Our routine method of disseminating and consuming information is exclusionary in nature. Beyond language and rhetoric, people with disabilities need to be active participants in our discourses. Alleviating marginalised social identities and erasing stigma for people with disabilities and making their engagement accessible is what Newshook nurtures.
Newshook emphasises on stories about people with different types of disabilities and how they are navigating spaces within Indian society whilst also providing a news model which is highly accessible. For instance, their YouTube channel consists of trending news topics and videos translating articles from their main website in sign language. By communicating news and stories, otherwise inaccessible through dominant news streams both online and offline, Newshook is uplifting disabled people across the country.
Writer Mia Mingus articulates her personal experiences in her extraordinary keynote speech, “I think our stories are powerful and magnificent, and I hope you all will be able to share some of your stories here with each other because our lives so clearly encapsulate why we so desperately need these kinds of spaces. Our lives are illustrations of disability and intersectionality and there is a wealth of knowledge there for us to learn from and use.”
Sharing, writing, defining experiences of disability only further shapes the world we would like to inhabit, whether we realise it or not all of us are deeply connected through the threads of personhood, and inculcating inclusivity honours this sense of community.
Newshook provides a space, language and a palpable model for change through the immeasurable vastness of the internet while touching the lives of people who live with disabilities throughout the country by listening to them and their needs.
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