Reform That You May Preserve: The Need to Institutionalise Pwd Representation in Indian Academia
Tanishk Goyal & Kaira Pinheiro*
Volume 16 Issue 3 (2023)
In this note, the authors, who are former Editors of the NUJS Law Review, discuss significant advancements made recently to ensure the inclusion of persons with disabilities (‘PwDs’) within multiple institutional structures. These include the Supreme Court Accessibility Committee constituted by the Chief Justice of India, approval by the Union Cabinet for Phase III of the E-Courts Project, and direction by the Delhi High Court to embed accessibility features for movies released on Over-the-Top platforms. Thereafter, the authors engage in statistical analysis of the representation of PwDs in law school activities and conclude that confronting the same is the first step towards making the legal profession truly accessible. Finally, they highlight that the current Special Issue on Disability Law conceptualised by the NUJS Law Review attempts to provide an opportunity for PwDs to contribute and helps in the democratisation of academia.