One of the most prominent voices on disability in the country, wheelchair-bound Javed Abidi (53) succumbed to chest infection on Sunday. Abidi was the Director of the National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People, which he set up in 1996. The fire brand activist was also the global chair of Disabled Peoples' International, a world body with special consultative status to the United Nations, and convenor of the National Disability Network, India.
Born in Uttar Pradesh's Aligarh, he was one of the first activists of a cross-disability movement in India, encouraging people with different disabilities to come together to work on common problems. He founded the Disabled Rights Group in 1993 to work specifically on cross-disability issues of access and inclusion. "Abidi was instrumental in the revamping India's disability laws into the progressive Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act that was passed by parliament in December 2016. He was very passionate to see quick action and results from the Governmen."
said KVS Rao, a senior official from the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.
Abidi is survived by his mother, younger brother and younger sister.