Recently Much Much Media conceptualized and produced the Disability Neurodiversity Roundtable advocacy event for one of our partners. Yash Charitable Trust. The day-long event featured seven individuals with different disabilities discussing all things advocacy and agency.
The event took place on a sunny Sunday in April, and - as always - our lean team of eight got there early to prep and set up Cafe Arpan, the location of the roundtable.
We started around 10:30 am. In attendance were Aarti Nagarkar, Srideep Dutta, Canute Dias, Nikhil Sharma, Pratik Bhonsale, Simran Masand and Darren Rebello. Moderating the chat was Shamane Rebello from the YCT team.
We had split the entire day’s conversations up into segments. Each segment had about 5 to 7 questions, and we went around speaking to each advocate about their lived experiences.
Among other things, we spoke about hobbies and special interests, the meaning of success, being treated differently, dating & romance, mental & physical health, and work and career plans.
All in all, it was a super comprehensive chat.
YCT’s self-advocacy program is a recurring initiative as part of which YCT employees go to educational institutes and MNCs and conduct seminars on disability and neurodivergence. The roundtable activity was a sequel to previous year’s self-advocacy program.
What me and the team particularly loved was the candor with which the self-advocates spoke. Also that it took us a bit of time to break the ice with some of them, but once they knew they were in a safe space where they wouldn’t be judged, they spoke their hearts out.
Film out soon.