Bakhtawar Barzan Abdalla

A blue gradient background with navy text has “The D-30 Disability Impact List” at the top centered above “2023 Honoree” which is in between two laurels. The words “Bakhtawar Barzan Abdalla, he/him/his, Iraq” are to the left of a picture of Bakhtawar, which fills the right. Bakhtawar is a medium-skinned man with short hair and a short beard. He is wearing a white shirt. At the bottom, “Diversability, #D30DisList.” fills the left corner.

Bakhtawar Barzan Abdalla (He/him/his)

CEO and Founder of Bakhtawary Group

Iraq

Bakhtawar Barzan Abdalla, a person of short stature with other physical complications, has fought institutionalized ableism all his life. He is a lecturer at Sulaimani Polytechnic University, Kurdistan-Iraq. He uses his skills in technology to promote education and awareness about disability in Kurdish society, which is permeated by lack of access and steeped in the charity model. He is an active, visible community member in a society where people with disabilities are encouraged to be unseen and unheard.

Following success with a computer program that teaches Braille, Bakhtawar participated in the Tech Fest 2023 to showcase a program for teaching Kurdish Sign Language. KSL has been extremely limited, and most people in Kurdistan rely on “home sign,” if anything, resulting in isolation. He also established a society, Technology and Disability Community. He and his team work to educate people with disabilities and prepare them to be professionals.

Intersectional disability is of primary importance in Kurdistan, with a nascent disability movement in which people with different types of disability are structurally segregated from each other. He has partnered with the Kurdistan Blind Society, the Amazha Organization (an NGO serving Deaf people), and others. Bakhtawar also founded the "Bakhtawary Group" with the purpose of integrating people with disabilities who are marginalized from society. This group serves people with all disabilities and ages.