Aqib with Rohi Jan
By Aqib Rehman*
Srinagar: Rohi Jan moves through the University of Kashmir’s campus with a white cane, her steps steady as she heads to teach her first class as Assistant Professor in the Department of Education. Born with complete visual impairment in Hanjan village, Kulgam, she joined the faculty on April 30, 2025, per University of Kashmir records, marking a milestone for disability inclusion in India, particularly in Jammu and Kashmir. Her journey from rural classrooms to academia shows what’s possible, yet reveals a system stacked against persons with disabilities. This moment, inspiring as it is, is not the destination but the beginning of a journey society must travel together.
In Kulgam, schools offered no Braille or audio textbooks, forcing Rohi to rely on auditory learning, peer support, and assistive technology, per the provided information. She now pursues a PhD in Education, researching parenting of persons with disabilities, a topic rooted in her experience. Her appointment at one of Jammu and Kashmir’s leading institutions required navigating inaccessible campuses, untrained educators, and biases questioning her capabilities. As a professor, she teaches and shapes inclusion policies, but her path highlights how few with disabilities reach such roles due to systemic exclusion.
Education, the foundation of empowerment, remains out of reach for many with disabilities. Schools lack ramps, accessible toilets, or inclusive teaching methods. Textbooks rarely come in Braille or audio formats, and teachers receive little training in inclusive education. Peer support, while helpful, is not a sustainable substitute for institutional responsibility. In higher education, campuses prioritise aesthetics over accessibility, with underfunded disability support cells and untrained staff. Research opportunities, internships, and faculty positions exclude disabled scholars, who face subtle forms of discrimination, from biased assumptions about their capabilities to outright exclusion from decision-making spaces.
The system’s failures extend beyond education. Employment opportunities are limited by inaccessible workplaces and biased hiring practices. Healthcare and mobility services, critical for independence, barely reach rural areas like Hanjan. Dignity is eroded by societal structures that exclude, ignore, or marginalise. Rohi’s milestone lays bare these realities, showing that individual persistence cannot dismantle institutional neglect. Her appointment, though a step, underscores the rarity of such outcomes in a system that blocks access to basic rights.
Representation carries weight. Professor Rohi’s role challenges long-held stereotypes, showing students and faculty that disability is not synonymous with dependence. Her classes on education policy weave in inclusion issues, reshaping perspectives. For locals like Amina Begum, a 50-year-old shopkeeper near the university, Rohi’s presence shifts attitudes. “I thought disabled people couldn’t teach at such levels,” she says. “Now I see they belong here.” But representation is not a substitute for transformation. Celebrating Professor Rohi without addressing barriers risks turning her success into a symbolic gesture. One success does not mean enough has been done.
How many universities in India have professors with disabilities on their permanent faculty? How many have inclusive infrastructure, policies, and cultures that encourage disabled scholars to thrive? How many students with disabilities drop out due to a lack of support, long before they can compete for such roles? These questions demand answers, lest individual victories become token achievements. In Jammu and Kashmir, conflict and resource constraints deepen exclusion, making Rohi’s role an outlier in a landscape of systemic gaps.
Change requires a renewed national commitment. Educational institutions must enforce accessibility norms, ensuring physical infrastructure, learning materials, digital platforms, and examination systems are inclusive by design. Educators need training in inclusive pedagogies and disability awareness, moving beyond makeshift solutions. Institutions must develop clear, accountable disability inclusion policies, not only for students but for staff and faculty, covering reasonable accommodations, accessible recruitment, mentorship, and grievance redressal. Few institutions currently meet these standards, leaving disabled individuals to navigate exclusionary systems.
Also read: Eyes unseen, a spirit shatters chains
‘Nothing about us without us’ must guide policy-making. Disabled representatives belong in committees shaping education and employment reforms, ensuring policies reflect lived realities. Public narratives must shift, viewing disability through rights, justice, and equality, not pity or charity. Successes like Rohi’s should be expected, not sensationalised, normalising inclusion as a societal standard. These changes demand accountability, not just aspiration.
Rohi’s students, many from Kashmir’s diverse communities, benefit from her perspective. Her teaching challenges them to rethink inclusion, shaping future educators. For Amina Begum and others, Rohi’s visibility dismantles biases, fostering gradual acceptance. Yet, these shifts remain localised without broader action. Advocacy efforts push for institutional accountability, focusing on rights-based approaches to inclusion and accessibility.
The road ahead is clear. Governments must fund inclusive education and enforce the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, ensuring compliance across institutions. Universities need to audit accessibility, from lecture halls to hiring processes. Communities require awareness campaigns to confront biases directly. Rohi’s appointment opens a door, but widening it means dismantling barriers that force exceptional effort for ordinary opportunities.
This moment belongs to Rohi, but it carries a debt to every person with a disability still fighting for their rightful place. Her story is not the exception to celebrate and forget; it must become the rule. Systems must no longer rely on extraordinary strength to overcome ordinary barriers. Inspiration must lead to action, and action to justice. As Rohi prepares her next lecture in Srinagar, her presence demands commitment—to remove the barriers that make her success so rare, ensuring inclusion becomes a reality, not a rarity.
*Aqib Rehman is a visually impaired disability rights advocate with an MSc in Human Rights and Diplomacy.
