't yet and check out some of our archives of past episodes with different community members.