Malvika Iyer
Malvika Iyer | |
---|---|
Born | 18 February 1989[1] |
Nationality | Indian |
Alma mater | |
Known for | Motivational speaking, Disability rights activism |
Malvika Iyer (born 18 February 1989) is an Indian national, a bilateral amputee, a bomb blast survivor, a social worker,[2][3][4] and a National Awardee.[5][6] She is an international motivational speaker[7][8][9] and a disability rights activist,[3][10][11][12] advocating for building an inclusive society.[13][14][15] She is also a model for accessible fashion.[16][17][18] Iyer obtained her Doctorate in Social Work from Madras School of Social Work in 2017.[19][20] Her doctoral thesis is on the stigmatization of people with disabilities.[11][21][22]
Early life and injury
Iyer was born on 18 February 1989 in Kumbakonam, Tamil Nadu[23] to a Brahmin family B. Krishnan and Hema Krishnan.[24][25] She grew up in Bikaner, Rajasthan, where her father worked as an engineer at the Water Works Department.[25] On 26 May 2002, at the age of 13, Iyer lost both her hands in a grenade explosion at her home in Bikaner[3][26][27] and sustained severe injuries to her legs including multiple fractures, nerve paralysis and hypoesthesia.[28] After 18 months of hospitalization (involving multiple surgeries) in Chennai, Iyer began to walk with the aid of crutches and was fitted with prosthetic hands.[28]
Education
Following her hospitalization, Iyer appeared as a private candidate in the Secondary School Leaving Certificate examination in Chennai.[25] Writing the exam with the help of a scribe,[25] she secured a state rank among the private candidates.[23] This gained public attention.[11] Iyer was invited to the Rashtrapati Bhavan by the then President of India, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam.[23]
Iyer moved to New Delhi, where she studied Economics (Honors) at St. Stephen's College, Delhi, followed by a Master's in Social Work at the Delhi School of Social Work.[28] She did her M.Phil in Social Work[16] at the Madras School of Social Work, where she secured first class with distinction and won the ‘Rolling Cup’ for the Best M.Phil. Thesis in 2012.[29]
Speaking career and activism
Iyer was invited to speak at the TEDxYouth@Chennai in 2013.[30][31] She has described this experience as the start of her career as a motivational speaker.[4][23] Iyer followed this up with speeches at United Nations in New York City,[3][11] IIM Kozhikode,[32][33] Norway,[34] Indonesia[35] and South Africa[36] where she highlighted the importance of inclusion. Through her motivational talks and sensitization workshops in schools, colleges, private establishments, Non-governmental Organizations and youth forums, Iyer has tried to raise awareness about the need for universal design, accessible public spaces[21][4][37] and participation of disabled youth in promoting inclusive elections.[35] She has also worked towards creating awareness on a positive body image.[15][38] She hosted the India Inclusion Summit in 2013.[39] An advocate for accessible fashion, Iyer walked the ramp as a showstopper for NIFT and Ability Foundation in Chennai where she emphasized the need for designing clothes with functionality and style for people with disability.[40][41] In 2014, she was selected as a Global Shaper to the Chennai Hub of the Global Shapers Community, an initiative of the World Economic Forum.[4][37][42] She joined the United Nations Inter-Agency Network on Youth Development's Working Group on Youth and Gender Equality and in March 2017 she was invited to deliver a speech at the United Nations in New York.[3][11][43][44] In October 2017, she was invited to Co-Chair the World Economic Forum's India Economic Summit held at Hotel Taj Palace, New Delhi.[7][22][45][46]
Recognition
Iyer received the Nari Shakti Puraskar, the Highest Civilian Honor for Women for outstanding contribution to women's empowerment from the Honorable President of India Ram Nath Kovind on 8 March 2018 on the occasion of International Women's Day.[47][48] She was congratulated by prominent Indian politicians after her performance in the SSLC exam.[49] She has been the recipient of multiple awards, including- Outstanding Model Student Award by Wisdom International Magazine,[23] REX Karmaveer Chakra Global Fellowship in 2014,[24] the first Women in the World Emerging Leaders Award in New York in 2016.[16][21][50] She was recognized as one of the 100 Change Agents and Newsmakers of the Decade by Deccan Chronicle in 2015.[11] She was featured in the 3rd edition of Vodafone Foundation's coffee-table book Women of Pure Wonder: Vision, Valour, Victory[51] and Gifted: Inspiring Stories of People with Disabilities.[29][52][53] She acted in a short film titled 'The Phoenix' on the theme of inclusion which was shortlisted for ABILITY FEST 2013 (an India-International Disability Film Festival).[24][54]
References
- ^ "Blast Survivor Got Her "Only Finger" After Surgery. Her Story". NDTV. Retrieved 19 February 2020.
- ^ Krupa, Lakshmi (15 April 2014). "How birds of a feather found followers". The Hindu. Retrieved 27 March 2017.
- ^ a b c d e "From where I stand: "Being a person with disability is challenging. Being a woman with disability adds extra challenges"". UN Women. 9 June 2017. Retrieved 22 June 2017.
- ^ a b c d Thomas, Mini P (6 November 2016). "Able to inspire". The WEEK. Retrieved 28 March 2017.
- ^ Kanal, Nishtha (18 April 2018). "Spreading inclusive love". Deccan Chronicle.com/. Retrieved 6 June 2018.
- ^ Menon, Priya (15 April 2018). "Sketching a fighter's tale". The Times of India. Retrieved 6 June 2018.
- ^ a b Benu, Parvathi (11 September 2017). "Your daily dose of inspiration: After losing her hands at the age of 13, Malvika Iyer is now a world famous motivational speaker". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 11 November 2017.
- ^ Menon, Priya (2 August 2015). "Live life king size". The Times of India. Retrieved 7 April 2017.
- ^ Reddy, Gayatri (20 September 2015). "Against life's greatest odds". Deccan Chronicle. Retrieved 4 April 2017.
- ^ "'It's unfair to students'". The Hindu. 12 June 2017. Retrieved 22 June 2017.
- ^ a b c d e f Shetty, Sudhanva (17 March 2017). "From Bomb Blast Survivor To UN Speaker: The Story Of Malvika Iyer". The Logical Indian. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
- ^ World Economic Forum (9 October 2017), A Bilateral Amputee Offers a Lesson on Resilience, retrieved 11 November 2017
- ^ Kumar, Pradeep (22 December 2014). "Setting the Wheels in Motion for Inclusion". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 10 April 2017.
- ^ "Delhi: Disabled activist denied entry to upscale restaurant". Hindustan Times. 7 March 2015. Retrieved 6 April 2017.
- ^ a b Akella, Bhavana (20 February 2017). "Getting the ball rolling on inclusivity". Deccan Chronicle. Retrieved 6 April 2017.
- ^ a b c Bijur, Anupama (6 May 2016). "Looking beyond limitations". Femina. Retrieved 27 March 2017.
- ^ Harish, Ritu Goyal (23 October 2015). "Life Took This Fashionista's Hands So She Grew Wings". Fashion101. Retrieved 4 April 2017.
- ^ Joseph, Raveena (3 August 2015). "The pursuit of happiness". The Hindu. Retrieved 10 April 2017.
- ^ Thomas, Mini P (20 December 2017). "'I was horrified by the way people looked at me'". THE WEEK. Retrieved 4 April 2018.
- ^ "Meet Malvika Iyer, the PhD scholar and Disability Rights Activist whose photo everyone's sharing". InUth. 16 December 2017. Retrieved 4 April 2018.
- ^ a b c Menon, Priya (16 April 2016). "She makes a difference with her grit". The Times of India. Retrieved 27 March 2017.
- ^ a b Kapoor, Aekta (3 October 2017). "She Lost Her Arms So She Armed Herself With Courage Instead". eShe. Retrieved 11 November 2017.
- ^ a b c d e Saraswathi, S (17 September 2014). "Malvika Iyer's amazing story of grit!". Rediff. Retrieved 4 April 2017.
- ^ a b c Koshy, Tessy (27 July 2015). "'I'm glad both my hands were blown off'". Friday. Retrieved 3 April 2017.
- ^ a b c d Bhattacharya, Saptarshi (28 May 2004). "Where there is a will there is a way". The Hindu. Retrieved 3 April 2017.
- ^ Raghuraman, N (30 July 2009). "Never say die". DNA. Retrieved 7 April 2017.
- ^ "This 28-Year-Old Global Icon's Story Proves the Power of a Mother's Love and Determination". The Better India. 1 April 2017. Retrieved 5 April 2017.
- ^ a b c "An IYER for the differently-able". Deccan Chronicle. 9 March 2014. Retrieved 28 March 2017.
- ^ a b Menon, Sudha; Ferose, V.R. (2014). Gifted : Inspiring Stories of People with Disabilities. India: Random House India. p. 156. ISBN 9788184005455.
- ^ "Inclusion starts from within: Malvika Iyer at TEDxYouth@Chennai". YouTube. 4 December 2013. Retrieved 4 April 2017.
- ^ Chandrababu, Divya; Ipel, Ann. "TEDx Youth@Chennai: Tales of struggle and creativity inspire city youth - Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 4 April 2017.
{{cite news}}
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(help) - ^ "The only Disability in life is a bad attitude | Malvika Iyer | TEDxIIMKozhikode". YouTube. 25 December 2015. Retrieved 4 April 2017.
- ^ "'Backwaters' on IIM-K campus from Friday". The Hindu. 29 October 2015. Retrieved 4 April 2017.
- ^ "Bærekraftfestivalen". Hurdal Økolandsby. 24 May 2015. Retrieved 4 April 2017.
- ^ a b "Plenary 6 on the 3rd AGENDA Regional Dialogue on Access to Elections". AGENDA. 22 February 2015. Retrieved 4 April 2017.
- ^ "2014 INTERNATIONAL CIVIL SOCIETY WEEK" (PDF). CIVICUS. Retrieved 4 April 2017.
- ^ a b Vasudevan, Shilpa Kappur (9 March 2015). "Making lemonade out of the lemons life threw at her". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 5 April 2017.
- ^ Dupere, Katie (17 February 2017). "People with disabilities destroy stigma on Twitter with #DisabledAndCute". Mashable. Retrieved 20 April 2017.
- ^ Ray, Aparajita; Prasher, Garima (30 November 2013). "Summit helps disabled persons help themselves - Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 4 April 2017.
- ^ "Include, in style". The Hindu. 29 May 2014. Retrieved 20 April 2017.
- ^ Madhavan, Nila (4 August 2015). ""I'm Glad This Accident Happened". Meet Malvika Iyer". Fuelling Dreams. Retrieved 20 April 2017.
- ^ "She rose like the phoenix". Red Elephant Foundation. 11 September 2016. Retrieved 5 April 2017.
- ^ "Closing session Launch of CEDAW for Youth, Youth Forum (CSW 61)". UN Web TV. 11 March 2017. Retrieved 4 April 2017.
- ^ Luo, Christina (7 April 2017). "Take Up Space With Your Voice". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 10 April 2017.
- ^ Chainey, Ross (6 October 2017). "7 key moments from our meeting of global leaders in India". World Economic Forum. Retrieved 11 November 2017.
- ^ Kithsiri, Indira (2 October 2017). "What worries South Asia's young people, and what they're doing about it". World Economic Forum. Retrieved 11 November 2017.
- ^ "Women achievers honoured". The Hindu. 17 March 2018. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 4 April 2018.
- ^ "International Women's Day: President Kovind honours 39 achievers with 'Nari Shakti Puraskar'". The New Indian Express. 9 March 2018. Retrieved 4 April 2018.
- ^ Venkatesh, M. R. (29 May 2004). "Back with a blast, 2 years on - Teen shines in exam after losing forearms in freak mishap". The Telegraph. Retrieved 7 April 2017.
- ^ "Meet Women in the World's Emerging Leaders". Women in the World in Association with The New York Times - WITW. 20 November 2015. Retrieved 7 April 2017.
- ^ Chanana, Ruchika; Luther, Tanya; Liddle, Madhulika (2016). Women of Pure Wonder: Vision, Valour, Victory. Showcase: Roli Books. p. 145. ISBN 9789351941637.
- ^ Challapalli, Sravanthi (18 November 2014). "To be differently abled, and gifted". The Hindu Business Line. Retrieved 28 March 2017.
- ^ Ratnakumar, Evelyn (26 November 2014). "Success stories should be told too, says author". The Hindu. Retrieved 7 April 2017.
- ^ Malvika Iyer (26 September 2013), The Phoenix (Malvika Iyer) ABILITYFEST 2013, retrieved 22 June 2017
External links
- Living people
- Indian motivational speakers
- Indian disability rights activists
- Women motivational speakers
- People from Thanjavur district
- Activists from Tamil Nadu
- Indian women social workers
- Educators from Tamil Nadu
- 21st-century Indian educators
- People from Bikaner
- 21st-century Indian women
- Women educators from Tamil Nadu
- Social workers from Tamil Nadu