Javed Abidi

Global Chair of Disabled People’s International

Javed Abidi is the pioneer of the cross-disability movement in India.

He has successfully led several path breaking advocacy initiatives in India, including the drafting and enactment of the Disability Act of 1995, inclusion of disability as a separate category in the Census, India’s ratification of CRPD in 2007, and setting up of a separate Department of Disability Affairs. Most recently, he has led the movement towards India’s new disability rights law – the Persons with Disabilities Act 2016.  

He was instrumental in setting up of National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People (NCPEDP) in 1996 and has been its Director since 1997.

He is also the Global Chair of Disabled People’s International, a position he has been re-elected to for the second time.

Javed strongly believes that empowerment of persons with disabilities is connected to education, which in turn hinges on accessibility. And all three are not possible without enabling laws and policies.