Nidhi Goyal

Goyal was born and brought up in Mumbai.[6] At the age of 15, she was diagnosed with an incurable, irreversible eye disorder called retinitis pigmentosa as a consequence of which she lost her eye-sight a year later.[8]

Goyal was involved in performing arts in college. She began a career in mass media before transitioning to rights-based work for people with disabilities.[9]

Goyal advocates for issues around sexuality and sexual and reproductive health and rights for women and girls with disabilities.[3][10][11][12][13] Nidhi has been appointed to the UN Women Executive Director's advisory group,[1][2] sits on the advisory board of Voice, a grant making facility by the Dutch Ministry,[14] and is currently the president of Association for Women's Rights in Development (AWID).[15] She is a member of the core group on persons with disabilities and elderly persons by the National Human Rights Commission in India.[16]

Goyal was the director of the sexuality and disability program at the Mumbai-based feminist non-profit Point of View.[12][17] The organisation launched a website resource for girls and women with disabilities.[17][10] The site is accessible to the visually impaired.[17]

Goyal is the founder and director of Rising Flame, a Mumbai-based organization founded in 2017 which is focused on building leadership and advocacy skills among people, particularly women and youth with disabilities.[18][19] Rising Flame has been involved in the #MeToo movement and the campaign 'My Tale Too', which aims to rewrite the narratives of popular movies or novels with disabled people in the lead.[3]

Goyal is India's first female visually impaired stand-up comedian.[8] She was encouraged to try comedy by close friend and fellow activist and filmmaker, Pramada Menon.[9][6] She wrote her first set in six months.[8] Goyal was also featured in the first episode of stand-up comedian Aditi Mittal's webseries Bad Girls.[20][21] In her comedy, Goyal talks about sex, relationships and love within the disabled community.[8] She performs about incidents from her own life and uses comedy as a tool for activism to talk about the stigma around disability and sexuality. So far, she has performed in various mainstream clubs, at conferences and for corporations.[9]

Goyal was given the Neelam Kanga Award by National Association for the Blind, India, in January 2016[22] and the Superwoman of the Year award by ABP News in March 2018.[23]

Goyal co-authored a report for the international human rights research and advocacy organization, Human Rights Watch, titled "Invisible victims of sexual violence: Access to justice for women and girls with disabilities in India".[24][25] The report looks at the challenges that women and girls with disabilities who have survived sexual violence face when accessing legal aid and justice.[24]