The word on self love

The cover of the first digital booklet, illustrated by Anjali Menon, reflects the inner world of any young person owning their disability and looking beyond it, too. Pic Courtesy/Point of view Mumbai

Who am I? We don't really ask ourselves the question as much as the number of times we answer it without anyone asking. Because that's what social media bios are for. The first edition of Pyaar Plus, a digital toolkit launched by city-based NGO Point of View (POV) that works towards building and amplifying the voices of women and other marginalised genders, urges its readers to ask themselves who they really are, thereby letting them embark on a journey of understanding the self and what makes us who we are.

There will be a series of seven booklets as part of the Pyaar Plus toolkit, with one being released every month and the series concluding in July this year. The booklet, available in a PDF and word format, is an accessible multimedia resource with videos and images. It is aimed at womxn ("an inclusive spelling that refers to women and a diversity of genders") with disabilities between the age group of 18 and 30 years, and also their parents and caregivers.

Women's and disability rights activist Nidhi Goyal

Peppered with visual elements, the first booklet features inputs by women's and disability rights activist Nidhi Goyal, artist-activist Reshma Valliappan, counselor and national awardee Abha Khetarpal, among others. Valliappan, for instance, opens up about her journey of being diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, brain tumour, epilepsy and sleep disorders, and speaks about what self-love and acceptance means for her.

Artist-activist Reshma Valliappan feature as experts in the first edition of Pyaar Plus

The project was conceptualised in 2018 and was based on research and interviews with young womxn with disabilities across several states in India - both semi-urban and urban. In 2019, POV conducted another set of research with parents, counselors and special educators to gauge what their needs are and what questions they have around sexuality. "We noticed that while there was a lot of information around body positivity and self-love, there wasn't any for young people with disabilities in a collected manner. So, that's how it began. We wanted to talk about sexuality but through a self-lens," shares Zahra Gabuji, who has anchored the project.

Next month, the toolkit will be centred on bodies and representation and in March, Gabuji informs, it will look at mental health and psychosocial disabilities. Gabuji adds that after the series has concluded, the booklets will be made available on their website. They also hope to do a larger stakeholder interaction where they invite a range of people who work in the disability, inclusion and gender space to talk about how the toolkit can be used as a resource in different places.

Email: pyaarplus@pointofview.org