NATIONAL CONFERNCE ON INVISIBLE DISABILITIES- INTERNATIONAL PURPLE FEST GOA 2024
The students of GPCOE along with the College Counsellor Ms. Ankita Naik attended a two-day National Conference on the topic “From Invisible to Visible- A National Conference on Invisible Disabilities at International Purple Fest Goa 2024. The conference was organised by Chronic Pain India, Believe the Invisible in collaboration with State Commission for Persons with Disabilities. The National Conference was for two days i.e 09/01/2024 and 10/01/2024. There were 6 sessions for the National Conference followed by discussion. The sessions and the Speakers were:
Session 1- Journey to diagnosis and treatment
Speakers
- Smitha Sadasivan
- Dr Nikhil Gupta
- Subojit Goswami
In this session the challenges and time duration a person takes to get treated and diagnosed were discussed.
Session 2- Certification and Health Insurance Coverage
Speakers
- Murlidharan Vishwanath
- Ayushmita Samal
- Sameer Sethi
In this session difficulties faced by people with invisible disabilities in terms of insufficient healthcare, minimal rights were discussed.
Session 3- Gender, Mental Health, and Invisible Disability
Speakers
- Srinidhi Raghavan
- Joshua Mark George
- Praful Baweja
- Abhishek Annica
In this session the mental trauma that person with invisible disabilities goes through, what is the psychological impact faced by them. Also, the stigmas related to gender and mental health were discussed.
Session 4- The Journey from Education to Livelihood while living with an invisible disability
Speakers
- Alica Abraham
- Shanti Raghavan
- Radhika Alkazi
In this session the struggles /difficulties faced by people with invisible disabilities were discussed when they do not have certificates and no proper rights.
Session 5- Climate Change, Disaster Management, and Invisible Disability
Speakers
- Adv Abhishek Kumar
- Meenakshi Venkatraman
- Dr Mohammed Asheel
In this session the rise of symptoms and challenges that are increasing with adverse global climatic phenomena were discussed and how it is causing problems for people with invisible disabilities.
Session 6- The Unseen Reality of Caregiving
Speakers
- Renuka Malekar
- Bhavna Issar
- Pratik Aggrawal
- Reena Mukhija
In this session the role of a caregiver of a person with invisible disability was explained. Also, awareness regarding invisible disabilities was done here with real life examples being shared.
There were 6 sessions and all the sessions had speakers with an invisible disability or they were caregivers of someone with an invisible disability. The sessions gave the participants an insight on what are some of the difficulties faced by people with invisible disability, what are some types of invisible disabilities, and their success stories. Many speakers were themselves diagnosed with Invisible disabilities like sclerosis and how they are now creating awareness and taking initiatives to do something for people with Invisible Disabilities. The Conference ended with caregiving session wherein it was discussed the caregivers also go through stress and have mental health difficulties so even they need rest and care. Initially lack of awareness was the reason people were not aware about such topics but now with the advancement of technology and Conferences like this have provided a medium for people to share knowledge and experiences which could be helpful to another person. The conference was a good learning experience and totally a new topic to gain knowledge about.