Nidhi Goyal is an Indian disability and genderrights activist who has been appointed to the UN Women Executive Director's advisory group. Goyal is the founder and director of Mumbai-based NGO Rising Flame and works in the areas of sexuality, gender, health and rights for women and girls with disabilities. She is also the first blind female stand-up comedian in India.
Early life
Goyal was born and brought up in Mumbai. At the age of 15, she was diagnosed with an incurable, irreversible eye disorder called retinitis pigmentosa as a consequence of which she lost her eye-sight a year later. Goyal was involved in performing arts in college. She began a career in mass media before transitioning to rights-based work for people with disabilities.
Activism
Goyal advocates for issues around sexuality and sexual and reproductive health and rights for women and girls with disabilities. Nidhi has been appointed to the UN Women Executive Director's advisory group, sits on the advisory board of Voice, a grant making facility by the Dutch Ministry, and is currently the president of Association for Women's Rights in Development. She is a member of the core group on persons with disabilities and elderly persons by the National Human Rights Commission in India. Goyal was the director of the sexuality and disability program at the Mumbai-based feminist non-profit Point of View. The organisation launched a website resource for girls and women with disabilities. The site is accessible to the visually impaired. Goyal is the founder and director of Rising Flame, a Mumbai-based organization founded in 2017 which is focused on building leadership and advocacy skills among people, particularly women and youth with disabilities. Rising Flame has been involved in the #MeToo movement and the campaign 'My Tale Too', which aims to rewrite the narratives of popular movies or novels with disabled people in the lead.
Comedy
Goyal is India's first female visually impaired stand-up comedian. She was encouraged to try comedy by close friend and fellow activist and filmmaker, Pramada Menon. She wrote her first set in six months. Goyal was also featured in the first episode of stand-up comedian Aditi Mittal's webseries Bad Girls. In her comedy, Goyal talks about sex, relationships and love within the disabled community. She performs about incidents from her own life and uses comedy as a tool for activism to talk about the stigma around disability and sexuality. So far, she has performed in various mainstream clubs, at conferences and for corporations.
Awards
Goyal was given the Neelam Kanga Award by National Association for the Blind, India, in January 2016 and the Superwoman of the Year award by ABP News in March 2018.
Research and publications
Goyal co-authored a report for the international human rights research and advocacy organization, Human Rights Watch, titled "Invisible victims of sexual violence: Access to justice for women and girls with disabilities in India". The report looks at the challenges that women and girls with disabilities who have survived sexual violence face when accessing legal aid and justice.
Book chapters
"Privilege or Marginalisation: Narrative of a Disability Rights Activist," in '
"The Fluid Connections and Uncertain Spaces of Women with Disabilities," co-authored with Janet Price in '
