13th Lal Advani Memorial Lecture on cross-disability dimension of disability rights movement to  be held on the campus of JNU on the evening of 26th April. The details of this event are provided at the end of this message and also in the card attached following the brief introduction of Mr. Advani and the lecture series.

Late Shri Lal Advani was blind almost from birth. Having born to a school  headmaster and a homemaker in 1923,  he joined his job as a music and Braille instructor at St. Duston's hostel for war blinded located at Dehradun, which has now evolved into The National Institute for the Visually Handicapped. He played a significant role in drafting the Report on the Committee on the Blindness in 1944 and joined the Ministry of Education soon after the attainment of  independence and dedicated his entire life to undertake rehabilitation measures in the field of disability through  government initiatives. There is hardly any significant development in the field of disability starting from formulation of uniform Braille code for  Indian Languages (1951) to
the formulation of PWD Act of 1995 and establishment of four National Institutes in the field of disability, where  he did not play a significant role.

 In order to highlight his contribution to the field of disability, Indian Association for Education  and Rehabilitation (IASER)  the only NGO established and ran by him during the last fifteen years of his life, instituted an annual lecture series on the occasion of his birth anniversary on 26th April 2005. Since then we have  held twelve lectures to honour his  contribution on various important issues related to disability. We have been highly privileged to have this lecture been delivered an chair by leading  figures in the field of disability, who include Dr. Uma Tuli, Mr. P.K. Pincha, Ms Anuradha Mohit, Major General Ian Cardozo, Mrs. Stuti Kakkar, Professor Amita Dhanda, Mrs. Poonam Natrajan,  and Professor  Sudesh Mukhopadhya etc. This year Mr. Javed Abidi, a leading disability rights activist will be delivering the 13th Lal Advani Memorial Lecture and share  his thoughts on cross disability rights movement in India in the light of his interaction with Late Shri Lal Advani.

The event is open to all and so, Please circulate this information widely.

 Email:jagdish100@gmail.com

 Phone: (M) 9968097020